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Fito Páez ‘exorcises Madrid’ with an intimate, unprecedented concert
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

Fito Páez ‘exorcises Madrid’ with an intimate, unprecedented concert

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth From a news agency Context piece
  • Argentine rock musician Fito Páez performed a nearly two-and-a-half-hour concert at Madrid’s Teatro Real with a string orchestra.
  • He revisited major hits, performed songs from his album “Shine,” and paid tribute to Federico García Lorca, Luis Alberto Spinetta and Charly García.
  • Páez called the concert a way to “close an energetic circle” and ended by declaring, “I exorcised Madrid.”

“I exorcised Madrid,” Fito Páez declared near the end of an unusual and intimate concert at the Teatro Real. He then closed the night with two of his best-known songs, “Mariposa tecknicolor,” sung by a standing audience, and “Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón,” performed a cappella.

The Madrid performance, titled “Clásico,” was one of two special concerts interrupting Páez’s international “Sale el sol” tour. The second is scheduled for the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, where he will perform with only a piano. The wider tour resumes on Sept. 27 in Paraguay.

I exorcised Madrid.

— Fito PáezPáez’s declaration near the end of the Madrid concert before performing two of his best-known songs.

For almost two and a half hours, Páez moved through much of his repertoire with the support of a string orchestra. The set included “11 y 6,” “Al lado del camino,” “Llueve sobre mojado,” “Caravela de la nada” and “Ciudad de pobres corazones,” songs that kept the audience focused on every detail. Some spectators in poorly positioned seats on the second-floor balcony even crouched beneath the railing to see the show.

close an energetic circle

— Fito PáezHis description of what the Madrid concert represented at the opening of the performance.

Páez largely communicated through music and silence, although he thanked the crowd for its warmth. After five months touring Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay with his new album, “Shine,” he performed three songs from the record in Madrid: “Shine,” “El honor de los lobos” and “Las fuerzas armadas del amor.”

The evening also featured “Romance de la pena negra,” written in tribute to Federico García Lorca. Páez honored fellow Latin American musicians as well, beginning with Argentina. “Argentina is a hugely complex machine, musically beautiful, poetically beautiful, you always have to return there and it is my refuge,” he said before performing Luis Alberto Spinetta’s “Muchacha ojos de papel.” He also sang two songs by Charly García, including “Desarma y sangra,” which addresses Argentina’s military dictatorship and whose relevance Páez emphasized.

Argentina is a hugely complex machine, musically beautiful, poetically beautiful, you always have to return there and it is my refuge.

— Fito PáezPáez introduced a song by his friend Luis Alberto Spinetta while reflecting on Argentina’s place in his music.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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