Carlos Berlanga
A Cannes

Jordi Hatero aka La-J said on Tuesday, 22 May 2012:
Carlos Berlanga (1959-2002) was the youngest son of acclaimed Spanish film director Luis García Berlanga (1921-2010). He started up his musical career in the late 1970's, during the period of Democratic Transition. He became one of the most important icons of the "Movida Madrileña", an avant-gardish artistic current involving music and arts that bloomed within the youngsters in the Spanish capital once Franco's regime finished and several civil rights, like freedom of expression, association and press were slowly regained.

It was in that period that Carlos Berlanga teamed up with Nacho Canut, Olvido Gara (aka Alaska) and other guys to create a punk-rock band named Kaka de Luxe. At the turn for the 1980's decade, the group changed the name to Alaska y Los Pegamoides, later changed to Alaska y Dinarama. All through these changing names, both Carlos and Nacho were the songwriting core of the band, penning catchy tunes in styles such as new-wave, glam-rock , disco and electronics: "Bailando", "Perlas Ensangrentadas", "Bote de Colón", "Rey del Glam" and "Ni tú ni nadie" became quick popular hits on every Spanish pop radio station. Another successful track including lyrics by Carlos was " A quién le importa", written in 1986, which became a nationwide anthem for the ever growing LGBTQ community in Spain.

Carlos Berlanga worked together with Nacho and Alaska from 1977 to 1989. By the end of that period, Carlos was forced to leave the band due to his growing problems with drugs and alcochol addiction. His personal problems usually led to arguments with his band colleagues: the loudest and latest one occurred during the 1989 Video Inferno Tour, the last one having Carlos, Nacho and Alaska together as "Dinarama".

With the arrival of the 1990's, while Alaska and Nacho were searching for new sounds and grooves in the field of electronics ( this time under the name of Fangoria ) , Berlanga started a solo career. Despite the attention of the media being lesser than in the 80's and his own choice of keeping a lower, more underground profile, he managed to release up to four solo albums with several independent record labels.

He died at the age of 42, of a liver disease derived from his past addictions.