Avoid context? Why? When talking to Luis Salinas, the situation prevails. It’s about sensitivity, music is sensitivity. So, when asked about how he went through the past year, he comments to Rosario/12: “During the first month, the truth is that I had a very bad time, because there is a difference between playing because you like it and because you need it, because you make a living from music. When they take that out of you, it is very hard. Suddenly you find yourself without a job, without the possibility of doing what you love. It was very hard but my belief in God helped me a lot. I don’t believe much in the Church but I do believe in God. When all this started, instead of singing, I began to pray. Tomatito called me and said (voice imposts): ‘but you’re washing your hands, right?’ I tell him yes, I’m washing so much that they got smaller and there are chords that don’t come out anymore (laughs)”.
The exceptional musician returns to the city to perform today at 8 pm at the Parque de España Amphitheater (Miter and the river), in the company of Juan Salinas and the presence of surprise guests. The show will also feature the music of the duo La Perilla.
A return to the stage that is vital because, as the guitarist and composer points out, “when you look back you get bad, there are things that no longer happen, and also because you can’t look too far ahead. I was always living the moment as something unique and unrepeatable, but in this case much more. What has changed now is that, the truth is, I no longer complain, because I have a lot of respect for the people who died, those who have deceased or sick relatives. One has to be grateful to be healthy. Unfortunately, here in Buenos Aires everything is very politicized. Something that moved me a lot was when they burned chinstraps at the Obelisk, a crack in that too? It’s horrible that it happens. I think that when faced with a personal problem, if someone’s house is burning, what we have to do is put out the fire, we have to be together, and it seems to me that that is not happening. The crack this is already very sad, it hurts me a lot that people fight over political issues and there are those who think that this is an invention and the dead are not respected. I had a brother with covid and he had a very bad time, thank God he got ahead. I think the only heroes of all this are the health personnel from all over the country, who risk their lives every day and are not on TV ”.
-I kept thinking about the need to pray, and it is true that there is a lot of similarity between music and prayer.
-Music is a spiritual energy, which is beyond the notes, and I think it is healing. Art is healing. Until art does not belong to education and becomes essential, we will continue the same. There is a phrase from the skinny Spinetta, who in a situation of little work said: “Let’s not forget that musicians are a decorative thing for some governments.” And in this case a lot was seen. The artist is in the last place, when in some way we are essential personnel. What would have happened in this pandemic without music and the things that allow people to be distracted, that do good to the spirit and the mind?
-And that they are what allow us to think afterwards.
-Yes too. I don’t want to be biased, but I say something that people who are not music also tell me. People need to listen to and see music, to live in that moment. I was talking to friends from France and Spain when things had gotten very bad, and they told me that they had a political decline with respect to art, and that places for two thousand people were opened with reduced capacity so that musicians could play In the same way with open-air concerts, all paid for by the State. It was about taking care of musicians and artists so that they could work and eat, keeping in mind how good art does to people. It seems to me that it is a matter of sensitivity.
Internationally recognized, with awards and presence in prestigious festivals, recordings with illustrious artists and a vast discography, Salinas says that he loves Rosario because, “among many things, I always saw it as a wonderful neighborhood, an essence of a neighborhood that has not lost . Also, if I hadn’t gone to Rosario, Juan wouldn’t be here, so imagine the love I have for the city and its people. It was also the place where my artistic freedom was first accepted. I went to play Latin-jazz there, and when I met Juan’s mother (Silvia Alegre) I wanted to go back, so we invented some concerts in Lavardén, with Silvia as a producer, and I remember that I went to play folklore because I didn’t want to do the same. People responded, as if to say “do whatever you want.” That is something that in Buenos Aires cost me many years. Personally and artistically, I have a very deep affection for Rosario. How will it be that I made a record called Rosario (2001), and once I was introduced in a place as ‘el Rosario’ Luis Salinas and I did not deny it. It is always something very special to go there ”.
-And you come with Juan, right?
-It is difficult to talk about children and be objective but I try to be fair. With this from the pandemic, he made a Sunday live on Instagram. At some point I told him to try to look for the positive, because it is very hard also for boys his age to have to stay locked up. I tried to tell him to look for the exit somewhere, and it was very good that he started to make his lives playing alone. After 100 days that we did not see each other and we had not played together, we did a streaming and I already saw him much firmer and more confident, growing and developing his personality more and more. There is already another peso playing with Juan. They will be surprised with what is happening to him. And I will also try to meet some friends on stage, to make it a party of music and friendship.
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