Gerry Garbulsky: After a TED or TEDx talk,
completely unbelievable and unexpected things happen.
And often times, they’re marvelous things.
Jorge Drexler gave a very nice and interesting talk on identity,
where he talked about the “décima,” which is a poetic form,
about milonga, and also about the identity of people.
A talk inspired by a song, “La milonga del moro judío.”
And after Jorge’s talk, something happened,
which I think had never happened before on a TED stage.
But, really, wouldn’t it be better if he told what happened himself?
(Applause)
Let’s give a round of applause to Jorge Drexler.
(Applause)
Well, as that was something so amazing,
and taking advantage of Jorge being in the middle of his world tour
presenting his new album, we decided to steal some time
from him and ask him to share with us how that was…
What happened, Jorge?
Jorge Drexler: From that TED Talk a song came out,
the one that opens the album, the song is called “Movimiento”
and it’s the one that opens an album that’s called “Salvavidas de hielo”
that I’m just now releasing.
The period of writing of an album, the period of composition,
is a period of very strong emotional and intellectual opening.
And when one embarks in the preparation of a TED Talk,
and many of the fellows that have just spoken
or the ones that will speak in a bit know this well,
how one gets involved emotionally and intellectually,
what happens, so it was evident that
it would mark the composition period.
Then, gathering ideas and gathering emotions and all,
I realized that, in parallel to the talk,
a song was emerging, this one that’s called “Movimiento.”
And somehow, a paradox occured,
as the talk had a singing part,
and in the opposite pole and complementing it,
the song has a spoken part too
so they emerged as complementary processes.
What I’m going to do first and foremost, so we don’t talk in abstract terms,
is to sing you a bit and talk a bit of the song
and then I’ll show you little by little,
telling you the story of why I’m here presenting it,
why it makes all the sense in the world for this song that traced a parable
to land once again today, here in TEDxRíodelaPlata,
and for me to present its video,
I mean, which we haven’t shown before
the video of the song that we finished just a couple of hours before.
So I’m going to sing you a bit from Movimiento.
In fact I’m going to stand up.
(Applause)
Do some a cappella.
As soon as we stood on two feet
we started to migrate through the savannah.
Following the herd of bison
beyond the horizon
to new lands, far away.
Children on their back and expecting.
Eyes alert, all ears.
Sniffing that puzzling new scenery, unknown.
We’re a species in travel.
We have no belongings but luggage.
We go with polen in the wind.
We’re alive because we’re moving.
We’re never still, we’re nomadic,
we’re fathers, sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of immigrants.
It’s more mine what I dream than what I touch.
I’m not from here but you’re not either.
I’m not from here but you’re not either.
From nowhere completely and a bit from everywhere
We crossed deserts, glaciars, continents,
the entire world from end to end.
Implacable, survivors.
The eye in the wind and in the currents.
The hand firm in the paddle.
We carry our wars,
our lullabies,
our course made by verses,
of migrations, of famines.
And that’s how it has always been, from infinity,
we were the drop of water travelling in the meteorite.
Crossing galaxies, void, millennia.
We searched for oxigen and found dreams.
(Applause)
Thank you.
GG: There’s a phrase, Jorge, of the song you just gifted to us
that sounds familiar.
JD: Yes, the TED Talk closes with
“from nowhere completely and a bit from everywhere.”
But beyond that, it’s the idea that structures the song.
After that, we went to record the song to Mexico.
The album was was largely recorded in Mexico.
One morning I was having breakfast
in the house we were staying at,
reading the press and I read one article that drew my attention
that has to do with all of this.
I read an article that says “woman of the Tarahumara people
wins an ultramarathon runing 100 kilmetres
without sports equipment, with plastic sandals”.
100 km, ladies and gentlemen,
it’s like going from here to Chascomús,
except that this is is flat because these are the Pampas
and that’s the Sierra del Cobre,
where they were running there’s a total slope of 4,000 metres
between downhills and uphills.
And this woman, who’s Lorena Ramírez, and is 22 years old,
and indigenous person of the Tarahumara people, marvelous.
I’m going to show you the pictures of the podium when Lorena,
after winning the ultramarathon,
is in the middle with her traditional clothing and her sandals.
(Applause)
The story of Lorena moved me deeply because it’s a…
I mean, it’s in what’s the tradition of the Tarahumara.
The Tarahumara are a people of the Sierra del Cobre,
in the Northwest of Mexico, in Chihuahua,
that have running as a tradition.
I suppose some of you have heard about them before,
especially those here who run,
because they’re mythical runners,
they’re able to literally run hundreds of kilometers,
they have cultural races,
because they run as how one plays music,
somtimes 200 kilometers, in their sandals, in their “huaraches”,
that they make themselves or with plastic ones in this case
like the ones that Lorena has on.
Why do the Tarahumara run
and why did this impress me so much in the moment I was recording?
They run as a way of survival.
From colonial times, they have been moving from the coast to the interior,
to steeper areas,
trying to keep their customs isolated and to safeguard them.
As it’s an area that’s very fractured by mountains,
so to communicate between the many Tarahumara settlements, they would run.
And speed was very important for the agility of communications.
Therefore, to me it seemed
like there were many connection to what I was telling you before,
with the song that you just listened
and to the content of the talk.
The first one is that to stay alive
a culture had to be displaced, it had to move.
As in the case of the “décima,” as I told you in the talk,
it’s born in 1591 in the Spanish Barroque
and it’s kept alive because it then crosses the ocean,
it’s displaced and it’s preserved with love,
alive from the “son Jarocho”
to the “canto de Mejorana”, in Panamá,
to payadores here in Argentina and Uruguay.
In other words, the same way it had to move to survive,
that’s what happened in the song
and what happened with the Tarahumara.
And there’s another thing I really liked from the example
from this marvelous picture,
and it’s something you see a lot in TED too,
and we talked a lot with Gerry about it,
that is cultural relativism.
In contemporary metropolises, we believe we’ve invented everything,
but there’s another song in the album that follows from that,
that says “we all believe we’ve invented something,
but the songs are still the same ones”.
And we believe we’ve invented
the act of running many kilometres, marathons.
Marathons have not only existed from Greece,
they exist even from before,
much earlier from the idea of running as we consider it,
before the concept of sports.
And for them, for the Tarahumara and for Lorena,
running is truly a cultural activity,
something that the elderly, children,
entire families do.
They throw a ball down the Tarahumara Sierra
and they run for two days at times,
until they find it and one brings it back and is declared as winner.
That’s where it started then.
I had the idea of making the video of this song with Lorena
and a different quest started.
First, we had to locate her.
I was lucky to connect with a Mexican film director,
Lorenzo Haggerman, who also has a news agency as well
and he told me: just these days we’ve been shooting with her in the sierra.
So a team went out to shoot the music video with Lorena,
they spent three days in the Sierra del Cobre, in the Tarahumara.
Also, it’s dangerouns because nowadays it’s a drug trafficking area.
They were there three days shooting here.
I couldn’t go because I was in Madrid in that moment
shooting with Fran Torres, an Argentine filmmaker.
I was shooting my part of the music video
but I wanted to say hi to Lorena
becuase the truth is I was very moved
by the fact we had found her
and that we could take part in this
so I sent her this video through WhatsApp
that I made sure it got to her in the Sierra, where you see me…
Dear Lorena, delighted to speak with you.
I’m Jorge Drexler, the singer and writer of the song
in which you’re so marvelously taking part too.
The images Lorenzo has been sending me
are of a beauty that has has really touched me.
I wanted to tell you this, since I can’t do it in person,
at least by recording this video
and thank you because it’s of a degree of beauty
to see you run with your green dress in that scenery,
that is has deeply touched me
and the most beautiful thing that could’ve happened to my song.
I send you a big kiss
and hope we meet in person.
Bye. From Madrid.
(Aplausos)
Well, thank you.
And Lorena sent me this message,
and the survival strategy of the Rarámuri
or the the Tarahumara is so effective,
that she sents me in the Rarámuri language
because they don’t speak Spanish, they’re truly…
they escaped they very deep inside the sierra.
It’s very hard to get to where she lives.
And she sends me this message that her brother then
translates into Spanish, and I found it so nice
that I want to share it with you.
(Rarámuri) Hi Jorge.
I don’t know you, and I hope to see you here someday
in Guachochi, here in Chihuahua,
so we could run together.
— You and me?
You and me.
(Applause)
Well. For me it’s truly a joy to present the music video here,
the truth is… some things one dreams and they become true.
And they can be truy made true,
like to be here speaking to you all and presenting it.
And for this video to come full circle, thanks to Gerry, for it to land again here.
This dream truly came true and I thank you for this.
The dream that won’t come true is Lorena’s,
I won’t go out for a run with her.
Because she runs 100 km
and I can barely go with her the first 50 meters.
Thank you all so much, I’ll show you the music video.
(Applause)
(Music)
As soon as we stood on two feet
we started to migrate through savannah.
Following the herd of bison
beyond the horizon
To new lands, far away
Children on their back and expecting
Eyes alert, all ears
Sniffing that puzzling new scenery, unknown
We’re a species in travel
We have no belongings but luggage
We go with polen in the wind
We’re alive because we’re moving
We’re never still, we’re nomadic,
We’re fathers, sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of immigrants
It’s more mine what I dream than what I touch
I’m not from here
but you’re not either
I’m not from here
but you’re not either
From nowhere completely
and a bit from everywhere
We crossed deserts, glaciars, continents
The entire world from end to end
Implacable, survivors
The eye in the wind and in the currents
The hand firm in the paddle
We carry our wars
Our lullabies
Our course made by verses
Of migrations, of famines
And that’s how it has always been, from infinity,
We were the drop of water travelling in the meteorite
Crossing galaxies, void, millennia
We searched for oxigen and found dreams —
and we found dreams.
As soon as we stood on two feet
And saw us in the shade of the bonfire
We heard the voice of the challenge
We always looked at the river
Thining of the other stream
We’re a species in travel
We have no belongings but luggage
We’re never still, we’re nomadic
We’re fathers, sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of immigrants
It’s more mine what I dream than what I touch
I’m not from here
but you’re not either
I’m not from here
but you’re not either
From nowhere completely
and a bit from everywhere
The same with songs, bird, alphabets,
If you want something to die, keep it still.
(Applause)
JD: Thank you very much.
GG: Jorge Drexler.
JD: Thank you.
(Applause)
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