Tania Libertad is like a whirlwind. At 70, she continues to produce music for the platforms with surprising energy. For the interpreter, who this December 10 will participate as a guest in the anniversary concert of Los Kjarkas (Westin Hotel), the new way of making music is a challenge that she actively assumes. “I have always been very proactive, I am not one of those who stay in the conventional mold, I always seek to do fusions and I like to do work inside the recording studio. My son teaches me audio engineering and I spend my time recording and experimenting. I am very restless in that sense, ”she tells us on the phone from Mexico where she has lived for 42 years.
“So you’re fine with the changes.”
-Very well. Now I no longer have a record label, but an ‘aggregator’ that uploads my songs to the platforms, but then I make my own promotional videos. I’ve kept up with technology, I love keeping up with it. I also take care of my networks, although I have had to stop exchanging inbox messages with people, because I either answered the messages or went to work.
—Speaking of changes, do you like urban music that is so fashionable these days?
—I think there is room for everyone, just as I am a worshiper and promoter of freedom of expression, I have to respect what others do. I have a bit of a conflict with the lyrics that are too explicit because unfortunately, sometimes, all of that is heard by a very young audience: children and adolescents, who suddenly feel a bit violated.
Too much misogyny…
—Of course, and with that I have a little reserve because I also come from a generation in which pure poetry was sung. I continue interpreting authors like Chabuca Granda, Alicia Maguiña, Benedetti and many poets who had a very nice command of language and it shocks a little. I don’t have any problem with the rhythm, I like it and I think it can be used to give other types of messages because suddenly you listen and ask yourself, in what language is that young man or lady singing? Because they don’t say the complete words and everything ends with ‘mami’.
—A few days ago one of the poets of music left, Pablo Milanés. What memories do you have of him?
—I met him in 1976 when we went to sing in Cuba. I recorded duets with Pablo for several albums, including in the video clip we made for ‘El primer amor’, at the end a girl appears: Haydeé Milanés, his daughter. I was like her godmother because Pablo brought her when she was little, he went to her things and left her with me. And I took her for a walk, to buy ice cream, to the park… At that level it was my friendship with him. The last time we sang together was during a pandemic in a streaming that I organized in Mexico at the beginning of 2020 and to which I invited several friends: Serrat, Nacha Guevara, Daniela Romo and him. I asked them to send me a video, to sing something and I made them a duet. That way I was able to talk to Pablo, he even left me a very nice greeting, he was already living in Madrid and it was the last time we spoke. I knew he was in poor health, but I thought he was going to deliver her. Pablo was not only a great composer, but a great interpreter of the most beautiful voices that exist. It was beautiful to sing with him.
—What feelings do you have when you celebrate 60 years of artistic life?
—The only thing that worries me is that people think that one is an old woman (laughs). But not. The truth is that I have the energy for a good while, but one becomes more selective. What I want to do is less concerts, but better done. I’m preparing several albums, I don’t know when I’m going to retire, I don’t even know if I’m going to do a retirement tour. I also don’t want to be on stage until I die, it doesn’t go that way. Suddenly, next year I sing again with Eva Ayllón and let’s do something in Trujillo and Arequipa…
—And Chiclayo, your land.
I hope that the people of Chiclayo make room for me because I only receive decorations, but they don’t take me to sing. By the way, like a guitar cebiche, a chinguirito and a chirimpico.
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