Anna Toruga found this interview funny when asked why there is a “conservative whiff” in so many things said and done in the world today. No wonder: Mecanu’s voice finds it ironic that 40 years ago, everything was less wise than now.
Although she doesn’t consider herself very nostalgic—Anna is a tree above all: she lives here and now—she misses some things from the glorious, liberating ’80s: “Real freedom, freedom of expression, work, thought, freedom to create. Before there wasn’t Lots of labels, you didn’t judge much, you enjoyed yourself,” he says mexico sun.
These words show his good mood while talking. Somehow, Anna returned to that freedom, accompanied by what, for many years, had been rumored about her rival: Alaska.
At the beginning of the eighties, everything in Spain was thirsting for freedom after many years of Franco. The system of homophobic, racist, and conservative rhetoric, which proclaimed the love of God and Francisco Franco, led young people to grow up amid unprecedented sexual and cultural oppression.
But at some point the hangover came from a drunk right. Then freedom took many forms. Like those of Alaska, the underground reptiles; Or Anna, the sweet pop song of the sparrow. Both, though different, made them audible. and how.
“We have always liked and loved each other. We decided to make this collaboration to silence the rumors and refute the myth of the rivalry, because it was never there,” says the former Mecano vocalist of Hora y Cuarto, a song that surprised, above all, those who grew up among the legend of feud The killer is between Meccano, Alaska and Dinarama, two of Movida Madrileña’s most famous groups.
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The video for the song was recorded in La Vía Láctea, one of the most famous bars of Movida Madrileña artists. A real corner of youth worship located in the Malasaña neighborhood, where people like Pedro Almodóvar, Fabio McNamara, Antonio Vega, Carlos Berlanga, Alaska itself and of course Nacho and José Maria Cano, the founding brothers of Macano, performed. “Everyone passed in there. Entering to register in that place was like taking a trip back in time,” recalls Toruja, who had never felt despised for coming from a more popular environment. “I loved this underground world, but I can’t believe it: it was no different from the world I used to come from.”
The truth is that Anna and Alaska are united by the same drive: the absolute freedom to be what you want to be. A conviction that they have maintained for many years in each of their songs.
“I’m part of the LGBT community even though I’m heterosexual,” Torroja says. “This is something I share with Alaska.”
For the Madrid singer, belonging to the LGBT community is not a question of gender identity, it is about tolerance, respect and love. Love who you are or who you want to be. This is why a lump forms in her throat when she remembers the times when many young men approached their mothers to say, “Thank you.” Thank you for that woman against woman Help me out of the closet. Thank you because for you I am what I am. Thank you for having the courage to marry. Thank you that I am not afraid of you.
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“There are things that give meaning to your life…Sometimes you hold on to songs to get you out, because music is life’s companion,” he says.
However, their experiences transcend gender identity. He also says terminally ill cancer patients have approached him. Although his most vivid memory is of a Catalan patient who volunteered in the UK to test the first vaccines against Covid-19. “The first day he got the potion, he got very dizzy. So he put on my music and it was like a spell for him. He calmed down and endured the fear.
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