In July 1997 the first issue of ‘Staf’ came out, an editorial project halfway between a magazine and a fanzine that has celebrated its 25th anniversary as one of the benchmarks of Malaga’s culture. To celebrate this quarter of a century, a box has been published that brings together 160 selected interviews from his heterogeneous production in four volumes and 1,200 pages. The project, carried out with the support of the University of Malaga and its Vice President for Culture, has been accompanied by exhibitions and concerts. Juan José Moya, editor of the publication, explains the incident.
Moya highlights some milestones from these 25 years:
“Being able to carry out a publishing project of this type, which has lasted 25 years and from a city like Málaga. Bringing out some very cool books, some issues of ‘Staf’ that we like so much, editing records, being able to create exhibitions with artists who we dreamed of or festivals like Moments, which are so popular.There are still people who call us from an agency in Madrid or Barcelona and tell us to stop by the offices and meet for a coffee, without checking that we are more than 600 kilometers away from them (laughter)”.
“Being able to interview so many people who have inspired us, sitting down with them. From Chiquito de la Calzada to Natas Kaupas and from Rogelio López Cuenca to Stacy Peralta, to name a few.”
Being able to travel so much and meet people, make friends and discover the world, while staying in our paradise in the south of Spain. I’ll never forget the first time I was in San Francisco that we went to two store-gallery-bookstores, and they both said, “Yeah, sure, I know ‘Staf.” Or that a New York photographer who is a world reference tells you that he would be very excited if you published a book from his photographic archive from the 70s in the Bronx. And that, at the same time, the same thing happens with a photographer who was your neighbor and has an archive of urban photography from the streets of Malaga from the 80s that are amazing. Or that we can reissue a flamenco anthology on vinyl by the great Carlos Alba, a very forgotten cantaor in Málaga, and who for us is practically at the level of Chiquito.
The present: being able to continue with this after 25 years and reach the tranquility of being able to do what we want. Honestly, we don’t care if we read 10 or 10,000. In fact, if so many people read us, it would give us a headache and our lives would be more complicated. Once we were close to being a publisher to use, and that was the worst thing that happened to us. Better that we stay as we are, little virgin. As the title of this case says: “Now the rhythm is fine”: that of the heart.
All these are milestones that make us happy. Then there are others that are the result of work, but that are not something we think about much either, such as being one of the pioneering magazines of urban cultures worldwide, along with ‘Juxtapoz’, ‘Lodown’ or ‘Huck’, these from other countries. Or that we are, after the prestigious ‘Litoral’, the only other cultural/alternative magazine in Malaga that is still alive, that has never stopped and that is read outside our borders.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
