Fernando León de Aranoa presents an “X-ray of the soul” by Joaquín Sabina

The Spanish filmmaker Fernando León de Aranoa discovered the music of Joaquín Sabina when he was 17 years old. He remembers the amazement that those verses of the Spanish singer-songwriter produced in him, so much so that he felt that they spoke to him, that they were made for him. He then began a “sentimental relationship” with the author of We have plenty of reasons, which over the years became an admiration that León de Aranoa turned into a documentary, Sintínlo mucho, which he presented at the Hay Festival in Querétaro. . The work has followed Sabina for 13 years and in it you can also see the change that the passage of time marks in the singer, although the director does not want it to be taken as a kind of farewell to someone who is still active and filling theaters. concert, like a cat that has not yet used all its lives. “Joaquín is constantly updating what he experiences, he is going to incorporate it into his work,” said León de Aranoa.

The director, author of celebrated films such as Mondays in the Sun, has explained that it has not been easy to record this documentary. Not only because of the long process of following Sabina for so long, but because of the character of the author himself, untamed, nervous, always on the move. “I tried to do something that was very similar to Joaquín, that the film was the opportunity for the viewer to get to know the Joaquín that I knew,” he explained. “There was no plan and that was good, because subjecting Joaquín to a plan would have been a mistake and an absolute disaster. It was about me joining his idiosyncrasy as a musician, following him in the relative chaos of him, magnificent, very creative, but for a filmmaker where everything is planned it is difficult,” he explained. “It even served as therapy for me, because embarking on a documentary adventure like this and with someone like Joaquín was something of a challenge, of learning not to always have everything under control. With Joaquín it was difficult even with the smallest things”, the director has narrated.

Fernando León de Aranoa at the presentation of ‘SentLo Much’ during the Hay Festival 2023 in Querétaro.DEMIAN CHAVEZ (EL PAÍS)

The documentary, which Sabina has defined as “an x-ray of my soul,” is a tribute to the life of a man who has deeply marked music in Spanish. A scoundrel, a romantic, a bohemian, an innovator, but also the author capable of writing now mythical songs, which are part of the daily lives of millions of Hispanics, powerful verses, metaphors that are already classics, brilliant phrases (“the slam of the door rang like a question mark”) and that has filled concerts on both sides of the pond for decades. Sabina and Serrat are the two great living singers of Spanish music, who are part of a time of liberation from society, of enjoying life, of not taking themselves too seriously, although willing to give their all in their work. “When Sabina speaks he does it from a very wise place, very calm, with humor, without ever believing it. He avoids solemnity, that there is too much weight in his words,” explained Fernando León de Aranoa.

The director commented on his documentary in a talk organized by EL PAÍS within the framework of the Hay Festival of Querétaro, the annual meeting that brings together artists, writers, thinkers and scientists. Alongside Jan Martínez Ahrens, director of EL PAÍS América, who led the talk, León de Aranoa has recounted dramatic moments that he was able to witness while recording, such as Sabina’s accident at the WiZink Center in Madrid, when she miscalculated and fell off the stage . Beyond the shock and anguish, León de Aranoa affirms that at that moment he was struck by the silence of the 15,000 souls that packed the theater and that in this way showed his concern for his idol. However, the director has explained that despite the dramatic moments shown in the documentary, Sabina has always tried to take away the weight and use humor as an escape route. “She never takes herself seriously. He says that in this job you have to take the result of your work and the public very seriously, but never yourself, because that is the death of any creative process,” stated the filmmaker.

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