A tribute to Enrique Urquijo and to the world of culture that is so mistreated at the moment.
Writing an article that does not talk about Covid-19 produces a certain vertigo, a point of modesty.
Not doing so with current issues, the so-called “serious” ones; the virus, budgets, tensions in our country’s politics, or the recent elections in the US, forces us to bring feelings and sensations to light, in a world where hiding them becomes a national sport.
We are more likely to analyze, reflect, dissect these types of topics because it is much easier for us, as we avoid exposing ourselves to being exposed in the flesh.
But today I rebel, because it is time to talk about culture, that abandoned sector, mistreated through the “sad boy” of Enrique Urquijo, who left us 21 years ago next Tuesday, November 17th.
As a verse from “Ojos de gata” says, “how can I avoid becoming vulgar when I get off the stage?” That is why those of us who constantly write about current political and social issues run the risk of becoming vulgar when we write about other topics where we expose ourselves emotionally and that causes vertigo.
This grey morning, as much as his songs, I take a risk and jump into the abyss caused by the sensations I had when listening again to the old albums of my beloved Los Secretos, the group he led for years.
Before starting, I would like to recall that meal with Álvaro and Víctor, his manager, full of memories of our respective brothers who left us too soon, perhaps because they lived too fast, in a time when the most daring, creative, and imaginative people were left behind.
In that emotional conversation I told him about Javi, my brother, who was taken by that cruel pandemic of that time, AIDS. He was the leader and composer of a rock group that hit the clubs of Madrid back in the late 70s and early 80s: RETALES.
I felt that through both of them, Javi and Enrique, a bond was built, a fine thread of communication between us.
Perhaps today's music is a reflection of the liquid society we live and suffer in and the reason why a group like them has been on stage for more than 40 years, when those who appear today, like their songs, last barely a newscast, because like most current relationships, they are disposable.
Los Secretos continue because they are true, committed, professional and especially feelings in abundance. That is why they are so moving, they reach you to the deepest depths and the people who attend their concerts know each of their songs by heart, and there are quite a few.
This morning I remembered that next Tuesday the 17th marks 21 years since the loss of Enrique Urquijo.
Every anniversary since that date in 1999 I usually write a short reflection as a humble tribute, to keep alive the memory of the person who accompanied me on so many afternoons, so many trips, instants, special moments, good and not so good.
Her life was cut short that day 21 years ago on a street in Madrid. It broke like a toy broken by life, just as Javi's was broken.
He was alone, or perhaps in bad company, and many of us were shocked when we found out. All of us who admired his music and the poetry of his lyrics, sometimes as heart-wrenching as life itself, imbued with loneliness and bitterness.
Sadness spread among those of us who shuddered at his musical words, on autumn afternoons like the one that took him away, perhaps because we felt the same as him although we lacked his creativity, his raw sensitivity. This 17th we will once again be moved by remembering him.
Songs of love, but especially of heartbreak, of sadness, full of poetry, of passion, coming from the depths of the human being, from those lands that today we hardly dare to tread in this liquid society.
Caresses made into songs, waterfalls of emotions that made you FEEL, in capital letters, and at the same time live when he was stopping doing so.
That day I also understood that I had lost a traveling companion in this thing of living in a special way, a friend although I never exchanged a word with him, because I only knew him through his music and the times I went to see him perform, someone who understood what I had felt many times, and was capable of transforming it into lyrics, into songs.
In some ways I was losing my brother again, who had died in 1992.
Songs that one would have liked to have composed: “Volver a ser un niño”, “Cambio de planes”, “Quiero beber hasta perder el control”, “La calle del olvido” and many others.
Those that are already part of the soundtrack of my life. Of mine, and of a part of that generation, although perhaps they have never stopped to think about it.
Most young people don't know him now, perhaps his music sounds too dense today, perhaps it scares them because it activates sensations that have almost disappeared today. The truth is that they are missing out on a treasure.
My “friend”, my “travel companion”, Enrique Urquijo will continue to live, as long as those of us who still listen to his music and are able to feel it remain alive.
It will continue to accompany us in our down times, in moments of darkness, sorrow or heartbreak, it will lift our spirits, it will make us a little happier when we understand that we are not the only ones.
Sitting in front of the computer to write this reflection, which more than ever comes from the depths of my being, I think of Javi and Enrique and I get emotional doing it.
And I thank Álvaro, Jesús, Ramón, Juanjo and Santi for those moments, for still being there, for keeping their memory alive. Please don't ever leave.
The best tribute we can pay to Enrique and to the world of culture on November 17th will be to listen to him, and at the same time to all those who are like him, savor him slowly as he liked.
I hope that the radio stations in our grey and sad country take this into account and make special programmes that bring their music to the new generations.
Rest in peace Enrique Urquijo. Thank you for being like this. Thank you, gracies, eskerrik asko The Secrets for continuing to activate our most hidden, sensitive and vulnerable side. Thank you to those who, with extreme difficulties, follow their path in this dark time.
We'll see.
Signed: Jose Luis Uriz Churches (Former parliamentarian and councilor of the PSN-PSOE)
