The inexorable tick-tock that leads to the last concert he will give Joaquin Sabina stops for a few minutes this Thursday, with the surprise launch of ‘One last waltz’a rogue wink from Joaquín to the world that shows that even though what is coming is his farewell tour, he is not willing to go through this vital stretch without drawing a smile and giving his fans the love they deserve.
‘A Last Waltz’ has the help of the usual suspects that Sabina has been close to in recent years: Leiva in the musical part and in the arrangements; and Benjamin Prado co-writing the lyrics with him. The production is also the work of Leiva, who has reached a level of connection with the Sabina universe that is absolutely incontestable at this point in the journey.
The Madrid artist has had the same team of musicians and engineers who worked on the maestro’s last unreleased single (‘Contra todo prognosis’ 2022), and has been in charge of performing a large part of the instruments, although for the occasion he has also included with the expert fingers of Carlos Raya (guitars), César Pop (keyboards) and José Bruno (drums). Joaquín’s voice was captured in his studio located in the Lavapiés neighborhood (Ultramarinos Finos) at the hands of Juan González.
This single is accompanied by a video clip directed by Fernando León de Aranoa that aims to be a tribute to each and every one of the people who are (and have been part) of Joaquín’s life. The video takes place in a bar and, as it could not be otherwise, it is a toast to friendship and life.
“If this is going to be, as he says, Joaquín Sabina’s last video clip, his last waltz, there was no choice but to go out and dance with him,” says León de Aranoa. «The song has a lot of inventory, farewell, confession. Nothing more cinematic than doing it to a bartender, at that time when the bars are about to close. It is in many films, it refers to the Nighthawks in Hopper’s painting, at the end of Fat City, the John Huston film, in which Stacey Keach desperately looks for an interlocutor on the other side of the bar, to whom she may later have nothing what to say.”
According to the filmmaker, whose documentary won the Goya 2023 for Best Song for ‘Feeling it a lot’“what Joaquín confesses to the bartender tonight is his song.” The scene begins “like a Machadian soliloquy – “I talk with the man who always goes with me” – and ends like a celebration. And the song is also a recognition, a declaration of love; a tribute to that person who is always there when you need them. “When you have dinner at the hospital bar,” he says in one of his most exciting verses. It was about visualizing it, transforming the emotion and meaning of the song into images, and that’s what we did: little by little, as if in a trickle, Joaquín is joined around that bar by friends, travel companions, family, and loved ones. They hear him sing. And in doing so they accompany him, they pay him a quiet tribute.
All those invited to the video clip are “in many cases, also teachers,” says the director. «From different arts, from very different worlds. Teachers who have come to pay respects to another teacher. The film often records their first reaction to the song, that unrepeatable moment of emotion: we had them hear it for the first time with the cameras rolling. Flights were brought forward, agendas were changed, commitments were postponed. Joaquín says that this is his last waltz, so everyone wanted to come dance with him.
Today it has also been announced that next Monday, October 21, tickets for the Spanish leg of the ‘Hello and Goodbye’ tour will go on sale. Sixteen cities will receive this tour that starts in Gran Canaria on May 1, 2025. Tickets will be on sale from October 21 at 12:00 p.m. through official sales points: holayadioslagira.es and jsabina.com.
DATE IN SPAIN
May 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
May 3, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
May 9 and 11, Malaga
May 19, Madrid
June 2, Madrid
June 7, Palma de Mallorca
June 12 and 14, Zaragoza
June 19 and 21, Pamplona
June 25 and 27, Murcia
July 2 and 4, Madrid
July 10 and 12, Alicante
July 18, Santander
September 2 and 4, Seville
September 18 and 20, A Coruña
September 25 and 27, Granada
October 2 and 4, Barcelona
October 9 and 11, Valencia
November 5 and 7, Bilbao
#Joaquín #Sabina #launches #farewell #song #video #clip #Fernando #León #Aranoa #Último #Vals