When reviewing the songs dedicated to Diego Armando Maradonaone of the best footballers of all time, there are classics like “The hand of God”, by Rodrigo; “Maradona” by Los Piojos; “The tombola life”, by Manu Chao; and “What is God?”, from Las Pastillas del Abuelo; However, if you dig deeper into this world, you will find that the Argentine was honored and cited in many others that, in some cases, did not reach the mainstream like those previously mentioned. And if you continue down the same path, you will find a lifetime of 60 years between “Pelusa” and music: from funny anecdotes with international stars to his role as a singer. This was the work that the journalist Fabián Pico entered into, at first thanks to journalistic works of his authorship, but which he later managed to capture in a book that he named “Music by D10s. “Maradona’s life in songs” (Editorial El Ateneo).
The D10s Music cover. Maradona’s life in songs (Editorial El Ateneo)Cuellar Gabriel (Editor I of Journalism of Interest)
The journalist Ernesto Cherquis Bialo said it in an interview in Nightly (Public TV). “Do you believe there is a Maradona?”he asked, and then explained: “There are at least 8 or 9. There is one who played soccer, and another who achieved celebrity; There is a Maradona Jr., who died when his parents died, and there is a Maradona Sr., who reinvents himself every day; There is a Maradona friend who is changing friendships; There is an affective Maradona and a sublime one; There is an abject Maradona, and there is a phenomenal one; There is a Maradona with unforgettable phrases and there is a Maradona whose phrases it is better not to remember. It is the sum of all that, in one man: a genius”.
In this world of dozens of different Maradonas in a single person, there is the Maradona linked to music. Not only because of the inspiration he generated in thousands of artists with his mark on and off the court, but also because of the bond he formed with many of them throughout his 60 years. All this facet of the Argentine soccer player, Fabián Pico, a graduate in Communication Sciences, managed to study it, investigate it and capture it in a 364-page book, which tells of the intimate bond of the Argentine with another of his great passions after soccer.
The investigation was born with a report that he had to produce for Channel 9, for which he had to look for songs that set it to music and he found more songs than he imagined. Over the years he collected information, but Diego’s death, on November 25, 2020, was the ideal moment to share his work.
The book is structured in four main columns: the songs that talk about Maradona, those that do not talk about Maradona, but mention him, the singing Maradona and the anecdotes of Maradona with musicians. It contains ten chapters and each one is a musical genre, from tango, folklore, cumbia and rock, to Italian, trapurban and reggae. At the end of the introduction there is a QR code that directs the reader to a playlist created by its author, where the songs from the book are.
May, Mercury, Taylor and Deacon (members of Queen) with a young Maradona in 1981
“Diego, in addition to being the best soccer player of all time, He was a national hero. A guy who is a cultural reference. It seems to me that there was a moment where we had the possibility of seeing in Diego that humble person who reaches a summit. He is one of the ‘losers’ who wins. If one of us managed it, maybe it can happen to me too. This identification of the national being places him in a place of privilege,” explained Fabián Pico in dialogue with LA NACION. Likewise, he added: “He was idolized by musicians who, in turn, are idols of the masses. There Diego found parity. They were sought out for photos and autographs. ‘Here is another like me.’ He even found in musicians people to idolize.”
In this book you can find a large number of anecdotes about the footballer, who had the opportunity to meet great international music stars. “They will move you, they will entertain you, they will make you think of a good, empathetic and supportive Diego”Pico pointed out.
Maradona starred in a funny anecdote with Maluma
One of them is the one he experienced with the Colombian musician Maluma. “At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, by chance they were staying at the same hotel and agreed to have dinner. In the afternoon, Diego meets journalist Germán Paolosky, to whom he tells that he is going to have dinner with ‘Maluma Baby’as if it were his last name. Germán asks him to check it because that day money and jewelry had been stolen from his room. “Diego called Putin to solve Maluma’s problem,” Fabián revealed.
Small but big stories like this reflect the personality that Maradona had with his people, although he also had no problem confronting. “The Gallagher Brothers (Oasis) They went to a party he gave at a hotel and when he noticed that they were playing nice with some girls, he sent them away with a translator involved. He told them that if they took just one of the girls who were there, he was going to shoot each of them in the knee,” said the author.
Fabián Pico, journalist and author of La tapa de Música de D10s. Maradona’s life in songs (Instagram:@fabipico)
“Music by D10s. Maradona’s life in songs” reaches this level of depth of stories, ideal for Maradonians who enjoy this fun and emotional facet of an Argentine who managed to transcend football to become a reference in history.
“Beyond the sporting joys he gave us, which were many, he represents me as the hero who defended the country tooth and nail. The one who fought against the powerful and fought for social justice. It is an Argentine representation of everything we are. Talented, but also very self-destructive, contradictory and boastful. A lot of characteristics that define us. At the same time, he was very empathetic, supportive and gave a hand to those who needed it,” concluded Fabián Pico.
