Manel Santisteban

Manel Santisteban was born in Madrid in 1956. Influenced and motivated by his parent fond of Jazz and his older brother, the composer Alfonso Santisteban, soon began to explore his musical vocation. Self-taught and eclectic, he also studies punctually piano and harmony with different teachers such as Valentín Ruiz (Conservatory of Madrid), Jean Luc Vallet, and in Escuela de Música Clara. Initially he dedicates himself to Jazz, later in 1975 he forms his first group, Casaquemada Jazz, with which he was awarded in different Jazz festivals such as San Sebastián (Donostia) and Vitoria. Different collaborations allowed him to play with Mike Osborne, Pedro Iturralde, Paquito de Rivera, Pedro Ruy-Blas, Jorge Pardo, Carles Benavent, Juan Carlos Calderón; to be part in diverse groups like Puente Aereo or Guadalquivir, and to participate in Jam Sessions with Lennie White (Return to Forever), Larry Carlton (Jazz Crusaders). During the eighties, attracted by synthesizers and midi, he slipped into Pop and records, adapts and composes for renowned artists such as Tino Casal, Radio Futura, The Mondragón Orchestra, Ana Belén, Olé Olé, Pepe de Lucía, Cómplices, Sergio and Estíbaliz, Los Amaya, Amancio Prada, Pedro Ruiz and the song "Lia" for Julio Iglesias. In the same period of time, he met Jose María Cano from Mecano group for whom he arranged all his songs (Mujer contra Mujer, Me cuesta tanto olvidarte, Dalí, Cruz de Navajas or Hijo de la Luna, among others). From this last song, Hijo de la Luna, he performed a great orchestra version for the soprano artist Montserrat Caballé which was recorded in London in 1991 with the English Chamber Orchestra. Other outstanding discography works of this time-frame are the arrangements for the songs: Experiencia Religiosa and Esperanza of Enrique Iglesias, and the production, arrangements and composition of the disc La Profecía of the group Amistades Peligrosas (Triple Platinum Disc in Spain). His greatest record success as an artist and producer, comes across with a group he forms in 1985 called La Decada Prodigiosa, the group recorded eleven albums, one of them for Walt Disney, represented Spain in Eurovision Song Contest (1988), performed for majesty King D.Juan Carlos I and reached the sum of nineteen platinum discs of sales all around the globe. In 1983 he received the prize of the Circle of Cinematographic Writers for the best music for the film Fredy el Croupier, and in 1986 he directed and arranged the music of Matador of Pedro Almodovar. In 1997, he obtained the First place prize in the international composer contest of the John Lennon Songwriting (www.jlsc.com), held in New York, organized by the Spirit Foundation (John Lennon Foundation). Prize awarded by a jury comprised, among others, by: Elton John, Liza Minelli, John Secada and Spin Doctors. On television, he worked assiduously for the Belgian TV producer company Keynews, composing music for news, magazines and broadcasts of the RTL network. He has also composed all the corporate music for the thematic channel Factoría de Ficción (FDF). Also 26 episodes of The Third Planet a documentary of National Geographic were composed by him. In 1996, jointly with Emilio Aragón, he began to work with GloboMedia production company for which he composed the music of more than 800 episodes of the fiction series some of them are: Medico de Familia, Mas que Amigos, 7 vidas, Periodistas, Los Serrano, Un Paso Adelante, Los Hombres de Paco, Defensor 5, Que bello es sobrevivir, El Barco, Lex, Luna el Misterio de Calenda, Anclados, Buen Agente, Bienvenidos al Lolita, Vis a Vis, El Accidente, and La Casa de Papel (Money Heist). The opening soundtrack My Life is Going On of La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), leads him to the top of the lists of countries like Brazil, France, Germany, Argentina, Turkey or Portugal. For its subsidiary, Globomedia Música, produces the albums of its artists: El Sueño de Morfeo, UPA Dance, Pig Noise, Fran Perea and Pol 3,14. In 2005 he was nominated in the Music Awards (SGAE-AIE) for the African Spirit album. As a film composer he worked with Fernando González Molina in his films Fuga de Cerebros, Tres Metros Sobre el Cielo and Tengo Ganas de Ti. With Carlos Theron in Fuga de Cerebros 2. And with Alex Pina in Kamikaze.