The saddest song in Spanish music

After 30 years living off music, Boikot members have updated their resumes and are sending them to companies.

The guitarist in the post office, the singer as a conductor, the other guitarist in a video company… We contacted the group just after a three-hour meeting with a labor lawyer.

What to do?

The combative rock band has two credits going.

One of them has helped them to finance a motorhome that, after much debate (it was a significant outlay: 55,000 euros), they decided to risk buying because they saw it as necessary to face a year of 40 concerts.

It would be a good season in 2020. Now it is the most devastating of their careers.

They just rented the motorhome to pay off the credit.

The guitars don't sound.

Nobody beats the battery.

An involuntary break for the severe tinnitus that affects the ears of the singer, Juan Carlos Cabano

51 years old.

“Before going in with the lawyers, I put my apartment in Madrid up for rent.

To have some money.

And I'm going to live in Ourense, because my mother is dependent and needs me, ”says the vocalist.

Boikot is a paradigmatic example of the devastation that the coronavirus crisis is causing in live music in Spain.

They have always been self-managed.

Many years ago they created a company for the 12 employees who work on tour (musicians, technicians, conductors, audiovisual creatives ...).

A minimum of 1,300 euros per month for each one.

Everything is over in six months.

Carlotta Cosials, emergent music: "Even when you are happy you have some anxiety"

Carlotta Cosials had to be performing in Australia right now.

She would have previously done it in the US, Japan and Europe.

However, the singer and guitarist of Hinds, one of the most international Spanish bands, is at her house in the capital fighting with the landlord to get lower rent.

The goal is not to go home to your parents.

“It is being devastating.

We live from live.

We have no income from record sales or streaming, ”says this 29-year-old from Madrid.

Hinds released their new album 'The Prettiest Curse' in the spring and the plan was to play for four months.

Impossible.

“Our eyes would sparkle just by making up our minds to go on tour.

We have been achieving things every year for six years and this was going to be the consolidation.

We are sad, devastated, worried.

It is the worst year of my life.

Even when you are happy you have some anxiety, ”he says.

Of the 60 concerts they have only done two.

It was a hard blow that you suspended the Tomavistas festival in Madrid: “Concerts are being canceled because it must seem like a mess to city councils.

It is the triumph of human stupidity ”.

On the 17th, she will go out to the streets to say that "we are hard workers who work hard."

“It offends me that we are not considered workers.

Society must take us seriously ”, he stresses.

These are some of the diagnoses collected by this newspaper among workers in the live music sector in Spain: "Technical ruin", "catastrophe", "disappearance of a profession", "lost generation", "suspension of payments", “Total bankruptcy”… To make their situation visible, a series of mobilizations have been organized that start on September 17 with a two-hour march (from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.) in 28 cities.

The convenor is Red Alert, a name that brings together all the affected sectors, 90 associations.

Its spokesperson is Iván Espada, a lighting technician and designer who has only had the opportunity to work one day in the last six months.

“The biggest problem is that we are not allowed to work.

Not even 10% of what is programmed is done.

There has not been a single outbreak at the shows that have been held, but since August most of them have been canceled.

And they meet all the conditions ”, he denounces.

The cause?

“I do not think it is bad faith on the part of the municipalities and authorities, but rather fear that there are positives.

And so there is no way: we have neither present nor future ”.

The evolution of this unbridled drama has four states of mind: the understanding of the sector in March before the first measures of the authorities with the arrival of the virus;

the claim to sit down to discuss solutions with the Minister of Culture;

the optimism that the light could be seen and a summer could be faced with concerts complying with the sanitary conditions;

and the anger when in August, and with the arrival of the outbreaks at a general level, shows began to be suspended.

"To this we must add that many companies were holding out for the summer to pass, thinking that in autumn and winter we could work a little, and in 2021 we would be almost at full capacity.

Now, 2020 we consider it lost, and 2021 looks very uncertain ”, says Paco López, a manager with 30 years of experience and president of ARTE (Association of Technical Representatives of the Show).

The management of the Minister of Culture, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, is at the base of the irritation of most of the associations.

“The minister is not thinking of solutions.

There is a lack of knowledge and empathy.

And, above all, inaction ”, highlights López.

In a hypersensitive environment, Uribes' latest statements, published in

have poured gasoline on the fire.

"It is impossible for rock or pop concerts to be held at this time," the media headlined.

Already within the interview, the answer added: "We cannot imagine a stadium with many people or a sports hall with many people because it would be very difficult to guarantee that there are no infections."

Uribes wanted to underline this circumstance in a later tweet: "The problem of the pandemic is not of a musical genre (pop, rock or classical, etc), but the mass concerts, in spaces or large auditoriums, which today are unthinkable."

In another part of the interview, the minister points out: "So far in cultural events things are being done well, there is security and we must try to reduce capacity as little as possible."

Culture contributes 3.2% of GDP in Spain.

There are 300,000 jobs in the various music sectors and the associations estimate that the losses since March have reached 500 million euros.

Manuel Notario, veteran manager: "The situation is disastrous, but you have to touch"

A week before the state of alarm was decreed, Manuel Notario (Madrid, 58 years old), head of the Hook representative office, left the office where they worked on a rented basis with his people.

"I had the experience of the 2008 crisis and the first thing is to reduce expenses," he says.

Everyone to telecommute.

Notario, with 35 years of 'manager' (Miguel Ríos, Enrique Urquijo, Amaral, Izal…), is a wisp of optimism in an ocean of depression: “The situation in music is disastrous, but no more than in bars or clothing stores ”.

He is in favor of going out to play and adapt.

This is how he has done with the two most powerful bands in his office, Izal and Miss Caffeina, 25 and 26 concerts since June, of which more this summer.

“During the confinement they were already rehearsing a show for seated people.

Electric, with drums and guitars, but more relaxed.

We have charged 20% of the cache, but the technicians have charged the same.

We have adapted, there is no other, ”he says.

Slides a complaint: "I do not understand how they allow to celebrate bullfights and not concerts."

And a request: “That by 2021, if this continues, that there be clear action protocols.

And if they are fulfilled, let the concert be held ”.

“The statements that it is impossible to hold rock concerts seem very irresponsible to me.

It's like putting another nail in the coffin of the profession.

You have to talk about solutions.

I have on my table a study on how to celebrate standing concerts while preserving all sanitary measures.

At least it is studied, ”says the president of ARTE.

From the Union of Professional Musicians (8,000 members), its president, Guillem Arnedo, points out: “The summer started with high expectations, but now the municipalities are suspending out of fear.

If, in addition, what they receive are these statements from the minister, they will be more fearful ”.

The arrival of the covid has uncovered the holes in the profession: casualties and registrations for one day in social security;

that seasonality is not taken into account (aid for the months that they do not work because there is no hiring);

precariousness of the self-employed, who are the majority ... A profession, ultimately, not regulated.

"It is necessary to create a new legislative framework for contractual relationships that overcomes the manifest helplessness of musicians and that facilitates access to work by guaranteeing adequate protection", argues Arnedo.

Sources from the Ministry of Culture consulted by this newspaper assure that "they are working" on solving the problem.

"The issues of capacity are the competence of the autonomies and then there are historical demands of the sector, such as taking into account the intermittency, which is already being solved."

Judith Mateo, violinist: "Why a plane yes and a concert no"

Judith Mateo is surely the Spanish violinist most in demand by Spanish rock and pop groups.

She has played with Celtas Cortos, Hevia, Ñu, Boikot ... and is a violin teacher with the finished conservatory.

He also has his solo project, with seven albums.

“It is being a horror.

I had a tour of Mexico, the launch of my album, an advertisement for a beer ... And I haven't given a concert since March ”, he reports.

They have offered to touch him in the middle, but he has resisted.

"I can't pay half to my musicians," he justifies himself.

Mateo, a 37-year-old from Cuenca, is making a living from teaching violin classes online and from a radio program that he hosts at the University of Castilla La Mancha.

He makes a complaint: "It does not make sense that on a plane they all go together and serve sandwiches (I have seen it) and concerts are not held, as long as they comply with health".

And an objective: "If before I was short-term, now the slogan is to live the day to day to the beast."

Surely the most affected group in live music is the party orchestras.

Carlos de la Calle, in addition to playing the drums in one, presides over Acople, an association that has been created this year to make visible a large group (only in Galicia, 2,500 parties are celebrated with orchestra) and desolate.

“We are in technical ruin.

The effect is devastating.

Other musical groups have been able to work, we have not.

Bullrings open, but the debate on how we could work does not open.

We are a stigmatized sector, ”says De la Calle, who has been in orchestras for 26 years.

And he highlights the emotional work carried out by these musical groups: “They speak of emptied Spain.

That is what we fill in when we go to act.

There are terraces where you see 20 more people together than in one of our shows.

The problem is that they have not even considered studying alternatives, ”he says.

Graduated in Humanities, De la Calle is studying to return to teaching.

"I've been shutting my parents up for 26 years, who told me: 'Don't dedicate yourself to music, you're going to starve to death.'

Anyway, now I have to agree with them ”, he points out, devastated.

Another sector practically extinguished temporarily: the concert halls.

85% remain closed, according to data from the Concert Hall Platform (PSDC), which has sent a harsh letter to the Minister of Health: “We want to show our astonishment at the proposal to decree the closure of nightlife establishments, denomination before which the administrations are comparing public venues, which include concert halls and live music venues, with non-regulated, illegal activities that take place in private settings ”.

Jorge Pardo, musician of reference: "The battle is lost before society"

"Tomorrow I had to play in Mallorca, but here I am, at home."

Another concert that has suspended Jorge Pardo (Madrid, 63 years old), who takes it with the relaxation of the one who has passed a thousand storms.

“I am used to the ups and downs and I know that we cannot sit at home protesting.

You have to move, touch, whatever.

Also, the viewer is very receptive.

I'm especially enjoying the few recitals we give, ”says the world's most important flamenco-jazz flutist.

All tours have been canceled.

"Every concert we do is a little miracle," he says.

Pardo doesn't think it's time to point out anyone.

“It is a complex situation and there are sectors of music that are having a very bad time.

You have to find solutions to play, "he says.

And he expresses a wish: “I have always believed that we have the battle asked of society, that we musicians consider people who go on stage to have fun, that it is not a job.

It would be good if during this crisis they tried to straighten the situation and see us as artists and workers ”.

Some venues, due to the type of license, can schedule concerts, but they are not profitable, according to the owners.

Javier Olmedo is the president of La Noche en Vivo, one of the most powerful organizations: “The reduction in capacity makes it unfeasible.

The accounts do not come out.

It is a moment of urgency.

The aid has been approved, but has not yet arrived.

For comparison: in France the subsidy to theaters is 80%.

In Spain it is 2% ”.

France, Holland, Germany, Italy ... These are countries cited by those involved as examples of treating the sector “with sensitivity and injections of money”.

This same week, the Ministry of Culture has reported that "aid to music triples."

They will be 16.5 million annually.

“Welcome, but it is insufficient.

These measures were planned for the month of May, when the situation was to resist for a few months.

Today, in September, it is much worse.

Now you don't need a help plan, but a rescue plan.

In Spain the aid is 16.4 million;

in Holland they reach 480 ”, points out Guillem Arnedo, president of the Union of Professional Musicians.

The members of Boikot have another meeting pending with their lawyer to see how they can defer the credits they have in progress.

The group, in addition to looking for jobs not related to music, thinks in parallel of a reinvention that allows them to act during the pandemic.

“This is going to get longer.

You have to do whatever it takes to act.

As long as we don't sell the instruments, we can go out and play, "says the singer, as if it were the chorus of his new song.

Estefanía Serrano, small promoter: "Music is not leisure; it is culture

At Plan B Music, a small / medium format recruitment and representation agency, two people work.

Estefanía Serrano, a 48-year-old from Bilbao, is responsible.

His vision of the crisis is from the perspective of one who is used to working with passion and without haste.

“Our artists are El Niño de Elche, María Rodés, Jacobo Serra… Long-distance musicians with rooms between 400 and 1,000 people.

That is why it affects us less.

Even so, we have invoiced 80% less ”.

Plan B has been lucky, because the hurricane has caught them with a healthy economy.

“I don't think this profession is going to disappear.

The human being needs music and culture.

Last week I was in a dance show and, with my sensitivity to the surface of the situation, I did not stop crying.

What happens is that music is still considered leisure.

And it is not like that: it is culture.

It does not make sense that we go crowded in the AVE and they do not allow to do concerts ", he emphasizes.

Carlos Muñoz, party orchestra leader: "The problem is that they won't let us work"

If the reader has had the opportunity to see the orchestra Diamante El Show del Calvo, they will already know what it is about.

The one that doesn't have YouTube.

16 people on stage, eight technicians, acrobats, dancers, video projections, theater, costumes ... An overwhelming show that this year has not been able to offer the 100 concerts it had booked.

Yes, 100: difficult figure for the most popular pop band.

Carlos Muñoz, a 53-year-old from Salamanca, is the leader of this orchestra, where he sings and conducts.

“I am spending the year in debt.

Some of the orchestra are in ERTE and others are unemployed ”, he reports.

And he adds: “I have never lacked work.

And now neither.

The problem is that they don't let us work ”.

Muñoz considers 2020 and the first months of 2021 lost, "with the suspension of the Cádiz Carnival."

He says that the aid is fine, but that what needs to be done for next year is to set the conditions for the shows to be performed.

An orchestra with people sitting down?

"It's possible.

In fact, when we start the performances we do it for people who are seated.

We have to reinvent ourselves to exploit that more café-concert facet, and the city councils do not sit idly by and adapt the venues.

If you can't in the town square due to lack of space, let's go to the soccer fields ”.

Roberto Rey, head of the Clamores hall: "It is not understood that restaurants and concert halls open not"

He has had to make the November schedule three times.

The first with American musicians.

Cancelled.

The second with European artists.

Impossible, because they cannot travel.

And the third with Spanish instrumentalists.

"Let's see if this time it's possible," says Roberto Rey, a 49-year-old from Galicia.

He is in charge of the Clamores room, one of the few in Spain with international jazz and blues programming.

It has been closed since March.

“I understand the restrictions, but let them be the same for everyone.

It is not understood that restaurants and means of transport and a concert hall are opened, no.

The problem is that you cannot legislate thinking that people are going to break the law.

It is like forbidding the car to be taken at night because the driver is supposed to be drunk.

Concerts should be allowed to take place on the premises.

And whoever does not comply with the rules, may be punished ”.

Rey offers more reflections: “One of the great sources of contagion are the offices.

They are premises without renewable air.

We do have it, but we are not allowed to work ”.

The owner of Clamores proposes a capacity of 75% (now it varies from 30 to 50%, depending on the autonomous community) and closes at 3am.

(The law only allows until 1am).