Five?
Boulder, river stone.
Does that mean your name?
Yes, in Arabic. My name is Marwán Abu-Tahoun Recio.
Strong.
My mother is from Soriano, Nieves Recio.
And his father?
From Palestine.
Is he Palestinian?
From many generations. And in 1948 they suffered the nakba there.
¿ Nakba ?
“Disaster”: the State of Israel was founded, the Palestinian exodus began... and his father was expelled from his home and land.
Where did your grandfather go?
To the West Bank, to a refugee camp, Tulkarem: that's where my father was born.
What does your father tell you?
Their childhood games... Happy but feeling humiliated. Same today: Palestinian children imprisoned in Israel for defending their mother from the humiliation of an Israeli soldier... or for throwing a stone.
And what did his father do with his life?
Study with scholarships from UNRWA, from the UN. At the age of 16, in 1967, he was an English translator in Arafat's PLO. And they recruited him in the Six Day War...
Great Arab defeat.
Israeli settlers broke in and my father's family fled to Jordan. In 1969 my father came to Madrid to study at the university. And he met Nieves.
How did your parents meet?
In Puerta del Sol, he asked her for a street, she answered, he liked it, he followed her, asked for her phone number and she gave it to him.
He was brave and had his reward.
And so does she. They got married and ten years later I was born.
Madrid and Arab: did you suffer racism?
I suffered from racism, I was a child and I didn't understand what was happening. A teacher poked me: he was racist. And that's why I'm an artist.
What does it have to do?
The artist feels different from the majority. You become sensitive and your intimate emotional world explodes inside.
An interior volcano?
I was unable to manage my emotions. And then... the music appeared: Silvio Rodríguez, Serrat, Pedro Guerra, Ismael Serrano... They saved my life!
As much as that?
I had no self-esteem, I isolated myself, I was insecure, I had a wounded animal inside... At 18 years old, that music made me feel part of something: "They are singing my life!", I felt when listening to it.
Do you still like them?
His lyrics are transformative: that's what I'm still looking for today. The true artist opens his mouth.
Do you do it?
I do it in my poems and song lyrics: without shame, I expose myself starkly.
Unlimited?
Without harming third parties.
“I have a hard time deciding between loneliness and commitment.”
It's a letter of mine: that happens to me. I'm in a relationship... And I fantasize about my loneliness... or about sneaking into a hotel with another woman.
How sincere.
It happens to many of us, right?
...
With everything you gain something and with everything you lose something. And yes, I am sincere, although I am not a “sincericide.”
What does it mean to be “sincere”?
Harm another by listing defects. I follow Bioy Casares: “I tell myself the truth to be at peace with myself, I don't tell it to others to be at peace with everyone.”
“I need a country”, he also writes...
I need a country that takes away sadness, a country that pushes you to fulfill your dreams, without masters who think they are our owners...
How about politicians?
Politicians give us more emotions than solutions.
What does your father think when he sees what is happening in Palestine on TV?
Sadness. And, at the same time, a resigned fatalism: his resource to not die of grief.
Do you do anything for the Palestinians?
I participate in charity concerts and have composed and sing Urgent Lullaby for Palestine, I am an ambassador for UNRWA.
What is poetry?
Poetry is putting new words to the usual. Radiate beauty.
What is beauty?
Beauty is what captivates and excites you... and at the same time reconciles you with the world.
What is the nicest thing anyone has said to you?
“If I listen to you or read you, I feel accompanied.” Knowing that I am a mirror for others is the greatest thing.
