The Malaga-born artist with an unmistakable voice and his jazz band gave a farewell concert in the capital of the Túria region before his hiatus. Zenet’s concert took place on 10 October at La Rambleta. With a distinctive four-piece band consisting of double-bass, guitar, trumpet and voice…the repertoire was indeed a “sound journey” via jazz, copla, swing and bolero, included legendary songs from his discography along with more contemporary tunes.

In the last decade, Zenet has established himself as one of the most popular live artists on the Spanish music scene. After 16 years of career, in which he has not stopped touring and releasing music, the Malaga-born artist has announced that he is taking a break from live shows to take a well-deserved rest…until 2026. A successful film actor, singer and composer…Zenet has had a prolific career that includes 9 albums, over a 1000 live concerts and he has also won a series of national and international awards including recognition for his soundtrack work.

 His ‘farewell’ concert took place in Valencia this week, infront of a packed and respectful audience at ‘La Rambleta’ who knew all the words to his songs and Zenet was happy to coax the audience to join in with the singing too. He knows how to create a connection with the public from the very opening song. The timbre of Zenet’s  jazzy voice, with Andalusian flair, gives a tango air to some of his songs and an edge to the repertoire that makes his songs all the more universal. His influences include the jazz greats like Billie Holiday and Chet Baker but he sings  his jazzy songs in Spanish which, as he reminds us, is not so typical…but it works!

 These are songs of romance and broken hearts, songs of reflection and about living in the moment too. For someone who has successfully overcome addictions, Zenet’s voice is in remarkable shape as he approaches his late fifties. His delivery is pitch-perfect and he sings with feeling too. He knows how to ‘transmit’ these songs because he has lived them.

With his compact stature and charismatic stage presence, there’s a touch of Aznavour regarding Zenet’s persona but he moves the stage more like an elegant dancer in slow motion…. backed memorably by a tasteful Cuban trumpet player, sympathetic jazz guitarist & swinging double bass player with ‘Rocky Horror Show’ attire included!

At one point in the show, Zenet gently remonstrated with a member of audience who wouldn’t stop filming the show on her mobile phone, lit up in the darkness. He told her: “Why not switch off your phone for once? The special moments of this unique live show here in Valencia are simply unrepeatable. We are here to live in the moment!” Suffice to say, she finally switched off her phone! Indeed, the audience applauded Zenet’s refreshing reproach to how some people are misbehaving more in public since the pandemic when he had hoped that people would become more considerate having lived through the COVID crisis together. That said, the Valencia audience was very respectful at Zenet’s show and there was no chit-chat during the songs.

Back to the music, Zenet left no member of the public disappointed with a ‘Greatest Hits’ repertoire that included classic songs like  a romantic ‘Soñar Contigo’ ,  a sensual version of ‘Un Beso de Esos’,  a nostalgic ‘Ella Era Mala’,  a touching ‘Entre Tu Balcon Y Mi Ventana’ and an edgy take on ‘Pura Envidia.’ The band returned for an extended encore and left a Valencian public very content on a really memorable night at ‘La Rambleta.’ Hopefully, Zenet will be back in 2026!

Report by ‘24/7 Valencia’ team

Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’