“The last thing I have left to do in A Coruña is the street”

2023-08-27 05:00:00

The Galician humorist will offer a performance of the show “50+1” this Friday at the Teatro Colón.

27 ago 2023 . Updated at 05:00 h.

A Moncho Borrajo (Baños de Molgas, 1949) likes jokes. It is not new. «When I am in the Peninsula and they tell me “Moncho, and where do you live?”; I always answer: “Where do you go on vacation” », she confesses when asked about his place of residence. «I chose Tenerife many years ago because my parents came here to spend the winters. And here I have stayed, with a great temperature », he adds.

During the interview he was still recovering from the terrible fire that devastated the people of Tenerife since last week. «A year ago there was a terrifying fire in Galicia and I suffered from here [Tenerife] and I even wrote a very harsh verse because they were burning my land, even though it wasn’t even five meters where it was burning. And now it happens here, my house was filled with ash and we had the fire three kilometers from home. I can’t remedy it. That famous Galician phrase “A vaca non é de where nace, senón de where grazes”, but I’m still a cow », he recounts.

Now he takes summers with another philosophy. «I told the representatives to stop the tour from June to August. We had worked very well during the winter and now I am also doing two galas a month. This is how I take off my overalls and continue working and contacting my audience ». As if it were back to school, next Friday he will resume his humorous duties with the show 50+1. The first stop will be the Teatro Colón in A Coruña. «Then it will be in Ourense, Alicante, Seville… We are going to go as far as we can. I think it will last until next year, which would already be the 50+2but we will keep the number, “says Moncho.

Start at the disco Manuel

His link with the Herculean city goes back a long way. «Returning to Galicia for me is always an exam. A Coruña was the first city I went to work. It was at the disco Manuel in the year 1981 or 82. The last thing I have left to do in A Coruña is the street. I have been in María Pita giving a crowded proclamation, in the Colón, in the Rosalía de Castro Theater, in the Palacio de la Ópera, Afundación… I filled the bullring twice… when you feel loved and respected by the people because you force yourself not to fail. I can’t because they come with a tremendous desire », he points out. His trajectory, in fact, made his face is present in the Plaza del Humor. «In addition, in what was the old Plaza de los Huevos, which has a lot of backlash. And between two very important characters. When I go down the street and they say “Goodbye, Monchiño, I’m going to see you tomorrow” it’s a pleasure and a joy”, affirms the comedian.

In creative process

His mind doesn’t stop working either. “Lately I have finished a book of verses that I will see if I publish it in Galicianis called They say the moon doesn’t cry“, keep it up. She does not forget her roots either: «Morriña is part of the idiosyncrasy of the Galicians and of the Canaries as well. You don’t stop being Galician because you are outside of Galicia. I think the other way around. All those people who were in Venezuela, in Cuba, the Galician anthem was made outside of the community… Buenos Aires… whenever you’re away, memories of your land come to mind at any moment. I was in Choirs and Dances when I was young and it’s listening to a bagpipe and my feet move».

For him, homesickness is the same as memories of smells. «Now the big capitals no longer have that, but the people of the town and those of us who go there to spend the holidays well know what the smell of wet grass is, the smell of slaughter, the smell of Galician kitchens with that smoke that was blowing into the walls and that it was part of the room for life. They are memories that are part of you, that get into your skin. I lived in Valencia for 16 years, in Barcelona, ​​in Madrid … now I am in the Canary Islands … But I cannot forget that I am Galician », she maintains.

About the farewell tours than great artists do, Moncho prefers to be more pragmatic. “As long as I am in good health and have the public that loves me, I will continue working because it is part of my life. But when I see that I am not 100% and that I do not have that strength to act, then I will leave it and I will have a beautiful and dignified farewell, “she concludes.