“Isabel Pantoja must be cared for and respected”

Those of us who are of a certain age have grown up listening to the song of Gentleman’s Punch in those commercials where the man returned home and the woman prepared his liquor in a balloon glass. Today we have all changed, but there are things that remain in the retina and on the palate and that is why a new version of the famous song has been recorded, only now in the voice of The Hungarian, a top artist, with a more contemporary approachWith Sonia Priego, as she is baptized, we talk about her return to the stage, about a summer full of performances, and about her passion for Rocío Jurado and Isabel Pantoja. The truth is that it is a pleasure to hear someone who knows what the story is about talk so much and so well about the greats of song.

Who came up with the idea of ​​calling her to give voice to Ponche Caballero?

LH: My life is a series of coincidences and this project was not going to be any different. They asked me if I would like to sing this song that for me is the history of Spain and brings back memories of my childhood. In my house there was always a bottle for my father to have a drink with or to make desserts and fruit salads. They needed a voice and they gave me a huge surprise, as it has been a pleasure.

What was that little girl who saw her father like? Was her childhood happy?

LH: A lot. We are a very close family. My parents were both workers, my mother cleaning stairs and my father doing whatever he could: as a driver, cleaning the car… I come from a humble family but with wonderful memories. We are very close and that is why Christmas was a party. I always dreamed of being an artist and while my friends played with dolls, my friend Rosi (the dancer Rosa María La Chana) and I had a great time being a presenter or artist. I am lucky to have been able to fulfil that dream.

Who gave you the first push?

LH: I have seven cousins ​​who I grew up with as if they were my sisters. We were always together. At my cousin’s girlfriend’s bachelorette party, they convinced me to go to a karaoke in Seville. It seemed crazy to me because I’m more of a country girl than an olive tree, but as luck has always been my way, I ended up going with them and I had the time of my life at the karaoke. I didn’t let anyone sing! That night, El Cali (the producer) was at the club and he became interested in me. I didn’t want to give him my phone number because I didn’t know if it was true or who knows, and it was because one of my cousins ​​gave him my home number and he called the next day. If it weren’t for her, nothing would have happened. I was 18, but I was very young. When he contacted me, I was shocked. He told me the artists he produced and I remember that when I hung up, I grabbed my box of cassettes that I listened to and it turned out that Francisco Carmona was the producer of almost all the singers I followed. Today he continues to be my producer, whom I love and adore.

Fate has always been in his favour, but I don’t know if it has been enough to make him feel that he is where he deserves to be. Not long ago, I thanked C. Tangana for giving him more visibility.

LH: I will be eternally grateful to Tangana for letting me share a tour and the song we recorded together. You stopped loving me He has been one of the most listened to. I also adore his mother and we have created a friendship for life. He wanted to choose me because he listened to me as a teenager and I marked a period of his life for him, so he thought of me for that song. There is an audience that knows me through him but there are those who have been following me for twenty years. Tangana is huge, hard-working, clever, astute, a genius. It is normal that success came to him because he is very big. At his side, I have been given a profile that I had not achieved before.

And where does La Húngara come from?

LH: My cousins ​​also had a lot of artists in my family. There is no history of artists in my family, except for an aunt who sang very well but never dedicated herself to it professionally. We had a neighbour who would always ask us to dance without heels at nap time because her twins wouldn’t go to sleep and my mother used to tell her that she didn’t know where she got that artistic streak from. As a joke, she said that she was the daughter of a Hungarian woman who abandoned me under a bridge and my cousins ​​call me the Hungarian when I started dancing without shoes. When the producer took me on, he looked for a stage name, even though I wanted to be Sonia. Nothing came to mind until my cousin told him to call me the Hungarian. And he loved it. I’ll tell you that the name has been part of the success of my career. They didn’t know who I was, there were no social networks and that’s why people wanted to see what the Hungarian woman looked like physically and up close. That mystery helped me.

How did your family handle that leap to fame?

LH: At that time I was about to break up with the father of my two daughters and it was an even firmer decision because I wanted to be independent and take on my responsibilities without anyone else’s opinion. I was already giving dance classes but at that moment I wanted to try to be an artist and I didn’t want anyone to cast a shadow on my dream. My parents were always supporting me and my grandmother only suffered when I took planes. I was older in that sense but not my parents who helped me with the girls and it was all easier. I confess that my album helped me to free myself, to see beyond what I saw at that moment and to realize myself as a woman. I am clear that you have to fight for what you dream of and not let anyone put a finger on you to cover the sun. Your decisions must always be your own.

Have you rebuilt your life today?

LH: I don’t hold any grudge against my daughters’ father, but today I have my partner, my daughters, my grandchildren and my mother who lives with me after being widowed. My daughters didn’t suffer our breakup because they understood it and it’s something that’s more normalized now. It’s true that it’s hard to take the step and even more so when you come from a very close family, but if things don’t work out, it’s okay. You have to know how to live life.

Gloria Camila was supporting her at the presentation and I know that Rocío Jurado was very important in her career as a role model.

LH: I met Rocío Jurado on a few occasions, but I didn’t have the same confidence that I have today with her daughter Gloria. I adore her. She has always been there in important moments supporting me. She is to die for. A girl with enormous values ​​and a heart and I would like people to know her as I do. Being by her side is like being with a little piece of her mother. Gloria is a great unknown to many and has nothing to do with the image that some give of her. If they knew her they wouldn’t have any negative opinions. Quite the opposite.

Do you have a relationship with Rocío Carrasco?

LH: I worked on a Canal Sur programme in honour of his mother and he treated me very well. A lot of time has passed since then and for me it was a very emotional meeting. I have no opinion on his life and the things that have happened.

Mother of two daughters, she also has the story of the child Mohammed whom she has cared for since he was a baby.

LH: I met my son Mohammed when he was six months old in Chiclana and today he is eleven years old. During this time I have shared his upbringing with his Senegalese mother and that is why he always says that he has two mothers. We are like sisters and I will tell you that contact has made a bond impossible to break. My son learned to talk and walk with me and I tell his story in the topic I eat your faceHe spends his holidays and weekends with me and for me he is my son, without having broken the bond with his mother who is in Seville. It is a wonderful gift that life has given me.

Before, folk singers were valued more.

LH: Today anyone can sing or become famous through the networks. Even if you don’t know how to sing you can be famous. Everything is valued differently and I think that before the artist had much more to prove. When they appeared on television it was because they were already an artist, today anyone can appear. The networks have good things but they have taken away a lot of authenticity. And that makes everything more difficult in the end because it is more mass-produced, although I respect all artists with talent and effort.

And what can you tell me about Isabel Pantoja?

LH: I love her madly. I enjoy all the good things that happen to her and I suffer with the bad. When people speak badly, I try not to see or hear them because they affect me. I only want nice things. I would love to do a song with her because of all the greats, she is the only one we have left and we should value and respect her much more. We have to take care of her and I die with her.