Interview Zahara: "The greatest achievement of my album is to put mistreatment, sexual abuse or suicide on the table"
New book Rigoberta Bandini: "When I was little I wanted to be a boy, it seemed more fun to me"
"My whole class at school called me a whore when I was 12 years old,"
Zahara explained.
a few months ago in THE WORLD.
The singer, guitarist and writer from Úbeda (Jaén) turned that episode of bullying and many other traumatic experiences related to machismo and toxic relationships into the fuel for her latest album, released a year ago under the title
Puta
and which the
has consecrated in the independent music awards, the MIN
.
Zahara has not only won the awards for best album of 2021 and best pop album, but also four other awards (best production, video, lyrics and design) at a gala held in Pamplona.
The other winner of the MIN has been
Rigoberta Bandini
, awarded as
the best artist of the year
and as the author of the
best song
,
Ay mama
, the song with which she aspired to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Catalan singer and actress, who has just seen her novel
De Ella Vertigo reissued
-published in 2019-, is finishing his first album in these months.
Curiously, or not, in the 2021 edition Rigoberta Bandini also won the award for best song for
In Spain We Call It Soledad
.
For Zahara, these awards, convened by the association of indie record companies (the UFI), mean closing a long cycle that began in April 2021, when she published
Puta
.
The album, a brave work of electronic pop, articulates in very emotional songs experiences such as the
sexual abuse
she suffered at the age of 12, the depression and anxiety crises that have accompanied her intermittently since then, or the psychological abuse of a former partner.
The artist was involved in an intense debate last August when
a concert in Toledo was suspended
due to pressure from
Vox
, which accused Zahara of offending Catholics for the tour poster, in which she appears with a band of miss with the word "whore" and a divine halo around her head, similar to that of a virgin.
In this way, the commercial and artistic success of
Puta
and the recognition in the MIN culminate everything that this album has of personal
revenge
.
As happened in last year's edition, the MIN have been
dominated by female artists
.
Tanxugueiras (Best Emerging Artist), Maika Makovski (Best Rock Album), Rosario la Tremendita (Best Flamenco Album), Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés (Best Direct) and Verde Prato (Best Album Sung in Basque) have joined Zahara. and Rigoberta Bandini among the award winners, whose jury is made up of music journalists, theater and festival programmers and other people from the sector.
Full list of winners
Best Album of the Year
"There Has To Be More" by Alizzz
"Embruxo" of Baiuca
"Clamor" by Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagès
Morgan's "The River and the Stone"
Zahara's "whore"
Best Artist
Alizzz
Kase.O
Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagès
Rigoberta Bandini
Zahara
Best Emerging Artist
aiko the group
Baiuca
chill mob
Polish girl
Tanxugueiras
Best song
"I don't feel anything anymore" by Alizzz
"Veleno" of Baiuca
"Ay Mama" by Rigoberta Bandini
"Terra" by Tanxugueiras
"Merichane" by Zahara
Best Pop Album
"Fuck Everything Else" by Alice Wonder
"There Has To Be More" by Alizzz
"Hunger" by Kiko Poison
"Clamor" by Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagès
Zahara's "whore"
Best Rock Album
"Corizonas III" by Corizonas
"Kokoshca" by Kokoshca
"MKMK" by Maika Makovsky
Morgan's "The River and the Stone"
Robe's "Maieutics"
Best Electronic Recording
"Embruxo" of Baiuca
"Exnovo" by BFlecha
Delaporte's "April"
"Global Sickness" by Ed is Dead
"Preparada (Rework)" by El Columpio Asesino and Deu
Best Root Music Album
"Collective Hymnopsis" by Amparanoia
"Territory of Delirium" by Emilia and Pablo"
"Singable II" by Fetén Fetén
"Wandering Earthquakes/Toribio Project" by Los Hermanos Cubero
"Purity" by Queralt Lahoz
Best Urban Music Recording
"It's About Me" by Albany
White Boy's "3 Kata"
"Amusement Vol. 2" by Kase.O
"You Know the Path I Chose" by Ortiga
"The Kingtape" by Toteking
Best Flamenco Album
"Continent 27" by Chico Pérez
"Supernova" by Cristian de Moret
"The Root of the Wind" by Juanito Makandé
"With All My Respects" by Miguel Campello
"Tremendous" by Rosario la Tremendita
Best Jazz Album
"Sorte" by Abe Rábade
"Tumaini" by Berta Moreno
"Bach (Re)Inventions" by Moisés P. Sánchez
"Concert Ball" by Tino di Geraldo
"Pedro Iturralde Tribute" by Pedro Iturralde Tribute
Best Classical Music Album
"Mediterranean" by Capella de Ministrers
"Antonio Literes: Sacred Cantatas for Alto" from Concerto 1700
"Saffo Novella" by Dolce Rimo
"Cantigas del Códice de Toledo" by Eduardo Paniagua
"Ad Illam" by Susana Gómez Vázquez
best music video
Barbara Farré for "Muñequita Linda" by Najwa
Irene Moray for Rigoberta Bandini's "Bitch"
Fran Granada for "For Spain" by Samantha Hudson
Thirteen Yellow for "Figa" by Tanxugueiras
Guillermo Guerrero for "Merichane" by Zahara
Best Direct
Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés
Morgan
Women
Bizarre Love Triangle
Zahara
Best Production
Ángel Luján and Alice Wonder for "Fuck Everything Else" by Alice Wonder
Alizzz for "There Has To Be More" by Alizzz
Alejandro Guillán Castaño for "Embruxo" by Baiuca
Diego Galaz, Sebastián Schon and Jorge Arribas for "Cantables II" by Fetén Fetén
Martí Perarnau IV for Zahara's "Bitch"
Best Album in Catalan
"Pecata Beata" by Carola Ortiz
"NSCALH" by El Petit de Cal Eril
"Park" by Ferran Palau
"The Great Ball" by Txarango
Zoo's "Llepolies"
Best Album in Basque
"Ezorregatik x Berpizkundea" by Chill Mafia
"Gaur" from Gaur
"Ilun eta Abar" by Idoia
"Eta hutsa zen helmuga" by Liher
"Kondaira eder hura" by Verde Prato
Best Album in Galician
"Make Me Hear" by A Banda da Loba
"Embruxo" of Baiuca
"Grande Amore" by Grande Amore
Os Resentidos "Nautilus Organization"
"Embora" by Verto
Best International Artist
Idle
Mexican Institute of Sound
Little Simz
Low
St Etienne
Best Original Lyrics
Fright Girl "Natural Selection"
"Miracle" by Maria Arnal and Marcel Bagés
"The Gift of Tenderness" by Nacho Vegas
"Ay Mama" by Rigoberta Bandini
"Merichane" by Zahara
best design
Ana Vila Homs and Albert Ramagosa for "Gornal" by Germà Aire
André Taboada and Batea for "Nor are we the Rolling" by Batea
Edu Ruinas for "Cosmen" by Cosmen
Emilio Lorente for "Bitch" by Zahara
Rubens Ziontifik for "Series 5" by Elio Toffana
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