Miguel Martín Alonso I Almería, (EFE).- Javier M. Alcaraz, ‘Chayi’ for the world of rock, is a journalist and music critic of the old guard, and in his book ‘Basic Poetry. Extrechinato y Tú ensancha el alma’ has articulated an “act of reconciliation” between the protagonists of this album that brought Manolo Chinato’s poems to life on stage.
“Music was a poison that I had inside and it had to explode somewhere. And since they didn’t give me the gifts to play, I dedicated myself to telling it”, he affirms in an interview with EFE Chayi, with more than 20 years of experience that combines local journalism with his collaborations in ‘Rock Estatal’ (2002-2021) and in Cuadernos Efe EME, creator of the website ‘RockSesión’.
During this time, he has become an expert in Extremoduro, Roberto Iniesta ‘Robe’, Marea and Platero and you; in short, from this “poetic rock circle” that he created the Extrechinato project and you that published a single album, “Basic Poetry”.
When he contacted ‘Robe’ to start preparing his book Extrechinato y Tú, he was blunt: “He said yes, but as long as the poet (Manolo Chinato) also wanted it. I called Manolo and his answer was clear: if Robe has said yes, it is because he trusts you, and I trust him, ”reveals the writer.
The “Four Horsemen”
Thus, the author took the suitcases and went to Puerto de Béjar (Salamanca). “The first thing was to soak up the place, because Manolo’s poetry has a lot of land, rural, mountain, river, snow… I spent three days with Manolo, and spending three days with him is like spending a month with another person “, Add.
“He tells things with such passion and in such a vivid way that it feels like he’s taking you back in time. It helped me a lot to connect with all the emotional part of everything that it meant, ”she says.
Thanks to this he was able to begin to put together the pieces of this puzzle made up of “four horsemen”: Manolo himself, ‘Robe’, Fito Cabrales and Iñaki Antón. Curiously, his first contact, ‘Robe’, would be the last link in this chain in the preparations for the book. “I spoke to him literally three days before the delivery date,” he jokes.
One of the “big surprises” of the preparation of the work was Fito. “I had interviewed ‘Robe’ five times, Iñaki as well. He knew that he was not going to have any problems with them. But not Fito. I sent his manager an email and I was already thinking of a plan B, a plan C and that same afternoon the phone rang and when I picked up I heard: I’m Fito, ”he says.
Apart from the four “protagonists”, the journalist has also had the director of Warner Music for almost fifteen years, Charlie Sánchez, with José Antonio Gómez and Ernesto Muñoz); as well as close journalists and musicians such as Rulo (La Fuga, Rulo and La Contrabanda), Alén Ayerdi (Marea), Rosendo, Poncho K, Tuco, or the violinists Ara Malikian and José Ángel Vélez.
The prologue is also the work of Kutxi Romero, vocalist and lyricist of ‘Marea’.
The book
The first chapter of Extrechinato y Tú, he maintains, is a “look at the present of the validity” of this musical experiment. ‘Robe’, for example, begins his tours with a recitation by Manolo; Fito sings one of the songs on this album in San Mamés, and Iñaki once again records two instrumental songs in his new solo project.
And from that “take in the present” the book returns to the past, to Manolo’s bar, and from there the stories of its protagonists intersect and recount how ‘Robe’ meets the poet capable of writing ‘Tres puertas’ in a sack on only 15 minutes while sheltering from the storm, someone who kept his writings in “a drawer” and only showed them to close friends.
“When they meet, Manolo is already a fan of ‘Extremoduro’ in some way (…) ‘Robe’ encouraged him to recite it at his concert and Manolo recites this poem that would become ‘Ama, ama y ensancha el alma’ (…) ‘Robe’ is so blown away that he goes many nights to see him.
For this reason, from 1991 to 1994 there were many individual verses by Manolo in the songs of ‘Extremoduro’”, he explains.
As a good critic, the writer also analyzes track by track and tells the “particular intrastory” of each song, in addition to addressing the impact the album had and how it influenced the subsequent career of its participants.
the rock poet
“To a certain extent, it works as a gear for what Fito’s careers have been after, ‘Robe’… It’s not that it served as a test bench, but everything that is done in the past helps you in the present,” he adds. .
“Apart from its unique and exclusive character, and for all that intra-history, at a time when it seems that the frontism of a lifetime is contagious in things that should remain alien, rock is a feeling of unity and freedom; It gave me a feeling of building and not destroying, of doing an act of reconciliation”, he adds.
“Just as García Lorca became the poet of flamenco, in some way Manolo became the poet of rock (…) It was a bit of a revolution for everyone (..:) All the bands that at that time took advantage of the pitch from ‘Extremoduro’ and ‘Platero y tú’ also made Manolo a bit his own”, he maintains about Extrechinato y Tú.
“A school of poetic rock is created and the big culprit is ‘Robe’, that’s clear. In the end, a wider circle is created (…) He created a school. Poetry in rock has always been present, but it was an indisputable accolade ”, he concludes. EFE
The entry The literary “act of reconciliation” of the protagonists of ‘Extrechinato and you’ was first published in EFE Noticias.