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ANTONIO BIRABENT

PEOPLEText: Gisella Lifchitz

Antonio Birabent seems to have returned from a long trip through curvy and nocturne fields. Now he has finally found the light he so much needed. He defines himself as a singer who sings clear and crystal songs. With a certain tango melancholy, he moves back and forth wearing a safe look in his face, taking control of it all.

He wants to meet me in a traditional coffee house of Recoleta, one of the most glamorous neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, which was built around the most glamorous cemetery. After getting a bit lost I entered La Biela ten minutes early. I’m not at all surprised by the living creatures that surround me, they are probably judges or lawyers, everyone very well dressed and lucubrating plans for the rest of us mortals, for sure. I wonder what I am doing there and I guess he won’t show up at all.

I choose a table on the corner, close to the window with a view to a very green park. If he sits in front of me he’ll have a quiet place to lay his eyes upon. It’s good to know he won’t have to look at me all the time. Just when I forget him, he enters the bar, dressed in a pair of green pants and a black leather jacket. He looks taller, I think. I say a brief “hi” and wave my hand at him, he recognizes me and comes closer, sitting in the vacant chair in front of me. Suddenly he finds out the view, and he’ll be looking at the world through that window during the next hour.

Fortunately. He asks for coffee with a lot of milk. After taking the first sip, he’s ready to talk about his last album, “Cardinal”, the seventh in his career. “Cardinal“, he tells me, “there’s no stylism nor a unique idea about music. A lot of instruments cohabit in it. The classic ones and the modern technology. French corn, Japanese sampler, funny little noises”, he says with a smile on the right side of his mouth. “In my previous albums I was more like a storyteller. In this one, I just sing. It’s more transparent, much closer to the light”.

Why the name “Cardinal”?

I like words, I just liked that one. It’s a synonym to essential. In one of my songs I propose to go down to a woman’s cardinal point, the most fragile and also the strongest, her most certain and authentic intimacy. Cardinal also represents a compass that guides you away from mediocrity, it’s the possibility of something more human and worthy in a painful and unfair world. I learned from the dictionary that cardinal virtues inherited by Christian world from Greek culture are justice, restraint, strength and prudence. They conquered me.

How do you explain the recurrence of the trip as a theme in your songs?

Actually, I didn’t travel a lot. I lived in Madrid for a long time, from 7 to 18 years old. Now I want to remain in one place, I got tired of not being in my own place. At this moment my trips are only because of work. Trip is a search. To compose a song is already a search, all the time we’re searching for something. At this corner, while talking to you, I’m looking for something yet unknown. My search is contradictory, it is at times very concrete and other times, it is more subtle and profound, it’s about being happy and clear.

Are they synonyms?

Clarity is a sincere and real vision of things. Seeing the calm sea and the fishes who swim in it is very helpful. In this ever changing world, where we stand close to a supposed truth, it’s good to rely on a place where truth is essential. Although the song is a space of fantasy itself, in my case it is also a tale of truth.

Do your songs reflect your own life?

I don’t write for anyone in particular. Like I say in the song “Living in your pulse”, I’d like to live in somebody’s pulse, but I still don’t know in whose. However, my song is the place where my true self lies. Even if I wanted to lie, I couldn’t. it’s nice to know I can count on my songs to tell some truth. That kind of clarity is what resembles happiness.

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