Cartagena (Spain) (EFE). With a turban on his forehead, sunglasses and mourning clothing (black shirt, pants and shoes), the Argentine singer and composer Andrés Calamaro (Buenos Aires, 1961) has raised from their seats this Monday the 1,700 people who have packed Torres Park, in Cartagena (southeast), and they have fired him with the chant “Oe, Oe, Oe! Andrés, Andrés!”.
On the fourth day of the La Mar de Músicas festival, the Buenos Aires native began his concert with almost English punctuality, at 11:01 p.m. local time (21:01 GMT), and made the Cartagena auditorium vibrate from minute one with “Output Input” , “Cuando no estás” and “A los ojos”, the latter song written in 1992 during his time as the lead vocalist and pianist of the Los Rodríguez group, of which he was a member between 1991 and 1997 together with his compatriot Ariel Rot and the Spaniards Julián Infante and German Vilella.
Likewise, the Argentine artist has interspersed singles published in the 21st century such as “Huracán” (2006), “Hostages” (2013) or “Verdades afiladas” (2018), with others from the 90s such as “Me arde”, “Loco” or “Alta dirt”, which were part of his first album as a soloist after Los Rodriguez, published in 1997 and the same name of that last song.
The album was a resounding success, with more than 700,000 copies sold, and also included “Flaca”, an iconic Argentine pop rock song, inspired by his failed relationship with Mónica García (whom he married in 1992 and whose name is tattooed on his the forearm), whose harmonious and monotonous rhythm has made the spectators of the Cartagena fiefdom dance, who have also sung it in unison.
Although everything predicted that this song, Calamaro’s most popular with more than 176 million views on You Tube, was going to be the climax of the night in Cartagena, another more recent single “Paloma” (2008) has been the one that has excited the more than a thousand and a half attendees with his verses full of melancholy: “My life, we went to fly. With a single parachute.
Only one will remain. Drifting flying. Living like this is not living. Waiting and waiting. Because living is playing. And I want to keep playing.”
Likewise, the Argentine musician has once again recalled his time as a vocalist in Los Rodríguez with the song “Sin documentos”, which has made the hips of the Novocarthaginian forum move, with a more rocker and vibrant beat that has ended up unleashing their hair in the wind.
Despite the good atmosphere that this single has generated among the stands, Calamaro has used irony to criticize those spectators in the front rows who have been recording with their mobile phones throughout the performance and has acknowledged that he was “anxious and restless” for get to the hotel and see all the videos in which he was being the protagonist.
After this pause that has not left anyone indifferent, he has submerged the Cartagena public once again in an Argentine rock atmosphere with “Crimines perfectos” (1997) and “Los chicos” (2007), with which the concert has concluded and which have been answered again with the soccer cry of “Oe, Oe, Oe! Andrew, Andrew!”
On the other hand, the French singer Mélanie Pereira, known as November Ultra, has captivated the public of the Seafaring Instruction Barracks (CIM), in the historic center of the port city, with songs such as “Come into my arms”, “Soft and tender” or “Bedrooms Walls”, which delve into human emotions and tell stories related to love, depression or the desire for freedom.
Pereira, who has Murcian roots, has been awarded the Paco Martín prize at the 28th edition of La Mar de Músicas for the revelation artist of global music.