the goodbye of a Goddess

He’s leaving with a bang after 50 years on stage but that doesn’t mean he’s going to disappear.. He will return as a performer and will combine his life in Spain and Los Angeles (California) where his daughter and grandchildren reside. Paloma San Basilio is the end of the race of a golden era of Spanish artists who are in retirement but with a surrendered public who refuses to forget them.

He titles his farewell tour with a Gracias (in Madrid the concert will be on June 5 at the Universal Music Festival) and the question is why he is leaving.

Gracias sums it all up. What I feel after spending 50 years doing what I do and being so different and being able to grow as a person, travel, receive the love of people… It is a journey in which I have been very accompanied, as you well know. It is everyone’s job and that is why we must be grateful for allowing me to do a job of this category, with this dignity, without having to put up with nonsense and with the response of the people who work with me. Consider that there have been people by my side for more than twenty years and a tour is a good time to end.

But why now?

Everything has its time and I feel like I need to do other things. I want to grow, take risks and try other things. Maybe I’m wrong but I’m going to do them. Furthermore, today everything is very different. To do a concert you have to give at least 40 interviews, most of them for zoom or other techniques and what I like is like this, like us, looking at each other’s faces. I’m not used to the new techniques that are on the market and they ask you for it, but I live a quieter and more private life and I don’t like taking photos everywhere or telling what they expect me to tell and I never will. That’s why I think the time has come to change the registry.

He says he will have time for other things. Like which ones?

In April I am going to publish my third book, a novel that Harper Collins will publish for me and it is a very beautiful and hard story but one of hope. It came about as a result of the pandemic and the death of my older sister and how I was left. Think that my sister was my second mother, the person I have lived with the longest and on top of that she died of covid. It was the thread of my kite and suddenly I was left… The story that emerged there is what I tell. I am not a professional writer since I only do it when I have something to tell. I don’t know when the next one will be. What I do have is a text that Juan Carlos Rubio is preparing for me to perform in the theater. You don’t know how much I want her, she is a very interesting character, a Dulcinea who will have life and voice. It is a story that we are going to enjoy and that will premiere next November.

The last time we met at his house in Madrid next to the La Coruña highway, which he ended up selling. Where do you feel home today?

I have a house in Puerto de Santa María and a 16th century farmhouse in Navarra and then there is my daughter’s house in Los Angeles, where I spend a lot of time and it is the family home. After the death of my sister I have been left very alone and I no longer have an excuse to be in Madrid although it is true that this year I will not be able to go until December due to work issues. My idea is to spend at least four months in Los Angeles. In Madrid I have relatives who love that I go to their houses because I love being with my nephews.

How did you experience the Los Angeles fire?

It was not that far from our house and of course it has affected us. We were without electricity for four days and on evacuation alert with our suitcases packed in case we had to leave quickly. My grandchildren have already experienced these situations because we were evacuated two years ago and I must be unaware because I assure you that I am not afraid. My daughter is much more forward-thinking than me and for her we went to buy flashlights, chargers and supplies for what might happen. It was my daughter who told me that I had to pack and pack. The other time I remember that we saw the flames from home and we had to go out to some friends’ house because there was not a single hotel for many kilometers.

How old are your grandchildren now?

Soul 21 and Neo 25.

Do you want to be a great-grandmother?

Of course. Everything that comes seems great to me. Being a grandmother was an event that I enjoyed very much and obviously at these ages you don’t have as much of them anymore so if a baby comes it will be great.

We have all been so upset with Raphael’s health that he has had to stop everything to treat his illness. I know that they are very good friends.

Raphael takes great care of himself in terms of discipline and meals but he doesn’t stand still. Today in The Anthill and tomorrow somewhere else. It just can’t be. This profession demands a lot. I am here today but on Friday I am going to Chile and then I will return on Sunday. I handle this well as far as possible, but I don’t have a transplant. Natalia [Figueroa] She told me that she is great and looking forward to it and I will talk calmly with her so that she can tell me well. He told me that he is going to get over it and they are two phenomena.

Julio Iglesias retired from the stage, Raphael due to health, Perales is also leaving, now you are saying goodbye with this tour… We are left without references.

Life is cycles and today the world is going on a different path. I think everything has its moment and this is perfect. I refuse to be subject to the tyranny of the networks and the brutal wear and tear that the current market demands.

Are we going to see it on television formats?

No. I will do the interviews I consider but I will not be in contests or reality shows. What I do have is a proposal to make a documentary about this tour that we are in talks about and it can be very nice as long as my red lines are not crossed. I have a way of understanding life and profession and I am not going to give it up for anything in the world. If you can do something nice without going beyond those limits, then welcome.