After its passage by the competition of television in 2002, fell into oblivion… until, a decade and a half later, he was reborn with ‘Dancing wind’
Now takes on the challenge of following in the most high with his new album, recorded at Abbey Road. “Sounds nice… If I have more or less success is secondary”
How to Manuel Carrasco became the most popular singer in Spain
At number 3 Abbey Road, in London, the Beatles recorded most of their discography, and Pink Floyd created the legendary The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). There, among legends, across from the iconic zebra crossing that immortalized John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, a boy from Huelva, 37-year-old named Manuel Carrasco, has recorded The cross of the map, their new album. It is a point and followed to the unexpected success of Dancing with the wind, the best-selling album in 2016 in Spain, and a tour, which distributed more than 300,000 entries from throughout the country, including a show with 45,000 people in La Cartuja (Seville). Thus, the former triunfito ended that year as the Spanish artist with the most tickets sold.
Explain to me what Manuel Carrasco recording in the study of the Beatles. It was like being in an amusement park with 10 years. Crazy. The technical lead there 30 years, the old lady that we put the food in the dining room had hanging on the wall a photo of her serving to McCartney and Lennon. Be in those hallways, use the pianos that used them, the creak of the wood floor… I thought: “it Has to sound good for sure”.
taking Advantage of the publication of The cross of the map, Carrasco has become the first Spanish artist to announce a concert in the stadium Wanda Metropolitan, the 29th of June, a place in which up to now have only acted Bruno Mars and Iron Maiden and that in 2019 you will see also international superstars like Ed Sheeran, Bon Jovi and Muse. Almost nothing.
In one of the boxes of the stadium of Atletico Madrid, Manuel Carrasco receives Paper. “I felt a shaking, scared,” he admits as he explains where to put the stage on June 29 in front of more than 50,000 people.
After the success of ‘Dance of the wind’, are you afraid that the new can go wrong? Do you feel the pressure?Yes. There is a mixture of fear, respect, and vertigo. But not to fear failure, but not living up to a musical level. I am hard on myself and I have to make a disk that does not lower the level, but I’ve been in all the situations during these years, I assume and accept that the music is a profession changing. There is a speech in a song by rapper Tote King, ‘Bartleby & Co.’, that speaks of the need to always be as at the beginning, “when I wasn’t worried about the risk, and if a book was bad, nothing was happening because they had gone wrong earlier. The risk is fundamental at the time of writing”.I’ve heard that song. In the end, our work is the solitude, the challenge is to compose, and from there comes everything else. This album is the most I have worked and sounds of bollocks, that is what reassures me. If I have more or less successful, is secondary. I am not afraid not to comply with markings, or I want to be always obliged to that. Have you worked on the album for a year and have recorded at Abbey Road, away from the hustle and bustle and computers.My speech is contrary to all of that. There is music that is recorded on computer, was thus born and is now, but I’m in another channel, say. I start the disc with a song of six minutes, which is a statement of intentions because I do not keep it for anything the canons of today: three minutes with 20 choruses repeated. I am glad that, despite the fashions, the music of all life is to continue to succeed. In the song ‘I said small’ reivindicas before the scholars, and understood that my accent is my DNA”. Do you receive criticism?I have come many times with “is that this sounds very andalusian”, as if it were something bad. It is pure ignorance. If Juan Luis Guerra sounds and dominican singers out as a Bruce Springsteen sound with his accent, why here we put that type of hit? And you speak of “scholars of mumbo-jumbo”.In this profession there are many lights and many shadows, I’m not discovering anything that you can not imagine. It is a false world sometimes, in that you dance in the water. I am here against all odds and without having a good critique of my side, which, even today, occurs to me that I criticize people that has not heard my music. Up until recently, I said “what but you’re singing?”. And I filling stadiums! Speaking of accents and reviews. What do you think the phenomenon Rosalia?I love it. Know what is flamenco and what is not pure flamenco, it is a blend and I like it. In addition, it is calling attention to the international level and that’s important to me.
There is a mixture of fear, adrenaline and respect, but not to failure, but not living up to musical
Manuel Carrasco follows with you, or chasing after, to have been part of operación Triunfo 2002. After the academy he lived on the momentum and the pressure of the fame generated by the television program. Then came the oblivion of the media, concerts for the little people and the emergence, almost out of nowhere, with Dancing to the wind. A couple of weeks ago he returned to the academy and to the set of Operation Triumph, in a time in which the program has regained the focus and in which Spain lives obsessed with the second generation of triunfitos.
They are in the same situation as you in 2002. What is the council?I see the guys more prepared, at all, but a tv show does not give you a career long-haul. You can get to know everyone on the street, you can be sweetheart and you may want to, but you have to demonstrate a race with the time and you have to know how to navigate in this industry. You triunfaste many years after leaving the program.Perhaps it was necessary that time for people to listen to me without prejudice. Those who leave a program so we have to prove everything. To me I was even in a negative way: the program was a stigma crappy and come out unscathed from that, I find it amazing.
Next to the album, Manuel Carrasco writes a text to explain the why of The cross of the map. In it he refers to his friends, his family, and some social problems such as immigration, refugees, and war. Even throws a dart to the politicians.
In that text you put on the cross “to the nonsense of the leaders without a soul”. How do you react to Manuel Carrasco to the elections in andalusia last Sunday, to the fall of the PSOE and the rise of Vox?I think that the extremes are not good and that people have been left at home because it is not excited by what they see. When something happens and there are changes it is because people are unhappy. My opinion is not worth anything and those who have the responsibility are the politicians. There has been an emergence of a new political force, and hopefully all of it worth for something better. At the political level I do not put my hand in the fire for anyone, because many of those who are behind have shown that they are not to the height. Does the fame forces you or motivates you to carry these messages to the disk? What would you have done 10 years ago?Maybe it’s not. I am polite, and when I don’t understand something, do not speak. Now I’m understanding a bit and that I am aware of what is happening, what I see on the street and it affects me. The morning that we left our children there are that sow it now and I feel that there are that remind you of these things to the people who run the country. The song ‘My flag’ is dedicated to your daughter. What in that title, there is implicit a message more? Fly, yes. We talked so much and we give so much importance to the flags that we forget the people. “You to your side, and I with mine,” we say. But we are people and that is what is important. As an artist I do think that I have a responsibility and I think music can help in some way.
Many times I say I dream andalusian as if it were something bad… it is pure ignorance
Pablo Alboran and David Bisbal are, apparently, more media that Manuel Carrasco, but have opted for smaller venues such as the WiZink Center for your concert in Madrid. Artists such as Melendi and Malú, who have had a great impact on the television in recent years, it is also formed with the pavilion. Only a heavyweight like Alejandro Sanz has played with Wanda Metropolitan, even though he announced it a few days later that Carrasco: “I do have a little bit of that feeling of fill despite being less in the media, but to me it is worth as well, I’d rather be on this side, have a large audience and be less well-known,” he says. “I have always gone from less to more, I have struggled a lot and I’m proud of my history. People believe in what I do and I feel a communion that is very strong with them.”
Bruce Springsteen has told you that are medical from 1982 to “not derail”.Singing is the easiest, but you can not imagine what is behind a concert. The artists are a little crazy, a day screaming for joy and the other sobbing. Sometimes, even, you climb a stage and you think, “I’m not happy”. With the punches emotional that you receive it is easy to let you go. In the first stage of my career, I felt a twinge tremendous in the chest, but now I am much better with the impact of things. I have more pressure, but I feel more capable.
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