The singer Luz Casal (Boimorto, A Coruña, 1958) yesterday lived one of the most important moments of her life when she received the greatest artistic distinction awarded by France. Luz Casal’s idyll with the neighboring country began a long time ago, which is why the French Government yesterday distinguished her as Commander of the Arts and Letters, which rewards people who have distinguished themselves for their creations in the artistic or literary domain.
“It is quite grateful and exciting, and on the other hand it gives like a bit of responsibility”, said Casal to the press in Paris, already invested as commander after the ceremony that took place at the headquarters of the Ministry of culture
Luz Casal has just published Las ventanas de mi alma, his 17th album with unreleased tracks. He declared that he has a lot to “thank” France, a country that always welcomed his music with open arms. But even so, he found it hard to believe this recognition when he received the notification. “I thought they had made a mistake!” confessed the performer of hits such as No me importa nada.
Despite the French recognition he had just received, he did not want to enter into comparisons about the support of culture in Spain and France: “Making this type of comparison is ugly. I feel overrated, we’ve just done two very good concerts, one in Barcelona (last Wednesday at the Liceu) and another in A Coruña, and I just need to complain,” she said.
Luz Casal received the medal as Commander of the Arts and Letters of France from the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, who praised Luz Casal’s contribution to art, comparing her to Edith Piaf: “ Think of me gives you goosebumps”, declared the French minister, and recalled that she is the only Spanish artist who has filled the La Cigale room (one of the most important in Paris) five nights in a row, in 1998.
The rank of commander is the highest of the Order of Arts and Letters, which was created in 1957. It can only be obtained if it has previously been recognized first as a knight and then as an officer. Luz Casal also has the gold medal of the city of Paris, which she received in 2010.
Rima Abdul Malak highlighted the way in which “body and heart” align in her dance, born as Blanca Gutiérrez, her passage through the movement in the eighties, and her career in New York and Paris. In the French capital, in 2019, the Andalusian was already “installed†as a member of the French Academy of Fine Arts.
“France is a country that has been very important for my career, but Spain is the base, my whole past, my childhood. In addition, now as director of the Teatros del Canal (Madrid) I am meeting all the wonderful Spanish artists”, said Blanca Li, who in addition to being Spanish has also had French nationality for five years and lives straddling Madrid and Paris. His shows have been performed at the Chaillot theater, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, or on the Champs Elysees.
