Is back. This is the keyword behind the last years of the career of José Luis Rodríguez, “the Puma”. I go back to the studios to record a new album which is titled, precisely, i will come back. A return to the post-pandemic phase with a baptized tour The return of an idol. Y a return from the brink of death.
In 2014, the Venezuelan singer revealed that he suffers from pulmonary fibromatosis, a chronic disease that causes the tissue of these organs to turn into scar tissue, which reduces flexibility and therefore the ability to function.
After some failed treatments, in 2017 he received a double lung transplant and began a long and complex rehabilitation, which involved learning to breathe, speak and sing almost from scratch.
And now, just a few days away from his 80th birthday (and five days away from his return to life, according to him), El Puma will return to Uruguay. After a presentation in Montevideo in 2015, the artist will now visit the hotel Enjoy in Punta del Este, where he will review his repertoire next Saturday, January 7that 10.00 pm (tickets in RedTickets).
Before his return, the singer spoke with The observer from his home in Miami, and anticipated that Punta del Este will have “hit hits that people want to hear,” because he understands that this is his responsibility when he gives a show.
“The idea is to have fun, have fun, entertain ourselves. Let people have fun and let me have fun. Because it’s fun, it’s a social outlet. Music, sport and art are society’s outlet valves, we take them away from people and there are collective suicides. We are those valves, where people can escape a little bit from what is happening on the planet,” she commented.
The idea of a comeback is very present in the titles of his most recent album and his current tour. Did you take it like this after the surgery and the rehab?
It’s the return of death to life, the return to the show again. Doctors tried to save my life, but they didn’t guarantee that I would sing again. In other words, all is blessing and I am forbidden to complain and forbidden to forget. I still live a little according to God’s will, that’s all. God, the doctors, the donor, the donor family, without that nothing would have happened and I wouldn’t be talking to you today.
So do you especially like everything that came after that surgery?
Completely. I like people, above all. But also of things, of nature, of my family. It’s like “wow”. Enjoy every day.
After so many decades the stage doesn’t get tired, does it still call you?
Sure, whoever is born chicharra dies singing. Flowing in the blood. I admire Serrat and Perales, who have retired. Perhaps they are tired of traveling and being on stage, perhaps they want to reunite a little more with family, enjoy their children and grandchildren. But I still have a long way to go, there are some things I feel I still have to do, and among them is thanking God, and going out to find people again, or for people to find me, to thank. To enjoy this moment. Pickup is not foreseen.
What songs do you never get tired of singing?
Hold hands, master of nothing, I’m guilty. That’s what people want to hear too. If you rack up twenty hits in a few years, people want to hear them. And a curious thing, when I ask people who are the ones who come to see me for the first time, 70% raise their hand. The others repeat. So for them you have to write those songs too, because for them everything is new.
Does the public still pass an exam every night or does it forgive some?
I can’t answer for the public. Not everything is planned, there are spontaneous things, things that happen. No show is the same as another, because no one is the same, the audience is different everywhere. If some actors play for three years and know that the audience is the same every night, everything rots. Who makes a new play every night? The new people. The actors work for them as if it were their first night. This is the show, this is the song.
After a double transplant in 2018, El Puma returned to the stage
Is being El Puma tiring or is it the same as José Luis Rodríguez?
No, I am very happy with the Puma. My wife calls me Puma, my daughter calls me Puma. When he gets angry, José tells me, nothing more. We get along well with Puma, for many years. On stage is Puma, after the stage is José Luis Rodríguez.
What did you feel the first time you started singing again after the operation?
Very calm, because I said to myself “this is getting better and can improve”. Practice makes perfect, theory doesn’t. And I realized that good times were coming.
Has your perspective on life and death changed you?
Completely. Death does not mean ceasing to exist, it is the separation of body and spirit. The body has an expiration time, you have to deliver it as it is: humans, animals, plants and even minerals. The only eternal thing is God.
What was the biggest learning from the whole transplant and disease experience?
Be more humble, have more love. Be kinder. Don’t get angry. He who humbles himself will be exalted, and he who exalts himself will be humbled, says the book. And have more fun with people, make friends.
Until a few weeks ago he was part of the jury of the Argentine program Sing with me now. How are you doing with these types of cycles? Do you find it a good tool to discover new artists?
I feel good, I’m happy when they come out and amazing voices are discovered. Sing with me It’s a different format, more dynamic, one is just a judge, judging what you see is easier. In the The voice (He was sworn in the Argentine version in 2012) you must be a coach, teach and sponsor. It’s much more of a process and work, but I really enjoyed it.
How are you with current music? If a reggaeton invites you to sing, what do you say?
We are in the era of ripped pants, below the waist, for a very rare verb, with rhymes of a single word. And a monotony of two or three tones. But that’s what it is, I don’t criticize anything that is now. If they invite me… I can sing anything, I sing salsa, rhythm stuff, tra Peacock yes owner of nothing. Although I don’t think he sings reggaeton.
