With a new album about to be presented and almost 50 years on stage, Luz Casal says in an interview with EFE that to achieve and sustain success for decades, being a woman, she has been “used to elbowing and raising her voice when necessary”.
Luz Casal has been the star during the celebrations for the National Day of Spain in Buenos Aires, dedicated on this occasion to Galicia, where the artist from Boimorto (A Coruña) is from. For that reason she offered a free concert on Sunday night in the auditorium of the Palacio Libertad in the Argentine capital, considered one of the best in America.
“I’ve gotten used to making my own niche, to nudge and raise my voice when necessary, to have very clear ideas and objectives, to not let myself be overwhelmed, or underestimated, or think that the effort I had to make was superior to that of a colleague,” the artist tells EFE about how she has overcome barriers throughout her long and respected career.
And he adds: “I have assumed it as ‘this is what it is and I will know how to channel it according to my objectives and my desires’, defending myself from situations in which, because of your condition, you could be underestimated, treated with a certain lack of respect”.
Luz Casal celebrates overcoming serious health problems and also the imminent release of her new album, ‘Me voy a permitir’, which will be presented in November and includes five covers and five original songs.
Among other songs, the Galician performs ‘Todo cambia’ and ‘Gracias a la vida’, two masterful nods to Argentina’s Mercedes Sosa and Chile’s Violeta Parra. When she sang them in Buenos Aires, as a preview of the album, the audience rose to its feet and roared a standing ovation.
“It’s not about making it better or worse, but about doing your own version, always respecting the essence of the song, not altering the melody or the lyrics and, if possible, making the new version as dignified as possible,” he says about the challenge of interpreting what the two great Latin American voices did before.
And she explains: “At the beginning my approach was to cover songs composed by women, then it expanded to powerful songs sung by women and, from there, I started writing and having concrete ideas for new songs. In the end it’s an album of half covers, half original songs”.
“Los pies en el suelo” by Luz Casal
Luz Casal also spoke to EFE about what it meant to her to receive the title of Marquesa de la Luz y la Paz by Felipe VI on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his reign: “First surprise, then gratitude”.
“They are awards that make your life happy, whether big or small, given by a women’s association or with this more pompous, bigger character, but with the naturalness that after I go to bed being María Luz Casal Paz”, she says about the recognition that turns an artist who still feels like a rocker into a marquise.
She recalls that her origins are “very simple”, that she belongs to a family that also had to migrate “to look for a better life” and, therefore, she knows “what it has meant to get her head out of necessity”.
“My parents worked hard, especially my mother, and I have had a privileged education thanks to their efforts. You can’t forget where you’re from, it’s a way of keeping your feet on the ground,” he remarks.
The artist believes she has “never lost her sense of reality” and says that the privileges she has achieved throughout her life have been received with simplicity: “I dedicate myself to this and I am lucky in life, and that’s it. I’ve never been arrogant, I’ve always had my feet firmly on the ground, that’s why I don’t like heels very much”.
Asked precisely what ‘Tacones Lejanos’ meant in her career, she is clear: “It was a before and after that offer from Pedro Almodóvar to do two songs that were later included in the film”.
This is how Luz Casal remembers Almodóvar, when he asked her, in 1992, to record ‘Piensa en mí’ and ‘Un año de amor’ for ‘Tacones lejanos’, in which Marisa Paredes and Miguel Bosé appear on stage doing ‘playback’, but the real voice is that of Luz Casal.
For the artist everything changed for two reasons: “First, because stylistically it opened my name to other registers, to other styles. And then because, thanks to the success of the film, they were two important songs for many people”.
“In the case of ‘Piensa en mí’, I will be linked for the rest of my life to that song,” she adds, explaining that she always sings it live.
“Stupendamente,” Luz Casal concluded with a knowing smile when EFE asked about her state of health after overcoming two cancer treatments. That “stupendously” was demonstrated on stage, reported Agencia EFE, where she ended up wearing a red leather jacket and performing some of her best rock songs: ‘Rufino’ and ‘Loca’.
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