Karina: "I've been banned because they said it was too narrow"

ANA FROM THE MADRID NEIGHBORHOOD

Madrid

Updated Tuesday,16January2024 - 10:47

The singer returns to the stage after 42 years with the play 'Yo soy Karina', which premiered last night at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Madrid, in which she vindicates her legacy.

What's in that trunk of memories? I'm going to open the trunk because at this point in my life – I've just turned 77 – I don't want to leave without telling my truth. With me there is a distortion of the character and the person. I'm going to tell the story of my life with the highs and the lows. Sometimes you touch heaven and sometimes you go down to hell. Is it a musical? It's a story with music because a musical would be very expensive. The truth is that Madrid is experiencing a great boom in musicals, only behind New York and Londres.Me think it's phenomenal because they are very necessary. My love of singing comes from musicals. From a very young age I liked to watch this type of film. Music accompanies you a lot. We are living a wave of nostalgia with a boom in biopics about Miguel Bosé, Bárbara Rey or Lola Flores, can it benefit you? I'm not going there. The work is not not nostalgic, but informative accompanied by songs. I have not had the love of ministers or kings. Perhaps I could have had them at the time with a politician during the Transition, but I was a person already married and with small children. That's why I'm very respectful. Who was he? I'm not going to tell you his name, but he was from the Transition. For what? It was bread for today and hunger for tomorrow. I've been with more humble people. What is the reason for this distortion of your image that you are talking about? In the 80's a big change came and I was left without a record company. I wanted to keep recording and renewing my songs and my repertoire. A singer without a record label is very difficult to get ahead in a comfortable way. I had to make my own productions and there were times when I spent what I earned on making the recordings. The worst thing for an artist is indifference. Worse even than hate? Yes. Well, I don't know. Hate isn't good either, but at least there's a feeling for you and maybe that something towards you makes you topical. But the indifference is that you don't exist. They turn the page and move on from you. It has hurt me a lot as a performer that many times talking about Eurovision you have gone from 70 to 73. I was very good and the performance was beautiful. It had an orchestra conductor who was Waldo de los Ríos, one of the most prestigious of the time. Yes, in certain circles. Which ones? Well, above all, in the circle of record labels and contracting because everything goes together. And then, I'm not going to tell you about the comrades because they do their own thing. Yes, because since you don't record, since you're not current, they don't count on you. You don't exist. Karina was a character who existed. So, that has hurt me a lot for many years and I've been looking for records tirelessly. What was Karina a pioneer in? In the 60s, being a woman, a singer and selling a lot of records was not easy. It was a very macho industry and I was 19 years old. You said that women were treated like children and that you had to be obedient. Did you ever rebel? I did rebel, above all, when it came to the touching. I chose the songs, but after that, there was always a coffee, an arm on top, a lot of touching my arm or hand. What you call groping is now considered harassment. It wasn't going any further. But, of course, you felt uncomfortable. Has there ever been an unpleasant episode? Sometimes, yes. There was a theatrical and film producer who wanted to make a film. AndIt was just the beginning of the unveiling and he offered me a movie to show my tits and told me that what he wanted was to touch them. That in the first place? It was pretty straightforward. I got up right away and jumped out of my chair. I replied that he had been confused and that I wasn't going to appear on a screen showing anything of mine, if I didn't want to, and that I was not going to let him touch my tits. Maybe that's why I didn't have... Did that episode close a lot of doors for you? Yes, I have been banned a lot. But for that reason? Yes, because there was talk that I was very narrow. It's not that I was narrow, I went with whomever I wanted. Look, I've never sought fame and money. What I'm passionate about is singing. That's what I've made my profession out of and I've lived to this day, sometimes better and sometimes a little closer. Were you able to decide how you wanted to pursue your musical career or were you told what to do? Since I started very young, I had to let myself be advised. I didn't know what it was like to put on a show with musicians. And what advice would you give to your early self? My father was very upset when I told him I wanted to be a singer. He thought that the artist had a very bad reputation and I was his only child. He wanted me to get married and prepare to be a stay-at-home mom. I would tell that little girl who started who liked to sing so much, to think twice. As a good Sagittarius, I have been adventurous and impulsive. I've always loved challenges. Do you regret it? No, I don't regret it, but if everything were repeated, I would undoubtedly have done it differently. Yes. I'm talking about the medium, not the loyal audience. The industry is unfaithful and wants to suppress you soon. When you don't work anymore or you get a gray hair, go out and go for another younger person. That's why, in the old days, it was difficult to get married and get pregnant young, because they quickly stopped counting on you. It's very hard work and very vocational. If not, it's impossible. Have you been sad that your love life has overshadowed your professional life? There have been times when it has overshadowed it precisely because the yellow or gossip press gave it priority. And in one fell swoop, they took away almost 15 years of record sales and tours in America. That's why I want to bring Karina back. Of course, I want to remind you of that. I didn't know how to manage it. I was wrong and I admit it. You became fodder for the gossip press. Besides, it was something I wasn't even sure about. I'm safe on stage singing my songs. That's what I'm strong with. Now, you sit me down on a set and talk to you about whether the parakeet has cheated on me or if you lie to me and I fall apart. Did you feel mistreated in those programs? Yes, because unfortunately they do not have politeness and respect for the person in front of them. It's very ugly when a person is telling you something, interrupting them and telling them it's not true when they're telling you their truth. Each one of us sees the bulls according to the fair. If I'm telling you what I've experienced, don't tell me it's a lie. Are you glad that a program like 'Sálvame' has disappeared? Yes, the truth is that yes, you want me to tell you. Questions can be asked, but politely and respectfully. And if the person doesn't want to talk about something because it hurts them or they don't want to hurt anyone, that's very respectable. Yes, especially if you are in good health. The bad thing is if you have leaks that you can't fix. Ronnie Wood, the guitarist for the Rolling Stones, who in his mind never aged beyond the age of 29. Has the same thing happened to you? That's what happens to Raphael, who is in his twenties. Not so much not, but maybe my head hasn't gone past 40. At that time I had my daughters, which was a wonderful thing for me. At 40, a woman has a special light and splendour. She's beautiful and knows more about life. It's harder to be touched. With 20 or 30 it's easier, but with 40... Have you ever had to stop at 40? No, but up to 35, yes. Now you've become an influencer on Instagram, haven't you? It's not a hobby, but it's not a job either. I don't charge anything. I have a lot of people who follow me, because I started encouraging the audience of my age so that they wouldn't fall apart with the story of Covid and Influenza A. And then, little by little, it was expanded to young people. I made a video addressing Putin to tell him to please stop the war. I don't consider myself an influencer. I do what I can and if I can help and bring a smile to people who may be alone, I am satisfied. You've complained about how little retirement artists have left. I've been retired for about ten years and I've had to do things because retirement is very short. You've confessed your financial problems and that you haven't even been able to pay for electricity at some point. Yes, I've had it cut off. And I've had to spend three or four days with candles, but hey, it's been solved. You always have to talk to the family, in this case my daughters so that they pay the bill. There is always a way out. I've asked for a job in television before. Many times they have said that Karina had retired. They wanted to retire me and I always replied that I was active. I don't drop my rings. Work dignifies us and having a hard time strengthens you, as long as the bad is not too long. The adolescence of my daughters, especially little Rocío. It also caught me older and farther away, because she stayed in Castellón working at the Provincial Hospital. None of them have been involved in the art world. The fact that they don't know who they're going with and where they were going. You have to trust that they're going well. But you worry a lot. And also the illness of my mother, who died at the age of 91 and you saw her fade little by little and it's very sad because she was a terribly active person. The tears of love, in my case, have been short. So, haven't you suffered a lot for love? You've been married four times, haven't you? For the Church, twice, and then I did two more ceremonies. She had many suitors, but she didn't pay much attention to them. He listened to those he shouldn't. It's the canaíllas that catch your eye. You have to think more with your head than with your heart and impulse, as my mother used to say. You look in the mirror, you realize that you are older and you have to ask yourself if you want to be a grandmother or a woman who still tries to give everything she can give. And my answer was that I want to keep working with a little bit of restraint. For example, in the summer I don't tour anymore because of the heat, but I go back to the theatre on Mondays because the show is one day a week. That I'm really speaking to you and I'm going to open my heart to you.