Julia, a 12-year-old girl, carefully places a flower at the foot of Robe Iniesta’s shrine. “It conveys to me things that I can’t express,” she says. Your priests, in the south, sit and loran, of course. Han arrived from Cantabria. On the morning of the 11th, thousands of people waited a long time to dismiss the musician at the Palacio de Congresos Roberto Iniesta in Plasencia. I want to say goodbye to the one who sings something that today accompanies the desire of everyone present: “And I want endless songs, for me a day when I want to return and nothing has been” (Interlude).
Robe has already made many songs without ending the dawn in recent years. He was 63 years old and probably in the best time of his career, judging by the quality of his last album, If the air takes usand its subsequent tour, which was inconclusive in November 2024 due to singing pulmonary thrombus. Today, Sunday, the doors opened at 10:00. the city’s convention center, where he gave his first concert leading the short-lived Dosis Letal on the Parque de la Isla football field, today one of the green lungs of a city of 45,000 inhabitants. From the scenes of Dosis Letal came Extremoduro, the group that had so many people tattooed on their hearts.
They pile the bouquets of flowers next to what Robe’s widow, Bibi Vázquez, and her sons wanted to show: the scenes of the artist in a colorful urn, his orange wooden classical guitar, the open box of this instrument and a painting, a painting of Robe, his couple and his young men, naked, on an island looking at the horizon, the sea, an image of the art of DeltoyaExtremoduro album, incorporating the illustration of Mayeúticahis penultimate solo album.
There, people, of all ages and from many parts of Spain and also other countries, sign books and leave their hearts in the form of messages. The condolences are not brief. The audience wants to express the feelings of their life by listening to the musician. Too many things to count: there is no book of condolences that can be sustained, no matter how heavy it may be.
Some messages are blurred by tears shed while writing them. Suena always plays Robe’s music, discreetly, so as not to ruin the atmosphere. Maybe that’s not what I liked about the protagonist, who used to encourage him to listen to his records at full volume. But on this occasion, if his music was the one that got him all fired up, the mood was more moving with the volume toned down.
Bea Rodriguez, Beitaorganize the glue. Above all, he makes sure to welcome the children with a smile and offer them a boli. “Hola, cómo te llamas. Are you going to write something nice to Robe?” Raúl, called a 13-year-old boy, does not object and takes refuge on his mother’s shoulder to cry. And a mother doesn’t get upset when she sees her daughter collapse.
“I’m not sure you’re happy that I have time to say goodbye today, but I understand that this is your last concession when we feel your songs as part of our lives.” This is how the long writing of Rocío Hahir, 34 years old, begins, who traveled 700 kilometers, from San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante), to say goodbye to the musician. After many confessions, it ends like this: “What shit, Robe, but what shit is bigger. Ale, I take it for granted.”
Nacho Terrón, 45, arrives with his bulldog dog. Grab an Extremoduro t-shirt, like many people. “Robe taught me to love him and also to love him all,” he says before forcing the ball to have his private conversation with the musician. Because that’s what people do: tell vital things to their idol, tell their ears the shock their music produces, the congoja they feel when they listen to it, the many nights of play that take place with this soundtrack and the lessons they regale and this poetry when they need it most.
In the background, a screen shows a precious drawing by the extremeño artist Josu Berriobeña, from The Dromedario. Inside her, Robe smiled and some of her poems flowed from her melena. A text says: “Hasta always, always, always, always, always…”. Alternate this image with videos of Robe at the concert, in front of the camera, smiling backstage, happy.
Kilometers of people
The formality of the early days was lost over time. The volume of the music was raised a little and the organization was kindly entrusted to the people who could not really stand the mouse in front of the remains of the singer, who went from the room to the queue and was several kilometers away.
In addition to his wife and sons, a large number of family members came on stage alongside the musicians from Robe’s band. They hugged each other and listened to the winner’s music, like Gentle introduction to chaos: “By holding on to the wind for a moment I feel better. / I forgot to put my feet on the ground and I feel better: fly, fly”. Some presented babies, newcomers to the big Iniesta family. The atmosphere in the family room is relaxing.
At 1:30 p.m., musicians from Robe’s band took the stage and began playing a soft melody. The poet Manolo Chinato, friend of Robe and author of the lyrics Love, love, love and kiss the soulhe took out the song and recited, in his roaring, frightening voice, a poem that ended like this: “Y yo me iré y se querán los pajaros chantant. Viva la rebeldía.” A flash of emotion sent them all.
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