We walked with the singer-songwriter and poet
'Amerizaje' is the title of your latest album, why that name?
It is a word that phonetically seems super nice to me. There are words that make me fall in love, beyond their meaning, because of how they sound. In this case, it's because of how it sounds and what it means: a splashdown is not classified as a plane crash, but as the last resort before a plane crash, which is to plan on the sea. And the mixture between the fact that I am a Canarian, that my life has always been closely linked to the sea and what the songs talk about seemed to me to be a very suggestive name to convey it.
What is someone who listens to your music for the first time going to find when they hear 'Amerizaje'? Is it a good gateway to your work?
Yes, because this record, which is actually a book-record, It is part of a project in which my two worlds have come together for the first time: songs and poems. In fact, many songs are fused with poetry and feature collaborations with artists that I love and admire a lot. In addition, it is an album that is recorded bareback, as I do most of my concerts, with guitar and voice. Therefore, it rescues quite well the essence of my live shows and that magic that is created in concerts.
Tour concert in Murcia
You are on tour in Spain, what are you offering your concerts?
This tour is a mix of two projects. On the one hand, there is splashdown, which is the part that we are going to defend the most and that it is his farewell because in September of next year we will release the new album. On the other hand also we introduce some songs from a project that we just recorded to celebrate my 10 years of concerts. It's a DVD-disc recorded live at the FNAC: it occurred to me to do a concert at night, in the bookstore and behind closed doors, with limited invitations. In a way, it is the farewell to Amerizaje and a review of my career.
Have you calculated how many kilometers you are going to do on the tour?
No, but many. The ones I already have. I have never counted them.
When you face a tour of this type, do you have any traveling mania?
I always like it, especially if I travel through Spain, do some sport before leaving on a trip and when you arrive in the city because so many hours in the car leave you crippled. I really like meditation and I I do my meditations and I am always accompanied by books, my laptop in which I write poems, songs, my notebook and my agenda. My hobby is, above all, to be able to reach the cities with time. I like to be very organized and, even if it is little, enjoy every city I go to: being able to eat the typical food and have time to get to the concert relaxed.
Your latest album is called 'Amerizaje' and you have a book of poems called 'Despite the planes', what's up with the planes?
I wrote that book because for a couple of years of my life I had a long-distance relationship with a girl who was in the Canary Islands and I was in Madrid. Also, it was the time when I was starting to give concerts and every weekend I traveled. that book is written entirely on planes. In fact, each poem has at the bottom the cities and the flight in which I wrote it. Airplanes are one of the places I write the most because it is one of the few places where you are absolutely disconnected from everything.
Mexico City, city of contrasts
You are from Gran Canaria, you live in Madrid and you have spent a lot of time in Mexico City. Tell us about the Mexican capital.
I've been there 12 times since August 2011, which was my first time. The first impression was very chaotic. Mexico City is like Madrid, but taken to the extreme. It is a city that you can hate and that you can love in the same day 500 times. It has everything a big city has, but one day you can spend six hours in the car to cover a kilometre. You never know what is going to happen when you go out, when you take the car or when you want to go somewhere. There is no punctuality because it is absolutely impossible and it is a city in which there is no free space. With so many millions of people in a territory that is not that big either, there is not a hole to breathe, except for two or three parks that give the city a little air. It is a city of contrasts, like the country itself.
What soundtrack would you put on it?
Any song by José Alfredo.
What are your favorite places in Mexico City?
I really like Coyoacán, which is the most artistic neighborhood where Frida Kahlo's house is. , a figure with whom I connected many years ago and who has always been very special to me. In fact, I named my editorial after him. I really like walking around there and having a coffee in the square, because it is a very special area. I also like the Condesa area, where there is even a replica of Cibeles. It's like a very Parisian area, a little more European.
The figure of Frida Kahlo, an inspiration for Ojeda
Do you have a head office?
In Coyoacán, there is a place called the Oh Allah, which is a concert bar, for singer-songwriters, where many of us began to give our first concerts. It is a mythical place and it is like my home in Coyoacán. In Condesa, there are many cafes, many restaurants and many special places. I couldn't tell you any in particular, but they all have their magic and charm.
Speaking of singer-songwriters, is there a songwriting circuit in Mexico City?
There are a number of bars and small venues that I have played: the Albanta , the Brief Space , the Oh Allah or the Songbook Toad . Then there would be Weaver's Forum , which is a bit larger; and the ** Lunario del Auditorio Nacional , which already has a capacity of about 500 people.** From there, we would move on to slightly larger forums, which go beyond the author's song, for artists with more media coverage. In addition, there are also theaters like the Foro Coyoacanense, which is in the center of Coyoacán.
In terms of gastronomy and restaurants, do you have any essentials?
I really like to eat on the street. I love tacos and where I have eaten the best has been in the most seedy taqueria in the most dodgy neighborhood in Mexico. I love the tacos al pastor, the cochinita pibil, I like it when I go in August because in the city of Puebla there is a typical dish that is only prepared in that month, the chiles en nogada that are made with a fruit that only grows at that time of year. I also really like Yucatecan food and there are many restaurants in Mexico City that serve it. I love barbecue, which is what they drink there for a hangover: barbecued meat, with tacos and a soup. There is also pozole, which is like corn soup; the tamales… Everything is exquisite.
Street food, a must in Mexico City
Where can we eat authentic Mexican food in Madrid
In Madrid it is difficult to find a Mexican place that represents Mexican food. I have only found one truly Mexican. Tacos Chapultepec: It's in the Bilbao area and it's like you're eating tacos at a street stall in Mexico.
Let's talk about Madrid. You have written that it is "like a house without windows", "a wife tired of pretending", but at the same time "a constant sunrise". Is it a city of contrasts?
Well too. Like Mexico City, but thank God with a little more order. Even though I'm from the Canary Islands, I feel like I'm from Madrid because I have been here nine years and it is the city that has given me everything. It is the city that has everything, that sometimes you also hate, but that you almost always love. Any day of the week you can make a plan, there are always sites and places to go. I don't know what he has. In fact I when I leave I don't miss the people, I don't miss my house, I miss the city, I miss Madrid. And every time I get back from a trip, especially when I come back by plane and leave the airport by taxi, I think I'm home, I'm in Madrid. It has something that catches you above all.
fall in love We give faith
What are your must-see places in the city? Those without which Madrid would not be Madrid.
Well, without a doubt, Libertad 8, the room where I started singing. I gave my first concert there, I still sing from time to time and it's a place I go practically every week, sometimes every day. It is my bar in Madrid. In addition, everything that implies the Freedom 8, which is in the Chueca area and is a neighborhood that I love. Also Malasaña, Huertas… Everything that is the center of Madrid. As for venues, in addition to Libertad 8 there is also the Sala Galileo: They are places in which I have become an artist and also as a person, in which I have lived wonderful nights . And, of course, Madrid has it all: the Retiro Park, Tierno Galván Park, the Temple of Debod…
In addition to Libertad 8 and Galileo, what other rooms would you recommend to listen to author songs?
Well, there aren't many more. There is the Eagle Owl, Clamores, La Fídula. .. That's a bit of the gambling dens there are. Then we move on to slightly larger sites like the Joy Eslava, the Fernán Gómez Theater where I will perform in February.
Madrid has everything: also the Retiro
Where is poetry enjoyed and lived in Madrid?
There is a reference room that is the Random , in Malasana. It is another of the places where you can find me. There is one more that suddenly appears and disappears , but as long as it remains and is a reference, right now in Madrid, the Aleatorio.
What contests are there? What is being done about poetry in Madrid?
Right now, poetry is one of the best-selling literary genres in Spain and In Madrid you can find a poetry event practically every day. In the Random, almost any day there is a poetry recital. We are continually doing recitals and presentations, both in theaters and in stores.
Paradise for poetry lovers
Is there a reference bookstore you have to buy poetry?
** The Visor bookstore, which is in the Moncloa area and belongs to the Visor publishing house.** I think I have 60 or 70% of Visor's books and it is one of my favorites. There is another very cool bookstore called ** Los Editores and it is in the Barrio de Salamanca.**
Where are the muses in Madrid?
I look for them in my study, in my office, which are the offices of my publisher because I am surrounded by books, but also in the streets, in bars... Madrid inspires you anywhere. Many times I am asked if it is essential to be in Madrid if you dedicate yourself to art and I think so, because Things happen in Madrid that don't happen anywhere else. That is the magic of it.
On your Instagram account you post photos of the Madrid sky. Are you part of their legion of lovers?
Yes I love it. There are some wonderful sunsets, when you can see...