Raphael: "I am afraid of the coronavirus, to tell you that it would not be lying"

If Raphael with f painted his best work in the Vatican at age 25,

with ph would be able to fill the entire St. Peter's Square with his fireproof 77s to the flag just by leaning out of the balcony. He already did it in Madison Square Garden, at the Olympia in Paris, at Carnegie Hall, at the Bolshoi in Moscow ... It has

It has already won 326 Gold records, 49 Platinum, one of Uranio ... and one of Vidriagón because they do not give them yet, if not also.

these figures to understand the hyperbolic volume of the myth.

You may not like Raphael (Linares, Jaén, 1943), of course.

On the occasion of his 60-year career, he releases a new album:

, a job full of collaborations.

Begins tour that will start

.

He is polite, patient, elegant, kind, calm, what will anyone know, thank goodness that such a big guy is short.

You are a strange man [looks a little scared at his press man].

The average Spaniard dreams of retiring at 67 and you are still working at 77.

[He smiles relaxed, now yes] Retire ... and go to Benidorm.

In my case it is not like that.

Also I have never understood.

I understand that a turner or a mason, like my father, is looking forward to retirement.

But that a professional who works with his brain or his art wants to retire ...

After so much success, what is the engine still?

I don't look at the numbers.

The one for uranium was given to me when I sold 50 million.

Anyway I tell you something: it is not important either.

No longer.

It was important in its time.

No longer.

Once you have done something in your career, it stops being important.

The engine is always the same: it is the illusion.

That which made me dedicate myself to this.

The great things in the world are moved by illusion.

Some have the illusion of reaching the Moon and others have the illusion of having a good harvest.

That illusion is unstoppable.

When the illusion is lost, you start to die.

Did you ever sing in front of a person alone?

Exit and that there is almost no one.

There is a day that I remember perfectly.

It was when I did what I call the

of hungry.

I was very young then and made my debut in Zaragoza.

I would be 16 years old and I was moving with permission from my parents.

I embarked on a tour with few people going at first.

I thought: "This has to be cut, because that way we are not going anywhere."

I remember one night when I sang like it was the night of my life, giving it my all.

And my manager goes and says: "Hey, stop, stop, because this doesn't make sense."

And I: "Why?"

And he: "Because there are 47 people."

I replied: «Already.

But all 47 are standing.

What is being a classic?

A person who does not go out of style, who in his way of doing has adapted to the times, who is not a stranger in this square.

There are people who say: "This one no longer hits" or "time has passed."

But that does not concern the classic.

What is it to be modern?

The advanced.

The one who dares with things that have not been done.

Can it be both?

I am both.

Classic and modern.

What do you hear?

It depends on the moment.

I like pop, symphonic music, classical music, flamenco, I even like zarzuela.

It makes me laugh.

I like tango very much.

I think my best album is tangos.

I did it 12 years ago.

I was rehearsing with the pianist at my house.

He says to me: «Listen to me [imitates the Argentine accent], you have to sing tangos».

«Tangos me?

If I have never sung tangos ».

"Yes Yes".

And that happy gadget [the Ipad] put the device on me and I went out at 18 with Manuel Alejandro singing tangos in Buenos Aires.

I did not remember.

Son of a worker and a housewife.

Does that mark ideologically?

My father was a ferrallista, those who lay the iron before the bricklayer arrives.

I had a very happy and very modest childhood.

My parents behaved very well with me because they let me do it.

That is very important.

I was 11 years old and I said at home: «I am going to come at one in the morning.

Because I'm going to the theater.

And they: "And what the hell are you going to the theater for?"

The first night that I was late at that age, I took a loud slap and I said to my mother: "If this is going to be every night, you know that my life is this, you are going to have to hit me all the time."

They never raised their hands to me again.

Does the Spanish yell a lot?

The Spanish yells a lot.

But also Italian and German.

Except the Japanese.

And the Spanish politician?

Too.

You have grandchildren.

What things do you worry about young people?

Well, my children have children ... They do not call me grandfather, but by my name ... I am not concerned with technology itself, but the use they make of it, of course.

It all depends on the use.

I am very concerned about everything that concerns children because they are always defenseless beings.

What things does Raphael like to talk about?

Cinema and theater, books, the sea, cities ... I know the whole world, but the best city to live in is Madrid.

I love Malaga, Seville, Salamanca ... Of the books I recently read

And I like.

I have a wonderful counselor and that is my wife [Natalia Figueroa]: I read what she advises me.

I love that you read to me.

Sometimes it does.

Of all the things you can no longer do, which one would you like to do again?

I do not miss anything.

The good thing about age is that it teaches you to live differently.

According to your circumstances.

Machado said that the men who are always back from all things are the ones who have never gone anywhere.

You are absolutely right.

Those who speak from hearsay are the ones who have never been.

My gaze is always forward.

Because, unfortunately, there are a lot of projects on top.

And if you don't think about those projects, you get caught.

I think out loud, it's a very good thing.

Thinking out loud you realize if you say some bullshit.

In 60 years of career they will have asked you about everything.

What was the weirdest thing?

I remember when we did the press conferences.

Before, the artist gave a big press conference for everyone.

The journalist was raising his hand and he was given the floor.

One day in Mexico, a journalist asked me: "Don't you notice that there are fewer people this year?"

I stayed like that [wide eyes].

I replied: "I don't know why you come if you always ask me the same thing."

Since then, we started doing interviews like this one we are doing and we stopped those press conferences.

What did you think seeing what happened to the elderly during the pandemic in Spain?

That's where I come in.

I am very high risk.

Because, in addition to my age, I am transplanted.

You see yourself in a mirror.

You take things more seriously.

I don't know why people refuse to take care of themselves.

Those young people who tell you: "This is not for me, this is your problem."

Young people who decide to go without protection.

Fear?

You are afraid to tell you that it would not be a lie.

Because it's something you don't know.

That nobody knows.

Of which now we begin to know something.

Fear, yes.

What did you learn from the transplant?

To live.

To live differently?

To live.

In the movie 'Citizen Kane', the protagonist, a tycoon who has it all, remembers the name of his childhood sled on his deathbed: 'Rosebud'.

What would your 'Rosebud' be?

A moment of childhood.

That day my mother asked me what I was going to be like when I grew up and I, at just eight years old, answered her: «Mother,

artist".

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