Raphael, the great star of the melodic song, will return to the Starlite Festival to present his acclaimed Raphael 6.0 tour, with which he celebrates 60 years as one of the main Spanish-speaking artists. “You always have to reinvent yourself without ceasing to be yourself. You don’t have to do a clowning to reinvent yourself,” he says
Could you imagine celebrating your 60 years of professional career like this, on stages around the world?
No. I never thought about it. I imagined that at 60 years old, my voice would have changed. And no, I haven’t changed anything. I just recorded the new album in London, and my voice still sounds exactly the same, which is a miraculous thing. The time has not yet come to retire.
I was going to ask him if he conceived this tour as a farewell, but clearly not.
Nope! I will go one day, of course. But I’m not going to make any announcements. I’ll wake up one day and I’ll say to myself: “You’re not fit anymore, you know. If you want to do stupid things, do them. And I’ll call the office and say, “Gentlemen, this far.” And that’s it. And I will live the life that I stay by going to the theater a lot and seeing the companions that emerge.
Artists often say that they prefer to retire at their best so they don’t fade, but you always seem to be at your best.
Exact. That’s the good thing in my case, that every time I get up and sing, I say: well, nothing, we continue. Every time I record an album, the sound technicians are square-eyed. And I say: «Well, nothing, we continue». Until Mother Nature says, “So far.”
I just recorded the new album in London, and my voice still sounds exactly the same, which is a miraculous thing.
Is it more a mandate of your own voice than your own decision?
It is totally a mandate from her, because she is the one who has to do with this matter. It is so. It is no longer whether they call me or not, it is whether the voice sounds. And it sounds.
It is clear that voice, there is. And do you win?
[Ríe] Of course. Ample.
The fact that the voice has not changed in 60 years, is it a miracle, or is it a trick?
The issue is that it has changed, but it is changing slowly. The public is getting used to the new sound, it’s not that you suddenly start letting loose. You have the same color. So there is no apparent reason to leave it.
And the public, it seems, still wants to see him after 60 years. What does it give them? Do you have to reinvent yourself, or remain the same as always so that his followers renew their confidence?
No. You always have to reinvent yourself without ceasing to be yourself. Not to reinvent yourself you have to make a clown. You have to follow your path, the one that the public knows and loves. The public wants to see me and hear me and the songs they want and I give them to them. I also give them new songs, like this album that I just finished, so that they learn them and don’t have to sing the same thing over and over again. There we have a wonderful moment of silence. The new songs are beautiful, but the public rules.
Many established artists shy away from their own classics in favor of new themes.
What happens to me is that the first one who gets tired of his songs is me. Then, suddenly, I remove them from the repertoire. I still remove five or six things from the important ones. Since I sing others, the public doesn’t even notice, and after a month I play them again. They are my work, I cannot avoid them.
He talks about the delivery of the public. It has a very diverse and eclectic audience in terms of age. Is there relief in the seats?
aIn my public there are four generations. That is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me. There are parents, grandparents and grandchildren.
And do the grandchildren know the songs?
Yes. Children of 9 and 10 years old know them by heart, especially the first ones, Scandal type.