The 72-year old Spanish orchestra director Rafael Ibarbia (full name: Rafael de Ibarbia Serra) died yesterday in a hospital in Madrid, after he slipped into a coma on 7 January of this year. Ibarbia, who is well-known in Spain, directed the orchestra for the Spanish Eurovision Song Contest entries in the 60s and 70s.

In 1963, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1974 and 1977 he directed the orchestra for Spain. The 4th time, in 1968, Massiel won the Eurovision Song Contest with La la la. He worked for 27 years for the TVE Sinfonic Orchestra.

Music critics call Ibarbia “a symbol of the Spanish television in the sixtees”