Serrat says goodbye to Mexico

Shortly before the event, thousands of people filled the Plaza del Zócalo in Mexico City. Not even the threat of rain dampened the desire of the 80,000 followers of Joan Manuel Serratgathered to see him perform one last time on stage.

The free concert put an end to an idyll of more than 50 years that took root in the collective memory since that November 2, 1969 when the singer of Poble Sec stepped on a public stage for the first time in Mexico, neither more nor less than the Palace of Fine Arts.

Last Saturday night, October 22, Serrated he sang to Mexico for the last time, as part of his farewell tour “The Vice of Singing, 1965-2022”, which began in April in New York and will end in December in his hometown, Barcelona, ​​a few days before his 79th anniversary. birthday.

“You will have heard that we are celebrating a farewell concert. Do not pay attention, this is a beloved party that we are all going to enjoy. So put aside any hint of nostalgia, of melancholy and think that from now on absolutely everything is future “, Said the interpreter before starting the concert, visibly moved.

‘Dale que dale’ was the first of more than twenty songs in an evening of more than two hours, which began at 8:06 p.m., marked by a mixture of joy and sadness in equal parts, in which the public did not stop singing.

For Liberty

From a Catalan father and an Aragonese mother, Serrated He was born on December 27, 1943 in “the Ciudad Condal”. He was part of the “Nova Cançó” (the ‘new song’), a cultural movement that sought to vindicate the Catalan language in the midst of Franco’s dictatorship, while at the same time denouncing social injustice through art.

In 1968, after being chosen to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, days before the contest he was forbidden to sing in his mother tongue. He was later banned from the media, his music was heard clandestinely. Persecuted by the dictatorship, years later he went into exile in Mexico, where he lived for a year, between 1975 and 1976. And he always continued betting on good sense and political maturity.

The Mexican concert had the Metropolitan Cathedral as a backdrop, one of the first Catholic temples in New Spain. He included ‘Cançó de Bressol’, dedicated to his mother, and ‘Pare’ (‘Father’), written half a century ago with an ecological message “to raise awareness of the need to change our habits, if we don’t want to leave our children and our grandchildren a planet sicker every day”.

Making indirect reference to climate change, one of today’s big problems, the musician and activist added: “I’m surprised, it hurts me that it’s still something valid.”

Among the most chanted pieces were ‘Para la libertad’, while works by Banksythe enigmatic British artist, and ‘Today can be a great day’, which has a special meaning for Paulina Aguirre.

“When my father had a difficult time he would play that song, it would lift his spirits. He died last year, so he couldn’t stop coming to see Serratedbecause he couldn’t do it. He was one of his favorite singers, just like (Joaquín) Sabina, “the woman, a native of Puebla, about two hours from Mexico City, told DW.

Throughout the night, ‘Pueblo Blanco’, ‘De papier mâché’, ‘Today for you, tomorrow for me’ and ‘Your name tastes like grass’ were also heard, in addition to ‘Lucía’, ‘Barquito de papel’ , ‘Mediterráneo’, with beautiful images, but also of a migrant trying to cross the Melilla border fence, and ‘Es capricious el hazard’, sung as a duet with Úrsula Amargos.

Two goodbyes in Mexico

As part of the poster for the 50th edition of the Cervantino International Festival, in the city of Guanajuato, Joan Manuel Serrat held a second farewell concert in Mexico, on Sunday, October 23, at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, where the so-called “Noi del Poble Sec” (‘the boy from the Dry Town’) acted a few years ago.

“Mexico City or Guanajuato?” Mexican Betto Arcos, host of National Public Radio, one of the media most listened to by the Hispanic American community in the United States, is asked. He came from Los Angeles to witness “a historic moment” for Ibero-American culture.

Without saying a word, he replies that the event in the Mexican capital “has emblematic significance for being the heart of the country” and for being held in the main square, a place flanked by the vestiges of the Aztec capital and imposing colonial buildings.

In that place, the attendees, standing or in some chairs, do not stop applauding Serrat or singing his songs, some that make tears flow for a personal passage or for his lyrics.

In the opinion of Agustín Correa, from the State of Mexico, adjacent to the Mexican capital: “Serrat is a round (complete) artist. He is a great poet, an immense singer and a man who sings loudly or the simplest and most beautiful things of the life”.

High level accolades

Halfway through the show, organized by the government of the Mexican capital, the rain stops. Serrated He continues to sing next to the National Palace, where the day before he met with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“If it weren’t for the fact that I have to go to the mountain of Guerrero, I would be at his concert,” the president published on his Twitter account, after referring to the singer-songwriter as “an exceptional, sensitive human being. A person with a lot of imagination and a lot of talent.” .

With these last functions on Mexican soil, Joan Manuel Serrat ends 57 years of a long artistic career in which difficult moments were not lacking, but which earned him recognitions such as the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise (2021), “a debt of the Spanish men and women” , according to the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, during his delivery. “His songs have always tried to contribute to tolerance within society”, in addition to promoting “coexistence, freedom and love for art and culture of hundreds of thousands of people”.

Serrated He put music to the verses of Antonio Machado (1875-1939), like other outstanding poets, and created ‘Cantares’, one of his greatest hits. With him and with ‘Esos locos bajitos’ he tried to close his farewell, but the public didn’t let him.

“In this life, inevitably, everything that begins has to end. If it were up to me, I would be singing until dawn. But it is better that my thanks be written musically,” said the actor, before presenting “Penélope” and “Sincerely yours”. ‘.

The last song heard, at the request of the audience, was ‘Fiesta’, closing in Mexico of the final tour that covers 13 countries in America and Europe.

During his Mexican stay, Serrated lived with the republican exile. For them and others she had words: “I thank all the people who taught me to know and understand this country and allowed me to walk with it for so many years.”

“My gratitude to those with whom I can have an alipús (alcoholic drink) and with those who left before. I do not want speeches, it is better that my thanks be written musically,” Serrat said goodbye, trying to contain his tears.

Originally posted on German wave.

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