naked raphael

Raphaelism is a

that is not included in the

of the Royal Academy.

However, any Spanish-speaker has recognized her perfectly for six decades: an idol of music, with open arms or with his jacket on his back, who unscrews imaginary light bulbs that only he sees.

A way of life, a memory shared by at least three generations who admire one of the greatest singers of Spanish music.

(Movistar Plus+) is the portrait of someone who undresses before the cameras openly and whose childhood was spent in the humble Madrid neighborhood of Cuatro Caminos, where he worked selling melons. But on Saturdays and Sundays, Rafael Martos - he had not yet created the mythical Raphael - excelled in the church choir, not in school, from where he was expelled time and time again because he did not attend, lost in the clouds of what he wanted. to be: artist And the friar director of the choir said no, that they admit him again, that it was his best voice.

And so Raphael is born, the son of an evicted family who must move to an even more humble neighborhood to meet the rent.

And he, meanwhile, going to all the stations to convince them of his worth, to give him a chance.

Until Benidorm and Eurovision arrived.

Then everything was unstoppable.

"Say who you shared a poster with, because I'm in a hurry to say it," he claims in the series without wanting to mention Sinatra, Presley or Tom Jones.

And after the success, Rafael Martos – not Raphael – begins to slide towards the decline fueled by drink.

“Who would invent hotel minibars?” he is heard saying.

One of the Raphaelism essays.

And in 2003 he appears at the gates of his inner hell, which shows him its jaws in the form of liver disease. "Should we send him to Houston, to Switzerland...?" Natalia Figueroa, his inseparable companion, despairs. "To October 12, to public health, where the best are," they reply. But Raphael doesn't want his chest cut open, he needs it to keep singing. His friend, the

Pedro Ruiz, demands that he undergo an immediate intervention. "Within a year," the genius refuses. “In a year, you will no longer be.” And Rafael Martos, not Raphael, gives in and is saved.

The man who annually celebrates two birthdays then returns to the stage, but nobody knows if he will last.

He does.

And he succeeds and becomes an idol of

music and rap.

The young people cheer him on.

“It is the permanent memory of several generations”, admits the singer Enrique Bunbury.

And then Rafael Martos, 78 years old, looks at the camera and throws a hopeful ray with a smile in times of Covid.

“The best is yet to come”, even if you miss those who are no longer here, the millions of people who turned on the television every Christmas to listen to

Damn memory, at least the eternal Raphael remains.

An essential series to recover memories, hope in public health and love of work.

'Raphaelism'.

Four 50-minute episodes.

Movistar Plus.

Directors: Charlie Arnáiz and Alberto Ortega.

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