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Farran Music Ltd. is a unique
family music publishing business
based in the UK.
Our catalogue includes over 1,800 songs which we own the rights to. The genres extend over an astounding variety; many of our songs and styles are unusual rarities which would be hard to find elsewhere.
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Ramón Farrán is the founder of Farran Music Ltd. Ramón is a Spanish musician and composer with a remarkable career which spans over sixty-five years. Other company members include his sister Marta, professional musician and score specialist, his three daughters, Laia, Natalia and Clarissa, also in music and media, and various expert collaborators, all of them professionals in their field and part of this big family. More about them all below.
Ramón Farrán
Founder of Farran Music Ltd.
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Ramón Farrán is a highly respected Spanish composer, arranger, producer, conductor, drummer and percussionist.
Always ahead of his time, he is a true trailblazer – he was the first person in Spain to use a sixteen-track recording device, a synthesizer in a recording and a computer on stage. He is one of the originators of the jazz movement in Spain in the 1940s/50s and his innovative horn arrangements have left a legacy in Spanish pop music. He contributed a great deal to the new “gypsy pop” sound in the 1960s and 70s (especially in the genre known as “rumba catalana”) with his sophisticated production, and has written many television theme tunes (he adapted the Spanish version of Dogtanian and the Three Muskerhounds, amongst them) and film scores, such as Illegally Yours and Contra el Viento. No stranger to the pop charts, his song Fiesta hit number 1 in Spain and other countries in 1970, and various singles by Los Amaya and Peret also climbed to the top the charts. An example of his influence on pop music is his hit song Lailolá, with José Reyes, the father of the Gypsy Kings, which has been covered by various bands worldwide in the last few decades.
As a drummer and percussionist he has worked with Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Chet Baker, Louis Armstrong, Tubby Hayes, Tito Puente, Don Byas, Lionel Hampton, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins and Ronnie Scott, amongst many others; and he has been musical director for artists such as Serrat, Julio Iglesias, Montserrat Caballé, Isabel Pantoja, Shirley Bassey and Celia Cruz. In the early 1960s, Ramón ran the legendary Indigo Jazz Club in Palma, Mallorca, one of the few jazz clubs in Spain at the time, which received visits from illustrious international soloists.
In the year 2000 Ramón founded the ONJAZZ (Spanish National Jazz Orchestra), which has released two albums to date. They have toured around the world with their Spanish symphonic roots jazz, a blend of Spanish folk & classical music and jazz, with collaborations both live and recorded from stars such as Randy Brecker, Jerry Gonzalez, Chano Domínguez, Paquito d'Rivera, Jorge Pardo, Roberto Pla, Miguel Ríos or Antonio Canales.
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After several decades based in Barcelona and Madrid, travelling the world and running his own successful publishing businesses (Farrán Música, Creart Música) and record companies (Drums, Lemon, Olive Music), the time has come for Ramón to expand his horizons even further and start up this new music publishing company in the UK. Ramón's daughters had gradually moved to the UK, first to study and later settling there, and now there are three grandchildren in the picture, so Ramón spends more and more time there, performing and spending time with his growing family. Founding Farran Music Ltd. was the logical next step.
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Ramón is very active and continues to compose, perform and record around the world as a drummer and percussionist, as well as conducting the ONJAZZ. He has recently toured the SE of the UK with the show Flamenco sin Fronteras: Danza Jaleos and finished two commissions: a musical (or jazz opera, as he likes to describe it) about Picasso (click HERE for more info) and a piece of Indian classical music written in Western classical language. He has also started writing his memoirs and is currently working on an opera about the great Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí.
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Natalia Farrán
Artistic Director I PR
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Natalia has a BA Hons degree in Spanish and Drama (University of London & Central School of Speech and Drama). She is a trained professional singer and has over 20 years' experience performing and recording, including over a decade as the lead singer of the ONJAZZ (Spanish National Jazz Orchestra). Recording credits include the ONJAZZ, The Magic Whispers, Blue Train (with Steve Waterman), Faithless, Siniestro Total, Randy Brecker, Paquito d'Rivera, Jerry Gonzalez and Jorge Pardo. She has performed with big jazz names such as Ben Sidran, Robin Jones, Jerry Gonzalez, Ara Malikian, Charlie Wood, Snowboy, Mick Foster, Shanti Jayasinha, Simon Spillett, Paul Higgs, Tim Huskisson, Ted Beamont, Marc Cecil and Jonny Gee. In Spain she has shared the stage with Miguel Ríos, Antonio Canales, Kiko Veneno, Raimundo Amador and Santiago Auserón, amongst many others.
Natalia is also an in-demand voiceover artist, both in Spanish and English (clients include 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Cambridge University Press, BBC Radio, San Miguel, Braun, Johnson & Johnson, Friends of the Earth, Lenovo Computers, Oxford University Press and publishing companies Bayard, Pearson and Longman); she has worked as a dubbing actress, a session singer (singing on jingles, albums, TV commercials, cartoons... credits include All Dogs Go to Heaven and Ann Margret's singing voice in Spanish) and a radio presenter (Radio Intercontinental, Madrid Live, Sunday Jazz Lounge). Natalia performs occasionally at poetry readings (Imperial War Museum, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Black Huts Festival 2015, Off the Shelf Festival 2017, Robert Graves Conference 2018) and she is an experienced translator (translating into Spanish a long list of songs - The Muppets, All Dogs Go to Heaven, A Nightmare Before Christmas - plays for the stage and published short stories). Her recent adaptations of songs into Spanish include work for stars Lisa Stansfield and Pablo Abraira. As an interpreter, Natalia has worked with a long list of top international artists, including Celine Dion, Foo Fighters, Björk, Sade, Jamiroquai, Mark Knopfler, Bon Jovi, Maceo Parker, Pee Wee Ellis, Jennifer Lopez, Westlife, Victor Bailey, Soweto String Quartet, Natalie Imbruglia, Freddy Hubbard, Cassandra Wilson, Texas, Moby and The Offspring. As well as a singer, Natalia is a songwriter, writing for herself and other artists.
Natalia spends her time between Mallorca and London, performing with various bands and working on a new solo album, an exciting fusion of jazz, blues and her Spanish roots.
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Portrait of Natalia by Stuart DeVoil
Laia Farrán
PR Dept
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A stylist and journalist specializing in fashion and beauty, Laia Farrán has also worked as a fashion editor. As a stylist she has contributed to Vogue, In Style, Glamour, Marie Claire, Tatler, Time Out, The Guardian, Heat, Hello!, lnterview (US), Stern, Maxim, Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Loaded and The Sunday Times Style magazine, amongst many other publications. She has written fashion copy for New Woman, Women’s Fitness,
Channel4.com, Hello!, Metro, Tatler and the Evening Standard. Her first book, The Little Book of Prada, was published by Carlton books in 2012.
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Celebrity clients include Britney Spears, Michelle Williams, Carmen Electra, Finley Quaye and Iron Maiden, Laura Bailey, Liberty Ross, Sara Cox, Zoe Ball, Kelly Brook, Johnny Vaughn, Chris Tarrant, Ben Elton, Michelle Ryan, Jemma Kidd, Melinda Messenger, The Cheeky Girls, Samantha Mumba, Jordan, Alex Best and Konnie Huk. She has worked for Cadbury, Guiness, Marks & Spencer, Lloyds TSB, Kronenbourg, Licor 43, Lycos, Nescafé, Nike, O2, Persil, Sainsbury's, Sony, Start-rite and Vodafone, amongst many others.
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Having been brought up between Majorca and London her eclectic style is classic, beautiful and timeless – if a touch bohemian.
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Clarissa Farrán
Orchestrations I Arrangements Dept
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Based between London and Berlin, Clarissa graduated from London University and the Royal College of Music with first class honours as a composer. She worked full-time as composer assistant to Alberto Iglesias between 2000 and 2002. Working with the award-winning Iglesias gave her a solid foundation on which to start her freelance music career as producer, orchestrator, arranger and conductor on a wide variety of international film and album projects.
Her orchestration, arranging, conducting and music production on film projects include scores by Alberto Iglesias, Zbigniew Preisner, Jocelyn Pook and Avshalom Caspi.
Her arranging and conducting work on album projects include David Gilmour's 'On An Island' live tour, Zbigniew Preisner's 'Silence, Night and Dreams' and various pop productions by Toby Gad, Eg White, Jimmy Hogarth and Fred Ball, among many others.
Other notable orchestration and music production work includes Jonathan Antoine’s ‘Believe’ album in 2016 and ‘Jaleos’, National Spanish Jazz Orchestra, featuring Randy Brecker, Jerry Gonzalez and Paquito D’Rivera.
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Clarissa is currently working on her own compositions as well as on various arranging projects.
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Marta Farrán
Scores Dept
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Marta Farrán Sánchez was born into a family of musicians, lovers of music, art and culture.
She studied music theory, classical guitar and piano at the Conservatori Superior de Música de Barcelona, amongst other subjects, and became an accomplished drummer, percussionist and vocalist.
Following in her father’s professional footsteps, her first and best music teacher – trumpet player, composer, songwriter and bandleader Ramón Farrán Tutusaus – she became a professional musician, composer and songwriter herself, collaborating with him and with her brother - musician, drummer, percussionist, composer and bandleader Ramón Farrán Sánchez - in an array of varied projects.
Marta has a great deal of studio and stage experience with many international artists, both as a backing singer and a drummer. She was one of the first female professional drummers to work in post-Franco Spain and has accompanied many international figures such as cabaret star Ángel Pavlovsky (she was the drummer in his all-female band), the great violinist and conductor Bernard Hilda (who sat in on occasion when she was playing drums and singing in her brother's orchestra at the Parrilla del Hotel Ritz, in Barcelona), French chanson legend Patachou (one of the most popular performers in post-WWII Paris), composer and performer Georges Ulmer, popular Israeli "war singer" Yafa Yarkoni and French star Jacqueline François. She also recorded for the famous Scala night club on various occasions and even sat in on drums at times when her brother played with the legendary jazz pianist Tete Montoliu.
Throughout her long career she has worked as an instrumentalist as well as a session singer and voiceover artist – she has vast stage experience, as well as being the voice of much-loved Spanish TV commercials and radio jingles (for Catalunya Radio, amongst many others) and dubbing musicals and cartoons.
In the mid-1970s, her brother founded, directed and conducted the Coral Infantil de Vallirana. Marta became the sub-director of the choir. They recorded two albums which debuted on Catalan television.
A very special band very close to Marta’s heart is an old project of her father’s which finally saw the light at the end of the 1970s – the first album of La Barrila, an influential Catalan band in which she played drums and sang. The band was later renamed Marta i La Barrila. They performed their own material, filled with witty social commentary and humour, written by Ramón Farrán senior, with arrangements and musical direction by Ramón Farrán junior – a veritable family affair.
Since the birth of new music technologies, Marta has been interested in music notation programs, which she uses to write her own compositions and create her own arrangements. She is currently compiling her own material so it can become part of the legacy of this vibrant and prolific musical family.
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Hamish MacDonald
Audiovisual Department
Video I Musical Production
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Hamish MacDonald is an accomplished musician (Sex Beatles, Sexbeat, Gong, Culture Clash Dance Party, Indica, etc). As a producer/writer/remixer he has had hits with the Wee Papa Girl Rappers, Samantha Fox, Whodini, Blood Brothers and many others. He's collaborated with the Farrán Graves clan in a vast and varied array of creative projects.
As a filmmaker he does all of the Boomtown Rats and Bob Geldof’s "behind the scenes" and tour filming. He recently filmed Bill Wyman’s 80th celebrations and concert backdrops, and has worked for the Toos Foundation (a Persian community project), CHANT (with Youth, Guy Pratt, Dave Barbarossa and many others) and Len Blahvatnik (documentarist and hand-held specialist), amongst others.
Hamish loves Fellini and thinks “black and white is very cool”. In his own words: “Rock’n’roll is my forte!”
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Nick Philpin
Audiovisual Department
Sound Engineer I Musical Production
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Nick Philpin is an experienced musician, producer and sound engineer - as well as an audio-visual technician/engineer who has worked for many years at venues in London - with a great deal of experience in a variety of media.
In the 1990s he was studio manager for Jumbo Studios in London, and until 2002 the bass player in Southport – they sold thousands of albums and toured Europe extensively (signed to NY record label Go Kart Records).
In 2002 he gained a First Class degree in Audio Engineering at Thames Valley University and set up his own recording studio working as a producer, remixer, composer, musician and engineer on music of various genres; in 2011 he formed Root & Groove Element, self-releasing a track which Craig Charles called “the start of the acid jazz revival” (on BBC Radio 6) and was chosen Jazz FM Record of the Week by DJ Peter Young.
Nick has also worked as a tour manager and technician for Andy Fletcher (Depeche Mode) DJ, amongst others, and has done remixes and edits for the DJ set.
In 2011, Nick co-wrote and produced the Tracks for Soul Papers EP on Soul Independence records, and in 2013 formed The Velvet Moon Club. He continues to write, record, produce and release music.
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Óscar Méndez Lobo
Design for Picasso Project & Farran Music Logo
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Born in Madrid in 1963, Óscar studied art at the Universidad Complutense (Facultad de Bellas Artes) in the early ‘90s.
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A versatile artist – painter, sculptor, designer, art director - with a vast array of experience, he has exhibited in Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Mexico, Lima, Costa Rica, Copenhagen, Shanghai, Naples, Oslo and around Spain - most recently in Seville and Palma de Mallorca. His latest exhibitions include ArtJaen, Art Fair Shanghai, Art Now Miami, Art New York, Estampa and an itinerant show with Bancaixa (IVAM), produced by the Argenta gallery in Valencia. In 2005 he founded Espacio Tribeca with F. Bellver and J. Capa. With Tribeca he takes part in Arco: Expanded Box and Pulse Miami (2008). His work can be found in various museums, amongst them the Museo Garachico (Tenerife) and the Museo Florencio de la Fuente (Cuenca); and in collections such as El punto de las Artes, Zenith Media, Grupo Recoletos, Torres Colón, Fundación Konecta, Fundación Coca-Cola, Juego de la Oca and the Spanish National Library (Biblioteca Nacional).
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As a designer he has worked with a long list of large corporations and international names such as Sony, Astilleros Españoles, S.A., Banesto, BT Telecomunicaciones, Caja de Asturias, Spanish National Radio (RNE), Fundación Vicente Ferrer, Maphre Mutualidad de Seguros, Médicos sin Fronteras, Pressto, Spanish National Television (RTVE), Hospital Quirón Madrid, Zenith Media, Seúr, Jago and Arnold 4D. He is the artistic director of ArteHotel Madrid (part of the hotel chain Hispano Hotelera), amongst others.
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Sue Ayres
Website I Digital & Design
Sue has over 30 years experience in design, advertising, marketing and digital.
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Sue has worked with multiple companies and clients (too many to list) such as Ottakars Bookstores, Marks & Spencer, Oxford University, Macmillan Education & Macmillan Publishing, Jazz FM, Soho Music Co, AGMP Concerts, MTV Presents, Neon Angel Gibraltar Ltd, The Gibraltar International Jazz Festival, MTV Presents Gibraltar Calling, Incognito, Citrus Sun, Bruce Foxton, Animals and Friends, Pete Barton Management Ltd, Rock Artist Management Ltd, Snowboy & The Latin Section, and a long list of artists and touring bands.
She works on creating a full online and design solution for clients in the music industry.
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