A few minutes from 11 am on Wednesday, dozens of people crowded at the gates of the Madrid headquarters of the General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE). It was about to open the makeshift burning chapel to fire Manuel de la Calva, half of the dynamic duo who died yesterday, in the institution where the musician left 766 registered songs and that last year handed him his medal of honor. Inside was the family. His son Daniel, “enduring”; His daughter Victoria, his wife, Mirna Carvajal, and who was her career brother, Ramón Arcusa, the other half of the legendary duo. Thus began a long day in which the Longoria Palace will remain open nine hours to the public: from 11.00 to 20.00. The dozens of morning followers soon became hundreds and, over the day, they have exceeded half a thousand.
Many friends, personalities of Spanish music, have also reached the SGAE, some deeply marked by De la Calva’s work and his partner. As Massiel, who in the already distant 1968 won the Eurovision Festival and lit his career with the LA LA LA. “It’s not mine, it’s theirs,” the singer made just arriving. “It is from the group that marked an era and that made pop enter Spain,” he continued, excited. It has been a hard day in which he has not stopped talking about music and the songs that gave color to an entire era. Arcusa himself already announced yesterday in a message in his X account: “Do not cry for him, he would not like. It was the soul of the duo, always cheerful, optimistic, positive. Sing with him in this farewell.”
And his friends have literally listened to him, such as Regina do Santos, the famous Brazilian television singer of the 90s, who shared with De la Calva “more than twenty bowling.” “He was very happy, like me, and wants us to remember it. Resisted. And if a title has spoken this Wednesday it has been that of that anthem that in 2020 resurfaced as a flag of resistance during the pandemic for Covid in Spain. It was also remembered by José Miguel Fernández Astron, Loreto Valverde or Paco Clavel, who said of his friend: “It is an irreparable loss, but life is like that.” “He was a very simple person, very important in our careers. Great person and better composer.”
It also happened, afflicted, Carlos Toro, the author of the lyrics of that milestone, “that intergenerational song listening to grandmothers, children and grandchildren.” “Manolo does not die at all. The songs are immortal and Resisted It’s a hymn, ”he said when he arrives.
Nor does the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, who attended in the name of the Government to “pay tribute to one of the great artists of the country,” he let the opportunity to talk about the song, especially his resurgence during the pandemic “as a hymn of resistance.” And about the duo, he said: “My mother was a great admirer and I listened to them as a child at home. It was for me, as for many families in Spain, a family exercise.” Like him, other political authorities such as the mayor of Madrid, Inma Sanz, and the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Regional Government, Mariano de Paco have attended.
But if something has music is the power to infect thousands of people. And in the farewell of one of the members of the Pioneer Group of the Fan phenomenon in Spain their followers did not fail. Many, women over 65. Some dressed in merchandising From another era, others with flowers in the hands, and many more with tears for saying goodbye to “the memory of youth.” Or like Goyi Herrera, sitting in her wheelchair and armed with a black and white photograph signed by the duo, as amulet to keep those memories.
The most unconditional ones such as Loli Novillo, Julia Cedillo and Pilar Fernández, a trio of octogenaries, components of components, components of The dynamicsthe fans club that follows the group for more than 50 years, and that administer until today a couple of fan pages On Facebook and Twitter. “They have been our youth, we have followed them everywhere. And in the concerts we were again 15 years old. Like them, they have never tired,” they say, almost united in the same voice. And they take the opportunity to reveal one of the secrets of duo’s success: “Of all the artists that have been, nobody has taken care of fans like them. They have taken great care. They have always been very affectionate with everyone, even today their families have treated us well. We will be dynamics until death ”.