Luz Casal: “For years I did not wear a skirt on stage, I did not want to be seen as anything other than a singer”

by time news

in a silence of double light there are thousands of messages. She not only emits them with her voice, but also with her look, attitude, bearing… Sometimes, even, says much quieter than loud. She is a plain person, without masks. There is nothing that stands between her and the planet. Everything she tastes comes from her soul. Perhaps, in an attempt to preserve the essence that she has pinned her feet to the ground for 47 years of career. The artifice does not match his personality. He still oozes the same passion, frankness and innocence as before. “I am a brave woman, almost fearless, persevering, dedicated to my work and to the people I love. I am not afraid of difficulties, ”she assures. Immediately, a pause is imposed. Look the cover of ‘Windows to my soul’ (Virgin Music, 2023) and, with a gesture of complicity, he releases a slight sigh. There is more information in it than in any verb: its sixteenth album it is so intimate that it is difficult to express its content in other words. Hence, with the melody in the background, his gestures take on so much meaning.

Total, 12 songs that could well be 12 pieces of heart. The first collects the 2,000 calls you made during the lockdown to those who asked for comfort. And the last one cries out against the consequences that the war has on society. A beginning and an end in the antipodes that, united in a captivating cut LP, find a universal reading. “It would suck if my songs managed to move, help and provoke action. However, in the end, everything is more tangible: a person who needs to communicate with another expresses himself through music. And what happens next… I hope something happens, ”says the interpreter, who had not published unpublished material for five seasons. After ‘Que corra el aire’ (2018, Warner Music), she dared with the first live album of her career: recorded in the Plaza del Obradoiro in Santiago de Compostela, it was the umpteenth vindication of her as a stage animal . Well, no matter how many silences she articulates, on stage she is capable of transforming herself into pure rock. You just have to allow yourself to feel them.

In ‘Hello, how are you’, Luz recounts the 2,000 calls she made during confinement to those who asked her for comfort. Universal


Although he has been showing us his interior all his life, he has taken good care of himself from the chest to the inside. What’s in there?

I am a complex person and full of ins and outs. A part I am showing them for the first time now. I find myself in a moment of confidence in which I can show myself in a more intimate way, with my defects and my ways of being in the world. The biggest is not always the most important. Small is too. It produces a feeling of harmony greater than if you only try to reach the maximum. This is well expressed in the LP: there are different genres because I address different issues.

Among them, success. In ‘Before’ you he confesses: “Going up, going down / everything is reduced / to an eternal blablabla”. Has this clouded you at some point?

I think never. I started very young and, since then, I have tried not to lose touch with my environment. Although this has had peaks of more or less popularity, you learn to regulate yourself: I accept the praise, but I know that it comes from people who love me. Fortunately for my mental health, being aware of the efforts of the people with whom I have developed my career has kept me strong. Then there is the futile, the brief of being the prettiest. That happen. I want to think that the important thing is the songs.

Have you been cheated?

I have ever felt underestimated by the musical genre. What I don’t like I easily forget, so I go lightly. I have a tendency to spare no dedication to what I like no matter how adverse the circumstances. I am stubborn in what I have to do.

Do you identify with everything you have published since its inception?

Yes. In my case, before teaching something, I give it 20 laps. The goal is to do well what I have dedicated so much effort and time to. Maybe I’m heavy saying the same thing, but music is not my job. It is a food that I need daily. The one that allows me to produce, interpret, compose, listen, see…

He made his way into the industry during the Transition. A complex stage, I imagine.

The day I discovered that singing was superlative, my path was traced. So, I didn’t know how many curves I would take or how many potholes I would dodge. My goal was to make a hole where there was none. I can’t speak of my past with regret, but… For years I didn’t wear a skirt on stage. I didn’t want to be seen as anything other than a singer. So, no gender. I have never accepted being told if I could get sexier. My condition as an interpreter was far above any other observation. Whether or not she was attractive. Whether she spoke well or not. And, thanks to that, I can express my perception of reality.

As feminist iconHave you felt the pressure to champion new values?

No. If I have served as an example, it seems fine to me. However, it has not been provoked. I, in music, admire numerous women past and present. And probably future ones. Regarding my routine, my mother influenced me greatly: she was a powerful, short, pretty woman with enormous character. She doesn’t weigh me down and I hope my experiences can help. She happened to me with cancer: there were people who told me that my experience had helped them to face the disease. It seems complete to me, but that’s it. I don’t consider myself a champion of anything. She doesn’t come out.

She always wears deep red lips. Symbol of rebellion?

I’ve been painting them since I was able to convince my mother that if she didn’t let me, I was going to do it anyway. She told me that, when she was little, she took off her lipstick. It is a very personal detail. And I do it even to be alone. I don’t do makeup for others. My mouth is my instrument. So I want to highlight it.

In 2007 and 2010, he went through two cancers. Does it bother you that they ask you so much about death?

No. Unfortunately, most do it one way or another. It doesn’t bother me because it doesn’t stir me inside. What does cause me discomfort is that they ask me about what I don’t know or don’t understand. What soccer team am I from? What do you care? There is no need for it.

At 64 years old, have you devoted the same care to mental health as to physical?

Yes, I pay attention to bad thoughts. When I identify them, I quickly put a cross. You have to be careful with the experiences and the people you can meet. We are a whole: we cannot only take care of the ankles and neglect the knees. One of the best rewards I can receive in life is to make someone feel relieved through my songs.

This purpose is intuited in ‘A little more love’. Carmen Santonja composed it for you 30 years ago: in 1993, the Bosnian war was raging. And, in 2023, it is Ukraine. Have we learned so little?

It’s funny how a topic that didn’t fit me in Backlighting now it does have the space that corresponds to it. And that, in addition, it is to close the disc. I want things to change… even if it’s almost getting on my knees to ask for a miracle.

Going back to one of his verses: are we doomed to the shipwreck of humanity?

I hope not. For the account that brings us. You have to be alert. We must not trust each other. There can always be a twisted mind that leads us to disaster.

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