Santi Carrillo: "Rock has already become an old thing for older people"

Santi Carrillo Barcelona, ​​1963. He directs the Rockdelux music magazine; This month celebrates 35 years with a number that reviews the best of the decade that is already ending. It is not the best time for cultural journalism, but there they continue.

More music is consumed than ever, but it also seems that people care less about knowing what they hear. Do you perceive it that way? It is possible, it is heard more than ever, but in a different way. Before, listening to music was something transcendental that could change your life, in an even dangerous way - due to the mythification of rock - and now it is a more ephemeral and superficial sensation: it enriches you in the moment in which you are enjoying it, but it probably won't leave too much in the future. He has indicated rock as a transformative experience. When did he perceive that rock was no longer the dominant genre in popular culture? It has long been not the center of the most interesting music, that is evident. In this last decade that space has been covered by hip hop, or commercial pop black music, or the mix of R&B with Latin electronic and music. Rock has remained an old thing for older people (old and older in quotes), which is no longer following today. Good rock records are still being made, but with the caveat, they are not the most important that are published now. Is the space of rock more prestigious than creativity? The great classics will continue filling stadiums and making tours, but they will be for an audience that has already seen them many times and who wants to go to recognize themselves in that worn out ritual of a concert. I say spent in the sense of a thousand times seen, not because it is no longer valid for the artist or the public. But no less true is that this public has already lost its crimp with the present and takes refuge in what he liked a while ago, in that religion with which he grew up. Is there an excess of nostalgia in our society? There is a surplus of nostalgia that It is related to the value we give to products that are consumed and sold. That there are so many reissues lately is a symptom. In music it is obvious: new things are no longer sold, so that the same old products are being sold to the nostalgic of all ages. They want to replace the same album that you already bought but in the edition of the tenth anniversary, of the 25th anniversary, with DVD, with extras ... The famous idea of ​​the retraction of Simon Reynolds.Is that the music industry seems that has virtually disappeared, or that it no longer has the potential it had at the time. It was like an unofficial ministry of culture and now tries to survive as it can, apart from those new contracts in which they stand as managers of the artists, selling their catalog fund, which is wonderful, and must be recycled as it is. Many musical books have been published in recent years. How do you observe the phenomenon? I am surprised, because it gives me the feeling that the amount of musical books published in Spain is unbeatable. I think there is little public. In addition, books are published on products that are neither popular. I appreciate it, because it is an unbeatable source of education. I guess it is a score on the part of the publishers, publish a lot so that some work. I do not quite understand why it is published so much. They are also a response to the ephemeral flow of music on the network. The books explain what is happening, and where we came from. The same is the last grip so as not to get lost in the chaos. It is true that most of them are books related to great legends and great styles that had better times. They are like lives of mythified saints ... This goes to an adult audience, the same that buys reissues. But very current books are also published, which makes me wonder if there is a new generation that wants to go beyond social networks to deepen and learn.Is it a miracle that a music magazine is still standing in 2019? , It is a miracle. Miracle in quotes, of course, because we are working to make it possible. We have a loyal audience that has been growing with the magazine and that relies on our criteria, in our way of filtering news. It is a dirty job that we do to them. On the internet there is such an avalanche that it is impossible to know what is good and what is bad, and there we are: we filter and present certain things.If there has been a revival of vinyl, can there be a return of paper? Vinyl fashion It is very relative. People of 18 years will no longer buy a magazine unless another miracle happens, and suddenly it becomes fashionable to read on paper. You never know, these things work like this. There we are, waiting for it to happen. Although I do not believe it, the internet has gradually lost the figure of the mediator, of the expert, the one who leaks with knowledge. In the same way that the respect that was previously given to the professors has been lost, that they were an untouchable institution that everyone trusted, and they are now in quarantine. Do you consider yourself an enemy of postmodernism, or do you find yourself attractive in chaos? Postmodernity has its collateral things. It has weakened a whole cultural fabric that was previously incontestable and that today should stir again, but it is impossible because it is almost collapsed. There is no longer any ancient cultural reference that is respected by young people, in general, because they want to create their own referential models, and it gives me the impression that they do not trust what they consider older people, of the old school. But we claim the old way as a way of doing things, we try to be rigorous, informed prescribers. We do not write because of anything, and that goes against this society today, where you think without knowledge. You can't be so frivolous. Everyone does it, but we don't, it goes against our identity as a magazine. Rockdelux's 35th anniversary special number collects lists of the best of this decade in music, movies, books, comics and television series. Do you still believe in the list as an antidote to disorder? We were the first in Spain to publish lists of the best of the year, we already did it in 1986, and from there a tradition begins. January numbers are the most sold by the morbidity of the lists. But not only because of the morbidity: it is a way to filter. You can then agree or not.According to Rockdelux, the best Spanish album of this decade has been 'El mal querer', by Rosalía.It is that it is incontestable, so it represents the disc as by its degree of transcendence. He has arrived where no one had arrived in Spain in the field of pop, apart from Julio Iglesias or Alejandro Sanz. And also doing something that is not commercial, except for a couple of hits. It's like a little miracle: being in the right moment, presenting an image, daring to do something different and with a flamenco base ... It's a conjunction of extraordinary things that rarely give that result. And the best international record, 'My beautiful dark twisted fantasy' by Kanye West. That album and 'Yeezus' crossed the border between hip hop and pop. What he does now is no longer so interesting ... I am surprised by this Christian revival, that reunion with God from his latest album, in which there are no tacos and gospel songs. Everything he does is a surprise for better or worse, from hilarious statements like the one in which he said that he would present himself to the presidency of the United States to this latest album. He is the most self-centered type in the history of music, it is only comparable to characters outside any dimension such as Donald Trump, Muhammad Ali, Cristiano Ronaldo or José Mourinho. He is a madman who is sometimes great and other times he crosses the line of ridicule. What did he think of reggaeton in 2004 and how his perception of the phenomenon changed? We already talked about reggaeton in the 90s, with Vico C and El General, who They were the pioneers. Then we talked about Calle 13 and Tego Calderón, which I love, has that broken voice of old-school salsa. It seems like reggaeton has come out now, and no, it has a base and a trajectory, even social and aware. We cannot be against reggaeton because we have always liked Latin music. It is the pop translation in recent years to a way of life that people in Latin countries have, that we can see here as explicitly sexual, but that is their natural way of life, without prejudices or complexes. Obviously, we are a pop and rock magazine, and Latin music has not been the priority part, nor has flamenco been. But we have talked about Rubén Blades, Juan Luis Guerra at the time ... We have always been open to this type of music, we have not signed up now because yes. What do you think about a constant politicization of music? Now, artists do not seek to know their artistic inclinations, but who they vote for or how they see such conflict. It is a fashion of recent times. The politically correct is killing many of the good things that have always been, of which we were not so worried. Rock is a good example: if we had to review now all the letters that have been written throughout history and analyze them according to those criteria, they would not pass the test or be allowed. So the policy is very good, have a commitment and show it in your work, but it is also very good to have your commitment individually and that your work does not have to reflect it. Here we have the clear case of Nacho Vegas: his political side almost ruins his artistic talent. It seems that you justify every movement you make in all the songs and it is not necessary. I do not want that if it is going to affect the work, or decrease it in quality. I do not like songs full of topics. How have the wave of morality that is also affected by music journalism managed in the magazine? Unconsciously, it happens that you make decisions, from putting a caption to select a content, that fit with a certain politically correct point of view, when we didn't do it before. That's good or bad? It is perfectly lawful that a series of filters have been incorporated into society to educate us in coexistence, and many circumstances that were previously overlooked, or belittled, are now recognized. It is fair that it be so. But from there to what is the priority, no: art must be on the sidelines, because if it is no longer pure art. Engaged art has rarely been transcendental. Is music the cultural expression that has suffered most with the Internet? It is where the change has been most seen. Books and comics are still old school objects. It is true that the comic book has entered the comic, but in general it is still something tangible. What seems most interesting to me is the emergence of the television series, the new audiovisual language of recent years, but I don't know if they have already reached the ceiling. They have reached a point of supersaturation, with as many platforms as there are, that it is already impossible to absorb all that information. Of course it has affected the movies, they have decreased our concentration. I notice: reading headlines and excerpts from articles influences your concentration to read a book, and the 30 or 40-minute series runs affect you when watching a two-and-a-half hour movie. Are you ready for ten? more years of culture at this rate? They will be a mystery, but not for Rockdelux, but for all the media on paper. We are all looking forward to someone finding the formula for an agreement that people can consume content on the Internet paying for it, is the only salvation table we can hold. Offering free content, we will hardly be able to survive, journalism in general as a medium and as a profession. Something we are going to have to do, we continue to turn to another type of product that opens the spectrum, and while remaining musical, addresses other cultural activities such as series, large format interviews, trends in gadgets and fashion .. There will be what to see how that can be amalgamated so that our public can continue to buy us and also among young audiences. Isn't having given away the contents on the Internet that has kept them afloat? We think that, doing so, we would not last or Two news. We knew we were going against the times, because everyone does it, but for now we have preserved that, that our role remains the role.

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