his passion save words and music of neglected artistsfirst because of the Civil War, then because of the absolute forgetfulness that puts what men create before what women do, their view of life as women, their sharing it and fighting for it.
paco ladiesMiguel Hernández, who has been working on this rescue passion for years, is a Granada musician who sings for poets like Blas de Otero, Lorca or Antonio Machado. There were collaborators such as Caballero Bonald, Juan Gelman or Luis Eduardo Aute, and voices such as Pastora Soler, Rozalén or Carmen Linares to carry out the work of musical glorification of poetry.
The album belongs to him Invisible-Hatless 2, and with this luggage in his backpack, he travels to Spain or wherever they ask of him, using the words of artists like. Zenobia Camprubi, carmen de burgos, Maria Lejarraga, Valderrama Column, Maria Zambrano, shell mendez anyone Maria Teresa LeonThe sound of this time, the memory of those years when each was named, was a challenge to a threatened void.
The hatless were Artists who challenged the undressing ban that was a burden on women in the 1920s and 1930s. Specifically, the artists represented on the Damas album, many of whom were poets, defied the authorities and took this name, which resonates even today, from a time when women even fought for this gesture: to be free to take off their hats.
In his last book, A common date (With them, without them, for them, in front of them. Plaza and Janes), Julia Navarro This proposal by Damas comes to the fore in the midst of a debate in favor of this and other women (Spanish, foreign) fighting like Las Sinsombrero. for the freedom to exist as an artist or thinker. And these days, Televisión Española took the minutes of the nightly newscast to highlight the opportunity that the Granada musician has dedicated himself to this demand for women’s liberation.
In a conversation with Damas in the newsroom of EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA from the Prensa Ibérica group, he expressed his surprise at the meager effect of his effort. These latest repercussions of his work ease the anger of the media at the carelessness he received from someone because of the quality of his effort. Chosen as a Musician and Peace AmbassadorIn addition to rewarding girl For his work against gender violence. He also roamed the so-called empty Spain for years carrying this music of testimony and equality.
Q. Why did you choose poetry for your music?
r. Maybe because I’m willing. Music has always been in my life since I was a kid. Music and guitar. But I knew it wouldn’t feed a humble family like mine. So I studied medicine and practiced for a while. I majored in psychotherapy and there, while still studying, I did a project on Rafael Alberti and got a lot of concerts and there I said: maybe it’s good to devote myself to music. And… I already have eight albums. For example, there are eight albums that let me sing to modernize medieval poets. Let’s blow them up. I also made a recording about Don Quixote, where I selected twelve poems from Don Quixote to make it pop. Then I made a recording about Miguel Hernández, and in 2012 I came across an anthology of women’s poetry in Córdoba and was shocked. They were women with a strong biography and a very high literature. And I said: We’ve all said Lorca, Miguel Hernández… now we have to say them. I have given more than a thousand concerts with this project so far. The first episode came out in 2017, without a hat, where I sing to eight women in contemporary rhythms and accompany the records with didactic materials, so that men get to know women’s literature through my music. These are events developed for educational centers through a group of teachers from Castilla La Mancha, and therefore, in addition to giving concerts for adults, I also give concerts for children and youth throughout Spain, funded by institutions, municipalities…
Q. Are you doing this for your job or just for work?
r. Because I love music. Because I have a solidarity speech. Because I think the world can be better with my music, what I spread about poets. This makes people leave sensitive and empowered women from my concerts. After that 2017 album, I came back to more women in the shadows like María Zambrano, Pilar de Valderrama, María Lejárraga or Carmen de Burgos.
Q. How do you adapt music to poetry?
r. Every poem asks something from you. There are poems that take you to slow, melodic beats, others ask you for liveliness, rock or a ballad. I lock myself in my office with my guitar and work with the poems I have chosen beforehand.
Q. Before you found these women, what was in their music?
r. I made a whole album about male writers Juan Ramón Jiménez and so on… But I wasn’t very visible in the media because, you know, culture doesn’t sell. Now if you don’t have a reggaeton player with you, they don’t pay attention to you. That’s it.
P. So you care about success?
r. No. What matters to me is that people discover the work of all these great writers.
Q. What do you want children to learn?
r. Equality with this project. And also the fight against gender violence. For me, gender violence keeps all these women secret. The issue of equality is in education. Or rather, it can be solved by education. Education at home and at school.
Q. Do you feel like you have convinced someone?
r. Yes, of course. We are getting more and more convinced. What’s happening is that the issue has become very politicized and I don’t think that helps. Equality is not a left or right thing, it is everyone’s business.
Q. Who are your teachers?
r. Sabina, Aute, Hilario Camacho, Amancio Prada… Luis Cernuda, whom I am passionate about. And recently Concha Méndez, María Teresa León, Ángela Figuera… Today, men’s literature is taught in five pages, women’s literature on one page or none at all. All these writers are just beginning to appear.
For example, all the men of the ’27 Generation’ are visible, but the women? I do my best to make them visible.”
Q. But there are also male writers hidden in the history of literature…
r. It’s hard for me to think of the names of men in this situation. For example, all the men of the ’27 Generation’ are visible, but the women? I do my best to make them visible. I don’t think of music as a thing show business and that’s it. For me, music should convey something, teach something.
Q. And what do women say about your singing?
r. “I am a woman born a poet and I am looking for a point that does not exist,” says Concha Espina. She said that in 1903, she. Antonio Machado’s muse, Pilar de Valderrama, refers to Machado as “the kiss that your and my mouth never shared.” And such. “Life is a little hope and a little hate,” says Cenobia Campubrí.
Q. What are you currently preparing?
r. I’m resting my work and looking for Latin American writers, because I’ve dealt with Spanish writers so far and I’ve already found some, Rosario Castellanos, Dulce María Loynaz, Gabriela Mistral… writers like this. I hope Latin Americans will be interested. I hope I can tour with this new album but I don’t want to talk too much about it because there are people who copy my ideas.
Q. Of all the lines you added music, which one do you have left?
r. Here is a poem by Sagrario Torres, a poet from Valdepeñas who pays tribute to the elderly: “He is sitting at the top of a bench. / He doesn’t want to bother. It doesn’t look ahead. / Not disturbed by sounds or people. / The fabric covering it was worn. / His poorly combed head is white. / I only see one earring on your profile. / And a boring, reckless shoe. / A thick and loose sock / (…)”.