Same songs, same name and the breakup of a group: Mocedades VS. youths

Mocedades has become the longest-lived musical formation in our history. However, little remains of that group that was born in 1967 with the purpose of becoming the soundtrack of a generation with mythical songs like ‘Eres tú’ or ‘Amor de hombre’.

The history of this musical formation has become one of the most bizarre in the music of our country, and that is that its breakup ended up causing the formation of three different groups they perform the same songs, and even two of them have the same name.

They have passed through Mocedades since their birth and up to today up to 30 members. Its beginnings go back to 1967, when Amaya, Estíbaliz and Izaskun Uranga decided to form the trio Las hermanas Uranga. At first, it was a group of students from Bilbao who sang at universities and different places in the city.

Soon after, they ended up teaming up with their brothers and other friends with the group Voces y guitarras. Luck changed for them when Juan Carlos Calderón decided to become their producer, creating a group formed by 10 components: Amaya, Estíbaliz, Izaskun, Roberto Uranga, Rafael and Sergio Blanco, Javier Garay, José Ipiña, Luis Mari Zarrabeitia and Paco Panera.

A moment when they also decided change their name to Mocedades, with which they would continue to be known more than 50 years later. At the end of 1960, this formation began to undergo its first changes and that is that, after two albums published, José Ipiña and Paco Panera left it to perform military service, at which time Javier Garay became part of the group.

Later, in 1972, another great change took place after Sergio and Estíbaliz, who were a couple, decided to leave the formation to embark on a musical career together.

A year in which Rafael Blanco also decided to leave, who wanted to get away from music. Three losses that caused José Ipiña to return to the formation and a new member to join: Carlos Zubiaga.

The six historical Mocedades

In 1973, Mocedades begins its most successful stage. At this time, the group was made up of Amaya Uranga, Izaskun Uranga, Roberto Uranga, Javier Garay, José Ipiña and Carlos Zubiaga, who came to be nicknamed ‘The Historic Six’.

During this time, they became more famous thanks, in part, to their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. with the song ‘It’s you’, reaching second place. A period of great splendor in which they released great hits such as ‘Amor de Hombre’ or ‘Talismán’.

However, everything changed radically for this group when, in 1984, Amaya decided to leave the group, being replaced by Ana Berejano, who was the group’s soloist until 1993.

Fracture of Mocedades: The Consortium is born

The former members of Mocedades, Amaya, Estíbaliz, Sergio Blanco and Carlos Zubiaga, decided to come together to create a new group called The Consortium, who would also end up joining Iñaki Uranga.

This quintet began to interpret new songs but without neglecting his great hits from the past. However, they suffered a severe blow in 2015, after the death of Sergio Blanco. This hard loss caused them to consider their dissolution.

In fact, they decided that Iñaki Uranga would cover the role of Sergio to do a farewell tour, but it was so successful that they chose to continue and are currently still active.

The story of the two Mocedades

In addition to El Consorcio, Mocedades left other two groups that have the same name. Everything arose in 2014, after the members who had remained in the formation decided to dissolve after irreconcilable differences.

In this way, the Youth of Izaskun Uranga, Rosa Rodríguez, José María Santamaría, José Miguel González, Idoia Uranga and Toni Menguiano was created; and Mocedades formed by Javier Garay, Luis Hornedo, Aitor Melgosa, Icíar Ibarrondo and Belén Esteve, who has arrived to replace Ana Bejerano, who died in 2022.

Both groups continue to perform some of their hits from the past. In fact, Izaskun Uranga’s Mocedades has recently released a new version of ‘It’s you’ with Placido Domingo

Can there be two different groups with the same name?

The truth is that although it may seem strange, that there are two groups that share some songs and have the same name is possible, because in the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, the name ‘Mocedades’ is registered by the historical six, Izaskun, Javier, Amaya, Roberto, José and Carlos.

In this way, any of them has the same right, legally, to use the same name, although it is an issue that has generated great controversy.