“If music is the food of love, keep playing.”
Shakespeare
I have just spent ten days in the United States covering the electoral farce, the most powerful argument against electoral democracy that I have ever seen. The best part of the stay—by far—was a concert I went to on Saturday, November 2, 72 hours before the great American people elected for the second time the worst president in their 248-year history.
I tell you. That Saturday morning I was having breakfast with a couple of friends, one from London, the other the owner of the house in Washington where I was staying. Being cultured guys, they knew football. We comment on the fascinating decline of Real Madrid and Manchester City. We wondered if it was due to the absences of Toni Kroos and Rodri, or to Madrid’s hiring of the not-so-superstar Mbappé, or to the drop in tension caused in City by Guardiola’s early departure in the summer.
From there, tired of talking about politics, we moved on to rock music. What groups did we like? We two foreigners mentioned the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and The Clash. Our American host said that he loved a group called Mumiy Troll.
No. Me neither.
Hansi Flick gives instructions to his players during the last derby against Espanyol
“Mumi” what?, I said. MUMIY and Troll, as a troller, responded to me. “It’s a rock group, with a punk touch. “They are Russians, from Vladivostok.” Each fool with his own topic, I replied, or something like that.
The advisable thing in these silly times is to stay away from politics and focus on what gives us pleasure
The incredible thing, even more so that a majority in the United States would end up voting for Donald Trump, was that, immediately afterwards, the American friend opened the newspaper and discovered that Mumiy Troll was playing in Washington that same night. We went online and bought tickets. The three of us were the only non-Russians of the 400 people who filled the venue. They were all immigrants, none of them rich, none – I think – a political exile. The dozen we spoke to said they would vote for Trump. Because? An office worker named Natasha explained it to me.
“Trump is going to stop the war in Ukraine,” he said. “He is going to stop arming the Ukrainians so that they will no longer kill Russian soldiers.” Under normal circumstances I get up and go. Or I respond, “Don’t you realize, moron, that Putin could stop the killings by withdrawing his troops from Ukrainian soil?” But I didn’t say anything. I smiled placidly and that’s it. I was in too good a mood to become bitter once more over the plight of the species. Mumiy Troll’s concert in Washington is the best I remember seeing, comparable only to one many years ago in London by Bruce Springsteen. Surprises that life gives you.
The story contains a lesson. The most advisable thing in these silly times we live in is to stay away from politics and focus on the things that give us pleasure in life, like music or football, two arts that remain serious and honorable. Yes, yes, I know. “Serious” and “honorable” are not the first adjectives that come to mind when one thinks of UEFA, FIFA, Florentino Pérez (what a joke about the Ballon d’Or!) or Joan Laporta. But I mean football as a sport, not as a business or power game.
Nothing like a game to escape from the banality that reigns in the world. Nothing like a good conversation in which we explore the big questions of our times, like the reason for Barça’s amazing season. We said it at that breakfast in Washington: what the hell has Hansi Flick done (Hansi who? was the universal question three months ago) to transform a team of adults and children into the most exuberant scoring power in European football?
I can’t say that I’m a culé, but what I like almost more than anything else in life is good football. To that I add music. Barça is suddenly both things at the same time. It is an orchestra that combines classical music (“Chopin” Lewandowski), heavy metal (Gavi) and hip hop (Lamine Yamal). And let’s not forget the samba of Raphinha, the player who has experienced the most spectacular comeback since the time of Lázaro.
My happiness will be complete the day the Russian group Mumiy Troll plays at the new Camp Nou
Meanwhile, when there is no game, I listen to the Mumiy Troll, serious and honorable guys, also, by the way, banned today in Russia for opposing Putin’s war in Ukraine. I can’t stop listening to their songs on Spotify, which makes me think that my happiness will be complete the day they come to play at the new Camp Nou.
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