The most charismatic producer and talent scout of the eighties prepares an itinerant museum of the Movida
He will rescue the soul of that movement with historical pieces, such as the first guitar from Los Secretos or Sabina’s jacket from ’19 days and 500 nights’
We took the opportunity to talk with him about the cultural and musical explosion, about how the drug left a lot of talent along the way and about the stars that are still fireproof
The name of paco martin places us before the Madrid scene. Producer, talent scout, promoter of this countercultural movement that was born in Madrid in the early years of Transition and lasted until the mid-1980s. Today he receives treatment almost hero, not mythological, but romantic, which embodies the quintessence of a few years that shook the musical, cultural and social world. It discovered talents, added currents, inaugurated spaces, opened the legendary Rock-Ola concert hall and created several record labels… He contributed to making Madrid an authentic hotbed of art, freedom and pleasures.
Before we can forget all that, Paco has decided to recover the spirit of the Movida in a museum, surely itinerant, which will be completed with conferences, concerts and other events. He says that he retired a long time ago, but it is clear that his retirement is just a leave of absence. to continue creating and being passionate with what he creates, as he has always done.
Your retirement is like a volcano spewing lava. How did the idea of building the Movida museum come about?
Of my restless spirit. After more than five decades in the business and non-stop traveling around the world, I decided to take early retirement due to the situation in the recording industry, but I haven’t stopped. Music, the real one, still fascinates me. I have written several books and I am already preparing the next one, also about music.
What will we see in the museum?
We will see the soul of the Movida because each piece will have a piece of the artist’s life. It will be an endearing time machine in which to relive fantastic moments. In the collection there are instruments, records, clothes and many memories that have accompanied me in different stages of my life. The public will be able to see, for example, the first guitar of Los Secretos, which ended up destroyed. She was played by Álvaro when she was fifteen years old and it is signed by him. will also be exhibited Sabina’s jacket from ’19 days and 500 nights’the last shirt of nacho garcia vega at his farewell concert in the Jácara hall (Madrid), a Loquillo suit and over a hundred other pieces.
They are very intense memories that I have been collecting throughout a lifetime. Antonio Flores gave me her shirt at the end of a concert and sang without it. One of the latest additions is the guitar of Ricardo Chirinos, from Los Pistones. Now everything is stored in a cafe in my town in Cordoba, Santaella, but it deserves a better place. I think the museum idea will give the collection the recognition it deserves. I feel that, once again and thanks to all these artists, I can see a new dream come true.
Will it start in Alicante?
It is very possible that yes, in the town of Aspe. I still have to talk to the administrations. Later, my goal is to travel all over Spain because there are many, young and old, who want to enjoy these memories.
You could be considered the putative father of Hombres G, Los Secretos, Danza Invisible, Celtas Cortos, Los Rodríguez, El Canto del Loco… Here the “alleged” thing is not valid.
I didn’t become an artist, but I always knew that, one way or another, I wanted to dedicate myself to music. And I did it by attracting the best talent. I have had to work very hard, fight a lot, but it has been very satisfying. Success has been mixed. Más Birras, a group from Zaragoza, or Mamá, the star group that sold out the most, did not succeed as much. The public is the one who decides and you can’t think about it anymore. With independent labels, such as MR, Twins or Pasión DiscosI took out Los Pistones, Hombres G, Danza Invisible, Los Secretos, Antonio Vega, Extremoduro or Los Rodríguez. These independent labels brought a lot to the music, but they were never cared for or subsidized. Music has never received the help that cinema has had.
Do you remember how the Movida originated?
We were passionate people who came to Madrid from different parts of Spain. I came from Córdoba to Prosperidad, a neighborhood that marked me. Almodóvar, from La Mancha. We were hungry for culture, a need to express ourselves. It wasn’t just music. Each one came with their artistic expression and it didn’t matter if it was fashion, theater, painting, photography or any other discipline. we all had the same impetus and the same impulse to carry out something. It had not been long since we had come out of a 40-year dictatorship and that was pure effervescence. In addition, currents from outside were reaching us and no one wanted to sit idly by. Madrid surpassed London in glamor.
Did you have a meeting point?
Apart from Malasaña or Prosperidad, we used to get together on Sundays at the flea market in search of novelties or hard to buy records on other sites. Los Ramones, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Hendrix, Bowie, Led Zeppelin. It was a way of accessing a culture different from the one that exists today. El Rastro was much more than an open-air market. There you could meet all the figures of the national and even international scene. Olvido Gara (later Alaska), then a little girl, she set up a record and comic stand.
Were you aware of what was brewing?
No way. That was born spontaneously from a desire that was in the street and that creative explosion was immediately taking shape. We never thought that it would cross borders and have the significance that it had, that it would occupy a place in history and in the collective memory. We dedicate ourselves to living it as we felt itbut without thinking of being part of a movement or a current.
What did the Rock-Ola mean?
In the eighties it was epicenter of the Movida, a true temple to go to if you wanted to hear the latest. Today it is difficult to understand, but at that time every day there were about 15 or 20 concerts in the capital. Every night was a party and different from the one before. Madrid was crying out for a room like Rock-Ola. It was always full and brought together people of all styles. In July 1981 the British Spandau Ballet quintet gave a concert and, since then, everyone wanted to play there. Radio Futura, Gabinete Caligari, Aviador Dro, Siniestro Total, Nacha Pop or foreign artists such as Iggy Pop or Depeche Modo. The full was always total.
La Movida also had its sordid side that left a mark that was difficult to erase.
That was an outbreak of everything and the consequences were unknown. It was the most painful. The drug was part of that collective euphoria and left too many friends by the wayside, too much talent destroyed. I especially remember Enrique Urquijo or Antonio Vegabut I could mention many more. The heroin was insane and we served as guinea pigs. Others many of us were in the same place and luckily we have survived. It saddens me that, due to illness or drugs, I have been losing friends, but I remain with his human and musical category. Recently, Carlos Tena died. With him left a dear friend with whom I have shared unforgettable moments.
Some of the artists who started in the Movida are still fireproof.
Men G fill stadiums Worldwide. With their first album, they sold more than half a million copies and, forty-one years later, they have embarked on an anniversary tour that will cover Spain, Latin America, the United States and Canada. There are others, like Serrat, who, even withdrawn, will always be eternal. Just like Sabina or Manolo García will be.
What conditions should exist for a similar phenomenon to break out today?
None. Today that burst of creativity would be impossible because cities like Madrid are full of everything and there is not that eagerness or that energy that there was then. There is also no commitment to talent.
2023-04-30 23:04:29
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