NAU NUA: RUSÓ SALA

Philias

Photography © Elena Casadevall

We went to a bar in the Barcelona’s Raval for the interview, just one hour before the sound check for her concert at the Triangle in the Catalonia Place. There was one of those welcoming suns so we went straight to the bar’s terrace and once Rusó sat down she seemed to feel very comfortable leaving herself to be embraced by those rays of gentle heat, almost sweet. Before the interview we started an interesting conversation after thanking her for the song Mare, me'n vaig Franca, dedicated to Neus Català and the all the people deported to Nazi camps, because unfortunately the refugee issue is and will always be present. This led us to talk about the Spanish Civil War, the drama of impunity, why there are so many families who have failed to honor their ancestors, but also to wonder how could they reach that radicalization and why some want to delete that memory. Then we talked about our family roots reaching her mother's surname, Koperdraat, which in Dutch means copper wire and has become the title of her latest album Fil de coure (Microscope, 2015), a much desired detail to her mother born in the Netherlands.

And it had to happen, there was no time for the interview. But we talked at length, though, and very comfortable. And I felt the sea, the sea that comes to me each time I listen to her voice, both recorded as, or even more, live. Because the copper wire took me further once the concert began. She performed very well accompanied by the excellent guitarist Caterina Fadda and together they were stretching slowly their creative wire leading us to diverse landscapes and seas: from the Argentina of Alfonsina y el mar, to the Cuba of Silvio Rodriguez, one of the guitar virtuoso moments, to our Andalusian culture, emphasizing Rusó that "it owns to us too and we have forgotten it", through the Sardinia of Caterina and finally arriving to France, by the hand of the memory of the end of the war that many would like to delete, Spaniards refugees in the French camps later deported to the Nazi camps. All a journey full of beauty, laughter and tears, of despair screams and loving touch, but mostly a sea, the sea that Rusó Sala is.

The interview was finally made in the distance but close to this little world we both created in that first conversation, sincere and close, both heated by that autumn sun. And here's the result.

What can we find following your wire?

It is a copper wire, along which, in the form of music, emotions go. This wire pulls the boat in which we sailed together, and helps us to reach seemingly distant and even opposing places. Thanks to the copper wire I have traveled far and collected songs everywhere; I communicated with my past, with my dead; I connected with poets of the Mediterranean, from now and from years ago ... all circulating in the form of music through this highly conductive material.

What is art for you and why did you choose the song as a way of expression?

Art is alchemy. It is a painstaking work of a combination of elements, it has this craftsmanship and technical part. But suddenly it appears on scene what is inexplicable, magical, and you have access to a parallel world where daily life becomes a symbol, and from there you learn to say things in a different way. You are surprised and you just go with whatever comes. The song was waiting for me for years, it called me when I was just a little child. I did not consciously choose it as a possible form of artistic expression but because singing and creating melodies have accompanied me since I can remember, my childhood games were climbing around it.

Your music is like a sea, full of strong and sweet waves at the same time, but it seems it is always looking for calm. What does the sea mean for you?

The sea makes me feel alive, calms me when I'm nervous and I turns me on when I'm asleep. And on a symbolic level it can represent many things! : our own submerged; a new journey where you leave the mainland behind (into the unknown); brutal source of information, access to all the cultures that have inhabited its shores, that is, a bridge to our history, etc... in short, the sea as a great metaphor for the seemingly unknown, but at the same time where we come from and where we all are going to end up, right?

In which sea would you swim?

I would swim in every sea I arrived to. Given the choice, I choose to begin in the Dead Sea, to experience another way of floating in the water. It must leave you a very salty taste in your mouth ...

If you had to choose a different element than water, what would it be?

I am fire, fire and a bit soil, so the stars say, but I would give anything to walk in the air, like a swallow. It’s my recurring dream ...

How was the Fil de coure album making of and how did you select the poems and songs?

Fil de coure was born when I met the guitarist Caterinangela Fadda. I had already written the songs we played, I've been composing them over the recent years, and there is also some version. But to do it with the Caterina was very suitable to provide it the virtuoso, classic and delicate point I wished so much. I was proposing themes to her and in a very natural way she found a way to fit between my voice and my guitar. After doing many concerts and once I felt that what we were doing had reached a significant level of maturity, we started recording the album, to capture our meeting at its best moment.

Lorca, Pavese, Marcal, Casasses ... what do you find in each of them?

Each of them opens to you the door to a new universe. And in each universe it sounds a special music. With Pavese I tasted Italian for the first time; Lorca made me sing from the bowels; Casasses made me rediscover the sound of my land; Marcal has stimulated my creativity, has prompted me to sail again ...

Mare, me’n vaig a França (Mother, I'm going to France) reminds us that migration is sadly relevant today as always due to the drama of the refugees. What inspired this song and what is your opinion about migration?

Migration is part of the history of almost every family in our country. There is always a generation that is forced to do so. To speak about migration is to talk about substantive issues, frozen, wars and injustices, that instead of being solved they are moving from one country to another. Man can built many walls but misery still flies higher and instructs badly. Only the solidarity between peoples and their cooperation to put limits to the lust for power and the struggle to achieve it seem solutions that can stop the drama of migration background. And right now, to become more empathetic societies able to embrace fraternally other people that ask to rebuild their lives with dignity.

Could you explain a dream you had while you were sleeping?

When I was recording the second album I dreamed several times that I was pregnant but I could not give birth. When I returned from Italy with the record master under my arm, one of those nights I dreamed how I gave birth and had a child in my arms, so beautiful ... and I was breastfeeding the child while we were both naked on the couch. Symbolic, huh?