Cervantes honors the singer-songwriter, who deposited a bowler hat and several manuscripts of songs and sonnets in the Caja de las Letras
After half a century on the road, Joaquín Sabina (Úbeda, Jaén, 72 years old), has not managed to overcome his stage fright. “I always believe that I am going to disappoint the public,” he confessed before the respectable who applauded him with enthusiasm at the Cervantes Institute, in whose armored Caja de las Letras he deposited a legacy yesterday. The institution paid tribute to the legendary singer, poet with a seductive broken voice, sympathetic and beloved minstrel, with the soul of a cursed person, who discussed the divine and the human with other poets and friends: the director of Cervantes, Luis García Montero, Benjamín Prado and the journalist Nativel Preciado.
Sabina confessed that she never felt like a singer, that if she is something she is a bibliophile and an inveterate reader, that money never bothered her, or that making sonnets is very different from making songs, “which should be a bit corny.” He told how he spent the five pounds that George Harrison gave him in a pub after hearing him sing rancheras in ‘Lupita’, a London joint, or that he does not consider himself a good father, husband or lover, but a loyal friend.
“I have never overcome stage fright and I always believe that I am going to disappoint the public”
Writer of sonnets and a handful of songs anchored in the collective memory of several generations, he has sold millions of records and still fills pavilions, bullrings and concert halls in many countries. But he does not intend to return to the stage immediately. “I feel fine,” he said happy and free from covid harassment. “I have behaved like an exemplary citizen, I have not gone out, I have worn my mask, I have continued smoking and drinking, but I am not going to return to the stage while people are wearing masks, cannot get up, smoke or have a drink.” And I’m afraid that, in Latin America especially, it won’t be for a year and a half, at least. Then I’ll come back to say hello and goodbye, “he said.
Sabina does not remember “a single moment” in her life when she thought about being a singer. «I have had a guitar since I was 14 years old, but my main passion was and is reading. At home you hardly listen to music, least of all mine. You listen to good music ”, ironized someone who does not ask or reproach him for anything in life. «I have written a book, I have had two daughters and I have replanted an olive tree. I am not missing anything. I am moderately at peace with myself, ”he said. “We thought when we were young that we would never be adults, because all adults were sons of bitches. I have reached 72 years old and I still do not consider myself a son of a bitch, and that is enough for me »he added with a laugh. “I have never believed myself to be a great poet or a great singer, I am a fine brush painter and I believe that I have never been a husband, or a father, or an exemplary lover, but I have been and am a loyal friend”, he boasted.
Unredeemed bibliophile, Sabina deposited in box number 1,237 of the Cervantes vault the complete collection of the Argentine literary magazine ‘Sur’, a reference publication between 1931, when it was founded by the writer Victoria Ocampo, and 1992. The priceless collection counts with 371 issues published and is in perfect condition, which adds more value to “a mythical magazine, with more than half a century of literary creation and with the legacy of Spanish exiles.”
Bowler hats and sonnets
He also deposited one of his iconic bowler hats, the manuscript of his song ‘Que se llama soledad’ and that of ‘Ellipsis’ – “my favorite sonnet” – along with a first edition of ‘One hundred flying fourteen’ with all his sonnets. It included several drawings – “four fighting cocks and an Asturian couple” – and half a dozen photographs of friends such as Ángel González, Javier Ruibal or Almudena Grandes, as well as Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel García Márquez.
«I have never been neither a husband, nor a father nor an exemplary lover, but I have been and am a loyal friend»
“It is the first time in my life that an institution of such wealth and scope invites me, and I feel at home,” said a grateful Sabina in his harsh voice and dressed in rigorous black. “Now that so much nonsense is being said about the Spain brand, we know that our greatest wealth, and not only cultural, is the language, and I am very proud to be in the language house, managed masterfully well by its current director,” he gave away. ears of his good friend García Montero. “I would have liked to get the first edition of Joyce’s ‘Ulises’ from him but I couldn’t,” joked the director of Cervantes.
A Luis García Montero who returned the compliments to “my brother Sabina” together with the president of the Congress of Deputies, Meritxell Batet, who accompanied them in the act of delivering a perpetual donation that will become part of the Patrimonial Library of the Cervantes Institute. “His generosity has been such that it is Sabina who pays tribute to the Cervantes Institute and its library,” said Luis García Montero, very grateful.
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