Antonio Iturbe: “I am a stupid music lover” | Culture | EUROtoday

Antonio Iturbe has put music to the thirties and vice versa: he has put distress, progress and falangism to some village musicians who managed to forge a band and match their efforts with the struggle for schooling, studying and rights within the face of the darkness that Francoism was going to convey. Based on the story of his personal grandfather, a tricky saxophonist who saved the instrument perpetually when the dangerous guys received, the author born in Zaragoza in 1967 and raised in Barcelona indicators music at the hours of darkness (Seix Barral). Pure injection of fight with the weapons of tradition and cause.

Ask. Does music save us?

Answer. Culture is saving and was demonstrated within the pandemic. We had food and drinks, however we have been distressed as a result of we have been lacking one thing, that projection past materials issues. Music is therapeutic. Oliver Sacks says that music can’t be defined as a result of, not like different expertise which have particular facilities within the mind, music has not only one, however a dozen networks that intervene. It shouldn’t be recognized what the method of changing rhythms and sounds into feelings is like.

P. Set music.

R. It has regardless of, it’s invisible, it can’t be touched, it has no coloration or taste, it’s a breath of air and but it transforms us, modifications our temper, excites us or makes us melancholic. What is it manufactured from? We have no idea.

P. It says within the guide that it’s not within the ear, however within the mind.

R. It is an absolute intangible, it’s artwork par excellence. Compared to literature, for instance, which wants translation, music is a common language. The similar piece of music is known in Spain, Hong Kong and Acapulco. We don't know precisely why and it's okay that we don't know every part, in any other case life can be very boring and music is a part of the thriller of life.

P. What music do you cry to?

R. Moonlight of Debussy plunges me right into a form of altered consciousness. I don't know what it’s about it that absorbs me, hypnotizes me. I’m an enormous fan of Karen Blixen and the soundtrack of Memories of Africa It takes me to a different place.

Silence is a part of the music since you fill it, it belongs to you.”

P. It can also be near arithmetic.

R. There is a arithmetic half. Debussy stated that music is a combination between arithmetic and the inconceivable. There are a collection of chords, rhythms, cadences, however when you solely have that mathematical cadence you can be performer, however you’ll by no means develop into a musician, as a result of it’s a must to let your self be carried away by it. You need to be inside.

P. What position does silence have?

R. Silence is a part of the music since you fill it, it belongs to you. Silence is vital so that you can get inside.

P. There is one other silence. The one which arrived with the Franco regime. That of his personal grandfather.

R. With the Franco regime a slab of silence fell, my grandfather pawned his saxophone and by no means needed to purchase one other one or play. When he was little he took me on Sundays to hearken to the Barcelona municipal band and I by no means understood why. Later, via investigation, I discovered in regards to the humiliation that the tip of the band, its militarization and having to play the band meant for him. Face to solar earlier than his neighbors. Fear created nice disgrace. It was a really bitter resignation, one thing she didn’t wish to speak about.

P. Don't we ask grandparents sufficient about their lives?

R. When you’re younger you’re an arrow that solely goes ahead. And solely after a sure age do you flip round and look again. And this novel is predicated on questions by no means requested. Between the investigation and the projection of the creativeness I’ve been capable of reply myself and fill in these gaps.

P. Are you a music lover?

R. I’m a silly music lover, that’s, with little or no stable musical tradition, from choosing from right here and there. I’ve very dangerous listening to and it makes me very unhappy. If I began over I might attempt to be taught an instrument. When I’m going to a live performance, greater than the music, I take note of the musicians, how they don't have a look at the viewers or their instrument, however as a substitute shut their eyes and I ask myself: What are they seeing? Those grimaces, that gesticulation… You see that they’re some other place, they don’t seem to be there, and that amazes me.

P. His guide denounces the hazard of inquisition. Do you see that hazard once more at present with Vox and the cancellation?

R. The factor about Vox is so crude that it worries me to a sure extent, as a result of you’ll be able to see them coming, in opposition to that we will defend ourselves as a result of it’s apparent. I'm nearly extra fearful in regards to the extra sibylline cancellation that sneaks via the cracks, the self-censorship within the media, I'm extra fearful about self-cancellation than about cancellation. We will struggle in opposition to this, we will see them coming.

P. It refers back to the one which comes from the left.

R. Also, from the left there’s a sure puritanism and worry, it’s a must to measure even the humorousness. Freedom of expression has price lots to overcome, let's not be so silly as to lose it in installments.

From the left there’s a sure puritanism and worry, it’s a must to measure even your humorousness.”

P. What have you ever found whereas writing your guide?

R. Oysters, the Spain that might have been and was guillotined. That nation that introduced libraries to the cities, that opened faculties, that taught music idea, that included ladies to the forefront of every part… No matter what number of occasions it’s stated, it by no means stops making me unhappy.

P. There are nonetheless so many tales to inform.

R. Quite a bit, as a result of we supply a deficit of 40 years of silence and a transition by which we have been very busy transferring ahead and never wanting a lot within the rearview mirror, in case one thing went mistaken. There remains to be a deficit.

P. Is it time for grandchildren?

R. Yes, in the case of grandchildren, possibly we also have a duty as a result of there have been individuals who made plenty of effort and gave up their lives to sow a really small seed. And we will't let it die, we’ve to water it. And when the lumberjacks include Vox's axe, we’ve to get on with it, we will't look away.

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