Miguel Bosé: Taking the Bull by the Horns story in the July 2010 Issue of Explore TACA

Miguel Bosé: Taking the Bull by the Horns

By Javier Andrade

For more than 30 years, his multiple artistic endeavors have confirmed the notion that in Spain there are many alternatives. In the movies as well as the pop world, Miguel Bosé always steers clear of what is traditional, and this is reflected in the roles he’s played in movies and in the direction of his music videos. He’s like a bullfighter that stands before the world while looking from the corner of his eye at the reaction of those that feel the piercing edge of his banderillas (the barbed darts used for thrusting into a bull’s neck).

At 48, he has a new album that somehow manages to fuse his many passions, treating the stories he tells in the songs of the romantic Por vos muero (I’d Die for You) as if they were small movies that require different sound tracks.

He grew up listening to the music of the ‘70s—“romantic rock”, as he likes to refer to the music of British bands such as Yes, King Crimson, Roxy Music and Genesis—and admiring colleagues such as Miguel Ríos, Joan Manuel Serrat and Víctor Manuel. Miguel Bosé is the product of the marriage between Luis Miguel Dominguín, a famous Spanish bullfighter that in his time used to confront the ferocious beasts while on his knees, and the Italian actress Lucía Bosé.

With such a pedigree, he couldn’t help but grow up among celebrities. The renowned Italian director Luchino Visconti was his godfather, Pablo Picasso was a family friend and American writer Ernest Hemingway and Italian diva Sofía Loren, among others, were frequent houseguests.

What was it like having parents like yours?
When you have a mother with a very strong character and a father with an equally strong character, there’s always going to be friction at home, and you learn how to survive in what’s sort of a dueling environment. That’s the downside. Aside from that, there weren’t any other drawbacks…I think that everyone in my family has always had personalities that were different enough to keep us from clashing with each other. Culturally speaking, I’ve received an education that, in principle, has been very, very atypical.

How do you manage a 30-year career that’s subdivided into so many activities, since at a very young age you were well-known and over time have garnered a cult following in Spain as well as in many countries in Latin America?
In the same way that you manage a farm, where there are pigs, ducks, chickens, cows, goats…One is born loving all animals, but at some point you realize that it’s a mistake to feed pearls to swine; that it’s a mistake to buy a Laura Ashley bed for chickens; that it’s a mistake to try to talk to a turkey or make a goat give you apples. Then what you have to do is adapt and redefine yourself with each thing. To achieve perfect harmony you have to treat each thing the way it deserves to be treated.

You debuted in the movies before getting started in music. Did your interest in both fields grow over time?
The film and musical careers practically began at the same time; however, the acting started a little earlier. The movie career began first because I really wanted to act, and over time I also became interested in writing, directing…something a lot more complete. And then, the musical career began. I went into music because it gave me instant gratification. When you’re 18 or 19, you want quick feedback and don’t want to waste time. And in music either they like you or they don’t; it’s fast. With acting you have to wait, wait and wait some more…wait for the day to come; wait to get a part; wait while you’re on the set; wait for the cameras to start rolling; wait for the movie to be completed; wait for the movie to debut; wait for the critics to be kind…and when you’re a teenager, that just doesn’t work. Music gave me financial freedom and was a way for me to express myself. These are two careers that I don’t plan to abandon. Listen, I work in movies to keep from going crazy, because through the movies I can live many lives. I can’t do that with music. In music I’ve had the same persona for the past 30 years. It’s like an enormous soap opera with various characters that keep growing inside me.

Your new album, Por vos muero, begins with “El ilusionista” (The Illusionist), a duet with Alejandro Sanz. How do you describe your relationship with him?
We’re like brothers. We’ve been friends for over 20 years—very good ones—since he was a little boy. What happened with this song was that he had written it back in 1995 when I was working on the album Laberinto, but I couldn’t include it on the album, and it was stashed away. When I began producing this new album, I asked his permission to rework it and add a couple parts that I felt were missing and that I kept hearing in my head, so I just rewrote it and included them.

It has been said that you thought this album was like one huge sound track. Is that true?
What I thought was to make a soundtrack for each of the stories of each song, that’s what I was referring to. We worked with storyboards and at each step illustrated what the story was about, and when there was nothing to tell, we kept illustrating with the music. That was the challenge that we all as a team faced and overcame.

With the intention of differentiating yourself from the music that is made nowadays, wasn’t it risky to embark on such big orchestrations? These gestures could be perceived as overly elaborate.
It’s absolutely not that elaborate. Everything that you do has a potential of being risky. Producing an album such as this one, if you ask any musician, he or she will tell you that it’s a dream come true to be able to have such a symphony at hand that allows one to think in colors and play with various musical instruments and brilliance; it’s everybody’s dream. But it is very complicated to do—it’s very costly, and when you have the means to do it, you don’t hesitate for a second.

The first one to convince us is always you, right?
Man, you must realize that when I have an idea in my head and it doesn’t turn out like I thought, it won’t hit the market. If it doesn’t come out exactly like I thought and dreamt it would, I don’t open the door to let it out.

Among your hobbies, you enjoy gardening and vegetable growing. What interests you about it? Isn’t it drastically different from what you normally do?
It’s not foreign to me at all, since being the son of a bullfighter, I grew up in the country. Bullfighters don’t live in the city, so the contact with the earth, with nature, is something that connects me with my childhood, such as contact with horses, cows and other types of animals.

It seems as if you are too sophisticated to work in a vegetable garden…
Why? Is social class in conflict with vegetable growing? I think the classiest people are those living in the country. If I’ve inherited some of that, it’s because of my father and mother as well as my grandparents, who were all country people.

You also enjoy cooking and scuba diving, right?
Yes, I dive so I can cook—no, I’m just kidding. I like to cook because it’s very relaxing and to get together with friends, because I don’t go out very often; in fact, I rarely go out. And scuba diving is one of my favorite hobbies. Any time I can, as long as it’s in a place where I’m doing a concert and have some free time, I go diving. It’s been a great passion for many, many years.

You have 14 dogs. Why so many? Do you agree with the saying that says, “the more I get to know people, the more I love my dog”?
If I have so many dogs, it’s because I like them; I like their company and the truth is, if I could have more, I would. But on the other hand, I wouldn’t choose a dog over a friend, or vice-versa. In truth, they are two completely different things. The thing is that animals don’t argue with you. They are a lot more giving and don’t expect much. They simply want food, tenderness and attention, because they’re obviously very dependent on you; so, logically, they are very dedicated to you. But your friends are your friends. Of course, humans are on a totally different plane. And there are also certain types of animals that are despicable.

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