Chris Brandon comes to Mallorca: 'The island spirit stays with me'

An evening, a crew and the sea in the ears

At the end of September there was still summer in the air when Chris Brandon arrived in Palma. Not only did the light apparently captivate him — the singer, formerly a drummer in his childhood room, says that his voice is his instrument. That sounds almost like a truism, but with him it feels real: short, clear, with the firm conviction of someone who lives their craft.

Musical roots you can smell

In his stories the images revolve around cassettes that played on repeat at his parents' house, Chuck Berry riffs and Elvis gestures. Brandon doesn’t just talk about music, he wakes it up — with anecdotes, small gestures, a laugh. For him, sound sketches are memory spaces: as a blind person he relies on smells, sounds and memory. On Mallorca these are the salt in the air, the distant roar of the waves and the clink of a cup in the early morning at the harbor café.

Mallorca as a sensory map

The remarkable thing: for Brandon the island is not just a backdrop. It is both compass and telephone — a map of scents and sounds on which moments leave their mark. The Paseo Marítimo, the wind through the palms, or the voices from the bars in the evening — all of this is part of his picture. He says the island's “good spirit” stays with him. Not sentimentality, but rather a practical taking-along: a backstage conversation (or a public get‑together such as Schmidi brings football talk and island vibes to Playa de Palma), an open café, a night ride by the sea that feels like a brief home.

Small surprises in his luggage

His latest short film “Promised not to Drive” caused a stir: love as a reason to do things one might otherwise avoid. The scene in a driving school car is cheeky and likeable — an idea as simple as it is effective. Professionally he has worked with colleagues like Ryan Presley; privately he says yes to life. On Mallorca that can also mean riding a jet ski with show and stunt artist Marco König. Anyone who saw him at 8 p.m. after soundcheck on the Paseo Marítimo would immediately know: he means it.

Live: Music & Talk in Palma

On Wednesday, September 24, Brandon will be on stage at Music & Talk. An ARD camera crew will be there to document the evening for a magazine — a bit of stage fright is part of it, but also a hint of celebration. Anyone who has ever stood on a warm evening in Palma at the harbor knows the hustle of voices, guitars, the clatter of cutlery and the occasional cry of seagulls — much like the energy around the Port Adriano Music Festival: Classics, Disco Icons and Powerful Voices under Mallorca's Stars. Into exactly this atmosphere Brandon brings his songs and stories.

Why the island spirit stays

What remains after such a performance? For him it is the impression that the island is not just a place, but a kind of sounding board. This is not grandiose pathos, but rather a small, everyday truth: people you meet briefly, a café that is still open at night, the salt on the skin after a ride by the sea. Little things that accumulate and later return as a melody.

And afterwards? Probably a walk along the harbor, a piece of olive bread, the soft hum of a melody that lingers in the mind. Maybe a short conversation with the TV crew — the kind that brings Mallorca into TV focus, as in Celebrity Big Brother in Mallorca: When the Island Comes into TV Focus. Maybe a last look at the water before the city comes to rest. If you want, you can see in this the quiet proof that islands are sometimes more than postcards — they are music that stays.

Event note: Music & Talk, Wednesday, September 24. Admission and times vary; light showers possible — that too is part of Mallorca.