Alejandro Sanz: What I Was Is What I Am

How do you see those who strive to remain humble

even when they're at the height of their artistic career?

People like that...

You know what it is? I'm just changing someone's tape here!

-It's mine. -Yours? I'll change it for you.

-Thanks. -Don't mention it!

This is what I use for composing...

I bought a computer and now it's where I do my best recordings.

Well...

I think my family

instilled in me a certain way of being and of seeing the world.

But it's difficult, because when you get your first taste of success

it's overwhelming. It's like this huge monster,

and sometimes you don't know how to react.

But luckily I have people around me who I've always been able to lean on.

Plus, being normal is much easier, right?

ON THE 24TH OF JUNE, 2017, A ONE-OFF CONCERT WAS HELD

BY MUSICIAN ALEJANDRO SANZ TO COMMEMORATE

THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE OF HIS ALBUM MÁS

THE HIGHEST-SELLING ALBUM IN SPANISH MUSIC HISTORY

Good evening!

My name is Alejandro Sánchez Pizarro.

Native of Madrid and Cadiz

and raised all over the world.

I can't think of anything I'd rather do than sing for you for the next 20 years.

Have a great night! This is your concert, enjoy it!

WHAT I WAS IS WHAT I AM

To fill a 50,000-seater stadium,

first you need to empty a small room and stay there on your own.

It's in that solitude that interesting things are created.

A MONTH BEFORE THE CONCERT

Everyone knows it's not just another rehearsal.

It's also a kind of retreat where we can relax and rehearse

and create that atmosphere:

where we know we're in this together, and it's not just one singer

with 20 musicians.

Music is the love of my life.

My first guitar belonged to my dad.

I'd wake up at 6:30 in the morning and start playing it.

I remember my mum broke it

and I had to stick an ad from a magazine on it

to cover up the hole.

You'll all leave

Time will pass Moments will go by, you'll see.

When I tried to convince my mum that I wanted to be a musician,

she'd say: "No, son. Making it as a musician is a one in a million chance."

And I'd say: "But, Mum, that's me!

I'm the one in a million."

I'm going to sing a song for my sons Alejandro and Jesús

and dedicate it to my husband.

FAMILY AUDIO RECORDINGS

-Daddy, come on! -You two help her, go on.

My heart says...

ALEJANDRO'S MOTHER

That...

Stop laughing or I won't sing!

My mum practically raised my brother and I by herself.

ALEJANDRO'S BROTHER

Back then,

an artist like my dad would spend his whole life on the road.

My dad covered a million kilometres in his Fiat 600

travelling up and down the country.

But then of course my mum was left alone in Madrid

with two kids and nobody to help,

waiting for her husband to come home which sometimes he didn't.

I've travelled to many countries,

but I haven't seen anything comparable

to this blessed Spain,

where I was born

And I'm convinced there's nowhere else like it.

First he was in the Trío Juventud with two girls from Algeciras.

They split up, even though they were great...

ALEJANDRO'S AUNT

...and he started a band with two other guys from Algeciras.

They were called Los 3 de la Bahía.

It was impressive knowing someone

whose dad worked in music, played guitar and had recorded an album.

He came from a musical background

and was starting to play the guitar, like me,

FRIEND AND MUSICIAN

but he had that environment at home and it really made an impression on me.

Let's see what you can do.

ALEJANDRO'S FIRST RECORDINGS

-Do you want to sing it? -Yes.

Go on then, sing it.

-Very good, but is that all you know? -Yes!

There was a school in Cruz de los Caídos that gave free classes...

ALEJANDRO'S MOTHER ONDA LUZ INTERVIEW

...to kids that wanted them, so that's where I took him.

It was free. It didn't matter if it came to nothing! I took him there every day.

Every single day.

My dad always supported my brother.

My mum was more reluctant because she knew...

ALEJANDRO'S BROTHER

...how hard it was.

My mum was always attentive.

She wanted me to pass my exams

and work in a bank, like all mothers at that time.

We started out in music together. We had a heavy metal band!

FIRST AND ONLY PERFORMANCE

There's a bridge which goes from Moratalaz to La Estrella. It's over the motorway

and it's where me and my friend Carlos would go.

We imagined the car lights were our audience waving their lighters!

We'd stand up there imagining the whole motorway was full of people!

As if we were rock stars!

20 DAYS BEFORE THE CONCERT

OK, so maybe we deserve it

But our voice isn't for sale

And whatever they think of us

Read my lips I couldn't care less

I have a balm for all kinds of pain

Remedies for all kinds of mistakes

And prescriptions for disappointment

These guys say that without the piano and all that

it's just over two hours long.

FRIEND AND AUTHOR OF THE BIOGRAPHY "VIVE"

The way it is right now, the concert's at least three hours long.

I don't want people to leave looking at their watches.

Let's time it and if we have to cut something, we will.

I like it better when it sounds like that.

It sounds better than a really good studio recording.

Sure, because it's a live recording.

There it goes...

I liked hard rock and flamenco best.

I listened to Camarón and Paco de Lucía

from a very young age. Flamenco spoke to me.

It got under my skin. Lole and Manuel...

Everything my dad used to play in the car when I was little.

Little boy...

Once upon a time, there was a city...

...that was stranded in the middle of a luminous bay.

ALEJANDRO'S FATHER

That's why they called it The bride of the sun.

Take a guess, take a guess! What town am I from?

Once upon a time...

Alejandro was born in Madrid

and spent many summers at my mother's house.

I think that there he found

a place to develop his artistic side...

ALEJANDRO'S COUSIN AND FLAMENCO EXPERT

...and that's stayed with him his whole career.

We've loved flamenco since we were born,

so those summers were unforgettable.

From when we woke up in the morning

to when we went to bed, we'd be playing the guitar non-stop.

My mum would be in the kitchen preparing the food...

He didn't just bring his guitar when he came,

he'd also bring some black trousers

and a white shirt, in case Cuadro Soleá had a show.

He played the guitar in a lot of our shows.

At that time, he already had his own songs.

It surprised us, because they were really good.

I remember Alejandro saying to me:

"We should go to your uncle's house one day.

I want him to hear me and see what he thinks."

ALEJANDRO'S FRIEND, NEPHEW OF PEPE AND PACO DE LUCÍA

We went there a few times

and he played him two or three of his own songs,

that he'd written himself. He sang them and my uncle loved them.

PACO DE LUCÍA AND RAMÓN DE ALGECIRAS

That's when I realised who he was: a boy who lived and breathed

like a flamenco artist.

FLAMENCO SINGER AND COMPOSER

He had the flair and charm of a flamenco artist,

as if he'd been born here in Cadiz. It was his thing.

Once upon a time,

there was a white butterfly,

HOME RECORDING

...who was the queen

of all the dawn butterflies

She would land in the gardens

among the most beautiful flowers

And whisper stories

to the carnation and the violet

THE 80'S

So he could earn some money, my dad found him gigs

at nightclubs owned by his friends in Madrid.

ALEJANDRO'S BROTHER

I used to play in strip clubs and nightclubs,

earning basically enough to cover my return taxi fare.

I used to sing while the girls got changed,

not that they had many clothes to change!

It was a real learning experience,

because obviously the customers weren't there to listen to me!

I'm the same to Alejandro as I could be to any of you.

STAR MAKER AND PRODUCER

My job is to support talented people

who are just starting out and have no other support.

Capi was a very atypical producer.

He had a real eye for new talent.

Capi helped me launch my career.

Also Mecano or...

SINGER AND COMPOSER

Los Pecos, Alejandro... He helped a lot of people.

I knew him through my mum and from a photo I'd seen.

He was singing at a communion or something like that

and he was in a Sevillian folk band with my cousin.

When I saw the picture of them, I saw that Alejandro had a special aura.

I said: "Bring him to me." And he said to me:

"Capi, I want to be in this business even if it's just making coffees."