A MASTERCLASS. A little bit of Silvio Rodríguez continues to be a lot

May 10, 2019

He was yesterday's guest at the Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuba concert in Bilbao

By: ANDRÉS PORTERO Photo: Oskar González)

BILBAO- Silvio Rodríguez will die as he has lived, faithful to his ideas and songs. He confirmed this yesterday in the reunion of the veteran singer-songwriter with the Basque public, in a sold-out Euskalduna Jauregia. Yes, it was a masterclass, but only 35 minutes long and just eight songs, shared with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba, which was the main attraction of the evening. And the devoted audience left wanting more.

The program was posted on Euskalduna's website, but a good part of the audience that packed it had come to see Silvio, who on this tour commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the Cuban orchestra appears as a special guest. That's why they were surprised when the orchestra became the star of the night.

Always well conducted by maestro Enrique Pérez Mesa, the Caribbean orchestra offered, during its long hour of solo performance, a successful mix of Cuban symphonic music, with works by composers Fariñas and Clerch at the forefront, and a knowing nod to one of the great Spanish composers, Manuel de Falla, through several excerpts from El sombrero de tres picos, with flutist Niurka González as a virtuoso special guest.

TAKING THE STAGEAn hour into the concert had elapsed when Silvio took command of the stage, accompanied by the orchestra, reinforced with a piano. Mature but standing, dressed in black, with a cap and a confident voice, he opened with La era está pariendo un corazón, a statement of solidarity for political action "in any jungle in the world," ready, at his 72 years old, to "set the sky on fire to live." Love, paid homage through applause, was as boundless as that of Ángel for an ending, a ballad of offering, devotion and mischievous night, with epic orchestral arrangements.

The planned midpoint of his almost imperceptible presence arrived with the nostalgic (and little-known) Jugábamos a Dios, with fantastic crescendos. He, recognized as modest and worn, recalled childhood years and "without scars" before lifting the audience with the reminder of the "days of flowers" in Pequeña serenata diurna, where he boasted of being a citizen of "a free country." And madness unfolded with El necio, one of his recent classics, the quiet cry defending a life grounded in ideals that remain a beautiful utopia decades later.

There, amid applause, he sang "I die as I lived," without bowing down and without regrets, still "dreaming mischief" and happy to live "without a price." The Cuban gifted the audience three encores, a Hoy mi deber with an intimate and bare piano, and two gems with his acoustic guitar, his best weapon: Te doy una canción and Noche sin fin y mar, which he dedicated to his ailing friend Aute. There was still time for the orchestra to dive into popular Cuban music with a danzón and an African guaguancó, but Silvio did not come back out despite the audience's cheers.