The singer-songwriter Pau Alabajos was surprised when the Sembra publishing house called him to propose doing the first biography of Vicent Andrés Estellés. “I had to check several times that it was true and that no one had previously published a biography about the most important Valencian poet after Ausiàs March,” explains Alabajos. One of the reasons, comments the singer, is that, in a way, the poet from Burjassot had already left his poetic testament in the form of a book traveling through the land that he always esteemed in El mural del País Valencià.
To those geographical references, to those municipalities that mark the life of Estellés – Burjassot where he lived his childhood; Valencia, donde trabaja de journalista y conoce a su mujer (There were no two lovers like us in Valencia); Benimodo; place of refuge during the hard Battle of Valencia; but also his trips to Alcoi and Xàtiva that explain his relationship with Ovidi Montllor and Raimon- se enchancha Alabajos to write Vicent Andrés Estellés. The voice of a people (Sembra, 2024) the first biography of the Valencian poet that was published last January 31.
Alabajos chooses, instead of making a chronology of the author’s experiences and works, to “trace the poet’s life itinerary and root him in the land he loved so much.”
The book, which was presented this week in Valencia with significant success, joins the popular celebration of the centenary of the writer’s birth. An anniversary to which the Valencian Government has turned its back. In fact, one of the first decisions of the Department of Culture, in the hands of Vox, was to eliminate the regional subsidy to the Vicent Andrés Estellés Chair.
This Thursday, the plenary session of Les Corts Valencianes – with votes against PP and Vox – rejected a proposal to commemorate “Any Estellés” in 2024. In the chamber, the popular ones admitted that Burjassot “is one of the great writers of the Valencian Community” but without addressing the need to declare 2024 as “Any Estellés.” While his Vox partners were clearer: “From Vox we are not going to support this anniversary or any ideology like that of Estellés that has contaminated us for a long time.”
The PP had little room for maneuver since if the commemoration was approved – 2021 was the “Berlanga Year”; in 2022 the Joan Fuster; and in 2023, Sorolla – who would have to manage it would be a councilor who has made clear his rejection of the poet’s work. This explains that, where Vox does not exert such influence, in the Valencia and Alicante councils this commemoration has been approved by the PP without problems.
“That in 2024, Estellés is a controversial figure for the right and that one of the first measures of the Minister of Culture is to withdraw funds from his Chair is very significant, since Estellés is simply a person who loved his country and wrote verses of love a su pueblo”, indicates Alabajos. Pues como empieza one of his most famous poems, Estellés simply sang the reality that surrounded him: Here I was born and here I am / And since certain things happen to me / here I sing them, here I say them.
For this reason, he is popularly known as the “poet of the town”. And it is that, as the singer and author of the biography narrates, the power of his work has made the verses of Els Amants or Assumiràs la voe un poble “have crystallized in the retina of a whole generation”.
For this reason, Alabajos says that, despite the institutional refusal, Estellés continues to be a poet “very loved by the people” as demonstrated by the large number of events that have been held throughout the country since Els Sopars Estellés became popular to vindicate his figure and read his verses.
Writing about Estellés has not been easy. Alabajos has immersed himself in “his vast production, in the numerous analyzes of his works” and has maintained direct contact with the writer’s family to confirm all those things that the stanzas of his poems already hinted at. The figure of the poet is not foreign to the singer-songwriter who has published three albums with songs inspired by the poet’s work. In addition, Alabajos teaches educational workshops in secondary schools and universities on Nova Cançó and on Estellesian poetry.
But he does not plan to stop and more in such a special year. On the 15th, the singer-songwriter will present a musical adaptation of the poem from Assumiràs la veu d’un poble that will be included in his new album Una granota viva a la tócsuba (RGB Suports, 2024). Also, this year, Alabajos will premiere the theatrical-musical show Trees of Dust, inspired by a homonymous poem from the Book of Wonders. In it, explains the artist, it takes advantage of the scenography that the verses raise and that introduces the story of a woman, in the midst of the post-war period, who arrives from the metropolitan area of ??Valencia and heads, with a basket, along the river to the prison model
