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" Mother Earth is a single mother" |
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By Linda Dorow*
The Earth is both a planet and a woman, and is "scorned for being feminine", says Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler. About the Earth's future, he told Tierramérica that he "would like to believe that the environment will someday be better than it is today."
MONTEVIDEO - Uruguayan musician Jorge Drexler is known for the tenderness and simplicity of his songs. Seven years ago he emigrated to Spain under the guidance of the famous Joaquín Sabina, and his song lyrics seduced other stars like Ana Belén, Víctor Manuel, Pablo Milanés and Miguel Ríos, who have performed or recorded Drexler's songs.
With his latest album, "Sea", he received his first nomination for the Latin Grammy awards. Drexler spoke with Tierramérica in Montevideo, his hometown, during the most recent of his many trips to his native Uruguay.
Q: Why do you say in one of your songs that Mother Earth is a single mother?
A: I think that the way women are treated is the same way the Earth is treated, that the two are related. The mistreatment is the same disdain for what we consider feminine. The song is a love song for the planet and for mothers. The fact that a woman has a child makes her more beautiful in my eyes. The two characters, the woman and the Earth, are intermixed, "the blue of the sky, with her dress of blue of the sea…" Mother Earth is a planet and a woman.
Q: Nature is very present in your song "A country with the name of a river" (Uruguay). The lyrics mention an empty field, a forgotten Eden, the smell of moist soil. What importance do these sensations hold for you while living in Spain?
A: A great deal. They are touchstones of recognition. The are my ties, my nexus with what I am.
Q: The city of Madrid holds little resemblance to Montevideo, and its views of the Rio de la Plata. What do you for a breath of fresh air? To rest your eyes?
A: I really miss the sea, but I also like where I live, outside of Madrid. I am learning to discover the mountains, because I come from the plains, as the song says, from a flat place. Now I live in El Escorial, which is in the mountains, where snow falls in winter.
Q: In the song "The pianist of the Warsaw ghetto", you refer to the ties between generations ("I have your hands/the same history") with respect to the Holocaust. Do you think your grandchildren's generation will have to face tragedy?
A: I ask myself that question. I think about what my father experienced. He was born in Berlin and came to Uruguay when he was four, and about my experience with the military dictatorship here, which began when I was nine. What my son and his children will have to face is a mystery. I would like to believe that the environment will be better than it is today, because it is already quite devastated. I hope that we are frightened enough to do something in time to reverse the situation. But I don't think we are intelligent enough to realize in time.
Q: That sounds awfully pessimistic. There is more optimism in your songs, isn't there?
A: Maybe my music is more optimistic than I am. I am happy to be alive, but I am aware that the world is a very hard place for most of the population, and for the plants and animals that live on this Earth. This is the only life I have and I am going to fight to enjoy it. And if I can make an effort not to make things worse, that's something.
* Linda Dorow is an IPS correspondent.
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