Rosalía

La Voz de Galicia – February 21, 2020 →

It was she who, from a distance, helped me understand what we are; and each time I think about it, I smile because it was her verses that returned me to Galicia. Her Lúa Descolorida, set to music by the Russo-Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov, was my talisman at the beginning of my professional career in the USA, and thanks to her I got to work with the violoncellist and humanist who changed my life, my mentor, Yo-Yo Ma.

Rosalía de Castro is in all of us who daily use her verses without knowing it because they are already a part of the way we speak. She is in us who are moved when we discover a new meaning, when we play her Negra Sombra, or when we try to feel things in the same way she felt them because she left the emotion of her voice through poetry.

It is Rosalía de Castro’s birthday on Monday, and to celebrate it, I had thought to look at the night sky to find her star. Even though her star has been guiding us for a long time, this past year, thanks to efforts by the Agrupación Astronómica Coruñesa Ío in collaboration with the Fundación Rosalía de Castro and the Asociación Cultural Alexandre Bóveda, Rosalía is also Star HD149143.

The Casa de Rosalía encourages us to celebrate her with a «caldo de groria,» or glory broth, or simply by sharing how her verses are a part of our lives. So I will read her again and will find anew her magic in a different verse and will be moved to hear Dawn Upshaw sing the Lúa Descolorida that changed my life…

And from here, «trading smiles for small complaints and cries» I will try to remember that «at each turn hope awaited me, smiling»… Rosalía: thank you for so much.