El Faro | Entrevista a Rozalén | 03/02/2021

María Rozalén (Albacete, 1986) needs to see the sea from time to time "because it takes away everything I have inside me and heals me," despite having lived by the river all her life. The quintessential La Mancha native, who has revolutionized the Spanish music scene in recent years, carries her homeland and the discourse of depopulation as her banner. Furthermore, her marked social commitment speaks of a person with a very special sensitivity, something that can undoubtedly be perceived in this half-hour conversation with Mara Torres. This very distinctive voice, who still sleeps with her mother whenever she can, takes us on a tour of her family's village, Letur, and tells us how life finds its way in small and, unfortunately and over time, sometimes forgotten places. This "Dulcinea," the pseudonym she uses for the first few minutes of this conversation, evokes her grandmother in almost every answer and shares with all listeners the habaneras she sang to her at the door of her house. Rozalén's connection to her childhood and youth in Albacete remains in almost every aspect of her life. She now lives on the outskirts of Madrid and strives to connect with that nature and those origins, which are practically the protagonists of her latest album, "El árbol y el bosque." The story Rozalén shares with her music is also that of her family. Her father was a priest when he met her mother, a passionate story of a love that took almost ten years to define and which has also inspired the affectionate way in which the singer speaks to and sees her parents. The suppressed emotion of the entire interview explodes when she hears a particularly moving fragment of one of her favorite films, "Life is Beautiful." This morning smells of toast with garlic and olive oil, something María has eaten for breakfast her entire life and which speaks of her past, present, and future. Music numbs the pain of these times, and this voice accompanies us in the face of the