After eight years away from music as Chambao, The Mari He returned a year ago, publishing an album under the name with which he began his career in the industry more than two decades ago. ‘On the Crest of Now’ is, if possible, the most personal work of the Malaga native within what she turned her career into since the rest of the group abandoned her shortly after embarking on the path to success. In 2005, Flamenco Chill de Chambao began to have La Mari as the only recognizable representative for a voice and a presence that was signed with the calm of all the good that flows in nature.
But the truth is that in the story of María del Mar Rodríguez, a personal crisis made her rethink her way of being and being in life from full attention and living in the present. First he reflected his change in the comeback album but before that he embarked on writing a book with the same name, his second after ‘Enamorá de la vida although sometimes it hurts’ (2006), to tell his experience on the road to rebuilding his life. «There are many people who are trying to make a change. Mine is like a roadmap, if doing this served me and serves me well, maybe it does for others as well,” explains La Mari about the objective of the work ‘On the Ridge of Now’ that was released in September. . ABC has spoken with the singer-songwriter about the personal episodes she recounts in the book, the path to change and her flourishing life.
To feel whole, La Mari went through several falls “that can happen to anyone” after which she did an evaluation exercise to realize that she needed to break with what defined a life that made her uncomfortable. «I observed that I was in a moment of begging for love and placing happiness in the other person. Also what type of daily habits I had, such as using the cell phone, complaining, judging another person instead of looking at myself, poor diet and rest or alcohol,” says the woman from Malaga. Learning to live life in the present moment is not something simple and requires getting involved in oneself through many facets for which tools are needed that María herself used and uses and that she now shares with readers to ‘go’ “to the action.
«There are a lot of tools to live life the way you want to live it, designing your day to day life. I don’t have the exact formula for anything, they worked for me and maybe they work for someone else,” says the singer. In addition to gratitude, physical exercise, healthy eating or rest, what La Mari has learned most about throughout the entire process “has been listening and observing,” since she discovers “more things about the world around me.” ». Thanks to extensive training and her own experience of facing them, the artist has only found benefits in applying all these tools in her life.
The news of his illness
However, breast cancer was the vital episode that played a crucial role in her personal crisis and made her radically change her way of thinking. «Breast cancer taught me that just because you are young, your health does not belong to you. “It was a cold shower for my family that the youngest of four siblings had breast cancer at the age of 30,” she reflects on the unexpected news she received at an important professional moment and how she coped with the disease with her family. «I put on the mantle of ‘superwoman’ and ‘I can do anything’ to encourage my family. But these are disguises that you put on, which is nothing more than your ego, and you really forget that the most important thing is that you must invest your time and effort in taking care of yourself,” he acknowledges about the role he tried to play in the living with cancer.
«I am not a person to be afraid of fear»
The Mari of Chambao
Singer-songwriter
Where he also had to change his plans due to the illness was with his work. «I told everything my oncologist told me to my producer and the band of musicians and they told me to take as much time as necessary, what mattered was my health. We waited for my operation and then for the first chemo to see how my body reacted and how I reacted, I asked the oncologist if I could resume promoting and touring the album,” says La Mari. «I reached a consensus with my oncologist that if my defenses did not lower and always with tests and check-ups, I could live my life. It was advisable to continue with my life so as not to be just the sick one,” she says about the decision she made then in which fear was also relevant, which she considers very useful. «Fear when it arrives destroys everything. I am not a person to be afraid of fear, I have gone through different stages of feeling afraid that led me to take action,” he says.
The present moment
La Mari’s past experiences have helped her learn the importance of not being “in a thousand things” but in the present and with all the senses. “I care about what I am doing now, the quality, the neatness and the choice I make,” he expresses about the need to give value to what today’s society does not usually give. «I am in a moment of absorbing life and designing my own. It would be cool if you started talking alone with yourself about what you want to buy from everything they sell us, what suits you, what kind of habits you have that limit or enhance you. It’s like an invitation to talk to yourself and strip yourself away instead of acquiring more things,” he recommends as advice to be able to start changing how you are.
Although she is aware that she can help her readers, the artist’s influence “gives her a lot of respect.” «If you can take care of yourself, no one is going to do it. In fact, I invite each person to take charge of their own care. Thus, I think the world would get better,” La Mari is sincere. “Very selective” with whom she shares her time, today she can say “with her mouth full” that she has no shortage. «I am quite satisfied, calm and at peace. I live all the experiences that can be lived in the first person,” says someone who finds happiness in “how a dog moves its tail when it’s happy, in seeing a sunset, in being grateful that you’re alive, in taking a breath or reflecting on how my day went.” . For the future he only knows that he hopes to present his book in Malaga, sing “about all the themes that life has”, continue with the tour through Latin America and Europe, “take care of myself, take care of my dogs and see more of my parents”, ends the conversation.
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