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At the time that many parents began to give their children names such as Kevin or Daenerys, it happened that our ancient and noble saints began to be out of date, demodé, lacking practical utility, so it is a matter of time that a Graduate in advertising that suggests that, set to consecrate one day, September 7 is in honor of Mecano , and not Saint Regina de Autun, or Saint Evorcio, and of course we would take away Saint Agnes de Montepulciano on April 20 to grant it to Celtas Cortos.

There is a small faction of Spanish pop that has become famous thanks to setting a date in the title of a song or in its refrain, and that is why every time April 20 comes, people - who are a certain age - remember from the group from Valladolid and their song, which began to make fashionable in our pop scene, in the early 90's, music of Celtic origin and folk traceable until times before the Romanisation of Hispania. Then came Leiva and Carlos Núñez, as everyone knows. April 20, the song also stated the year: 1990. If the letter that was read in the lyrics were real, it would be 30 years since that letter .

At that time, Celtas Cortos were preparing their third album: they had just signed for Dro, one of the most solid record companies that had emerged from the national independent scene of the 80s, and were preparing their rise to fame. The two previous albums had given them popularity especially on the local Castilian folk circuit: Emergency exit (1989) was an instrumental album, with dances with a Celtiberian aroma, and in Gente Impresentable (1990) they began to play with the language of pop , which would be the one that would give shape to Cuéntame un cuento (1991), an album of which two million copies have been sold - an outrage for the time, figures that only Julio Iglesias and Mecano reached - and which he had on April 20 his emblematic piece.

In it, Jesús Cifuentes, the lyricist and singer, wrote a letter to an old friend, remembering bygone days, in which there was a hint of regret for not having had better communication when they were around. Did that letter really exist? In several interviews that Cifuentes granted in 2017, taking advantage of the 30th anniversary of the formation of Celtas Cortos and the beginning of a new concert tour, he explained that the letter existed in his head, and that it was turned over to a paper to become the text of the song, and that the person to whom it was addressed was real, but that there was never an epistolary communication. That is to say: the letter did not enter any envelope, nor was a stamp stamped on it, nor did it end up in any mailbox. The letter exists the moment the song plays and the recipient listens to it.

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Who was that girl? His identity is well protected, and that secret is part of the mystery that has benefited Celtas Cortos, who have continued to be active and, thanks to the impact of the piece, have been able to articulate a career firmly established in a handful of popular successes that make Today, even if they no longer have the exhibition from before, they can continue publishing albums and tour Spain giving concerts in small venues. Not right now, of course, but yes before confinement and, surely, when it gets up and the live music starts up again.

Obviously, Celtas Cortos have undergone a change in fashion, the fact that a certain type of national pop-rock that was very popular in the 80-90s - with its explicit folklore, in which bands such as Social Security participated - was displaced by foreign products or the indie stream, and that made them disappear from the radio and have a worse promotion and distribution of their records. But there is a fan base that remains stable , and a nostalgic movement that reappears from time to time and that has on April 20 one of its fetish themes. He is the one who keeps them filling rooms and raising beer mugs. So there they will continue, standing until further orders.

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