Juan Gabriel was one of many largest stars of Latin pop music. A brand new podcast delves into his adolescence in Ciudad Juarez, and the taboo of queerness in Mexican tradition.
ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
His identify was Juan Gabriel. He was considered one of Mexico’s largest stars, a prolific singer and songwriter, a Latin pop icon who racked up thousands and thousands of document gross sales, wrote greater than 1,500 songs and charted dozens of hits. On stage, he wore darkish eyeliner, brilliant, bedazzled garments. And his voice? It stored audiences hanging on each word.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HASTA QUE TE CONOCI (LIVE)”)
JUAN GABRIEL: (Singing in Spanish).
FLORIDO: By the point he died in 2016, Gabriel, affectionately often called Juanga, was a towering success, however his beginnings in Ciudad Juarez had been nothing in need of traumatic. He is the topic of a brand new podcast from Futuro Media referred to as “My Divo,” a nod to a different of his nicknames, the divo of Juarez. Maria Garcia is the host of the present, and he or she joins me now. Maria, welcome.
MARIA GARCIA: Hello, Adrian. Thanks a lot for having me.
FLORIDO: Thanks for becoming a member of us. You realize, for Latinos, Juan Gabriel was as massive a celeb as they arrive, unattainable to not know him. However for our listeners who have not heard of him, describe him for me.
GARCIA: Oh, my God. Properly, the way in which I describe Juanga to a few of my American pals who maybe did not develop up listening to him is when he was younger, think about a determine simply as subversive and prolific and revolutionary as Prince. When he was form of an older, established icon, think about an much more subversive Elton John. You realize, he was – image form of that archetype.
And he wasn’t simply, you understand, enormous in Mexico. He was maybe Latin America’s most prolific songwriter and performer. And U.S. Latinos additionally grew up with him. And for me, he was within the air, as you talked about within the intro. He was raised in Ciudad Juarez, the place my household is from, the place I used to be born. He is el divo de Juarez. And so he was simply form of within the DNA of my neighborhood.
GABRIEL: You focus numerous your reporting on Juan Gabriel’s actually traumatic childhood in Ciudad Juarez, and later his struggles as a youngster as he tried to make it as a singer in Mexico Metropolis. Why did you go all the way in which again to the start?
GARCIA: Properly, as a result of I needed to do one thing actually thorough. And I needed the reporting to be rigorous and exact. And we discovered actually vital new particulars that, frankly, modified the way in which we take into consideration his story. We discovered only a actually form of traumatic second that he confronted in Ciudad Juarez that inevitably made me take into consideration the traumas in my family historical past. And so I assumed rather a lot about lineage and what’s handed all the way down to us as I used to be reporting the story.
So we braid the story of Juan Gabriel’s with my very own form of, like, household lineage. And sure, undoubtedly, like, there’s some trauma in it. However there’s additionally a lot pleasure, you understand, the queer exuberance that you just see on stage and the way in which he liberated himself. And in order that duality is there all through the podcast.
FLORIDO: Let’s discuss that side of him, his flamboyance. It made him this exceptional determine in Mexican tradition and society, which has at all times harbored numerous homophobia and enforces, you understand, these very inflexible views about how a person ought to act. And Juanga defied all of that. He was very open along with his flamboyance on stage. And on the identical time, he by no means publicly answered the query that so many individuals form of assumed the reply to, which is whether or not he was, in actual fact, homosexual. You speak in your podcast about an interview he gave when the interviewer requested him, level clean.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Talking Spanish).
GARCIA: Some folks say you are homosexual. Is Juan Gabriel homosexual?
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GABRIEL: (Talking Spanish).
GARCIA: You appear very , Juanga replied with a coy smile. And that is when Juanga delivered the now-famous response.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GABRIEL: (Talking Spanish).
GARCIA: Some folks say what might be seen should not be requested, son.
FLORIDO: Why did you discover this reply so fascinating?
GARCIA: (Laughter) Yeah. You realize, it could have been really easy for Juanga to say, no, I am not homosexual. And, in actual fact, that was form of the established order for lots of queer artists at the moment in Mexico. It was extremely tough and might be hazardous each to your profession and for you as an individual to be overtly homosexual on this period in Latin America. And it could have been simple for him to flat-out deny it, however he does not. He does not. He chooses to reply on his phrases.
And I adore it as a result of he is not saying no, however he additionally refuses to be a spectacle. He refuses to come back out for the sake of satiating the curiosity of different folks. And look. I spoke to individuals who had been in his interior circle. And even in his interior circle, Adrian, there are lifelong pals who say, oh, my God, clearly, that is not even a query. After all he was homosexual. He was so specific about that with me.
And different individuals who thought-about themselves shut pals of his who say, oh, my God, he was not homosexual. Alberto, the actual individual, was not homosexual. Possibly the stage persona, Juan Gabriel, was homosexual, however the actual individual was not homosexual. And I feel it is as a result of Juanga believed that perhaps not everyone deserves to see your full self. And, you understand, he needed to defend himself. And he walked this world in a really nuanced method.
FLORIDO: As a lot as this podcast is about Juan Gabriel and his queerness, it is also about your individual expertise as a queer individual from Mexico. And there’s a lot of non-public revelation on this podcast. Do you know on the outset how a lot you and your loved ones would develop into part of this mission?
GARCIA: Sure and no. The factor is, you understand, I imagine that you would be able to’t inform a narrative from a spot of nowhere. You realize, you inform a narrative from the place on the planet that you just occupy and the lens and the blind spots and the experience that provides you. I am not form of like a dry narrator right here. Like, I like Juan Gabriel. I’m – I am a hardcore fan, you understand. And once I consider Juanga, he is not solely a hometown hero for me, however I consider my roots. I consider my household. Like, he is the soundtrack to my neighborhood. And so, one, I needed to be trustworthy about that.
However I additionally needed to be trustworthy about what was bringing me to him proper now. Like, why Juanga at this second? And, for me, it actually was as a result of I used to be pondering rather a lot about intergenerational connectedness, eager about passing on my roots to my son, whereas on the identical time, like, letting who I’m authentically proper now bloom. Proper? I am on this stunning queer relationship. I need to get married. And I do know I’ll probably be the primary queer marriage in my household.
And so what does it appear to be to be – to pave that path in my Mexican household whereas holding on to every thing that’s pricey to me from the trail and the individuals who got here earlier than me? And, to me, Juan Gabriel and his legacy held a giant lesson for me in how to try this.
GABRIEL: You grew up with Juan Gabriel’s music, going to golf equipment in Juarez and singing his songs on the prime of your lungs. I am curious if all of your reporting for this sequence has modified your relationship to his music.
GARCIA: I imply, it is strengthened it (laughter). Like, you understand, this weekend, for instance, I will Ciudad Juarez, plan on assembly a bunch of my pals there. And we will go dancing. And we all know they’ll play some Juanga songs. After which we will go to our favourite karaoke place, and we will sing Juanga songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “EL NOA NOA”)
GABRIEL: (Singing in Spanish).
GARCIA: Each household occasion we have now, we karaoke, and Juanga comes out. Like, I like him simply as a lot as I did, if not much more than once I began this podcast.
FLORIDO: Maria Garcia is the host of “My Divo”, an Apple Authentic podcast produced by Futuro Studios. It is obtainable wherever you get your podcasts and can also be obtainable in Spanish as “Mi Divo.” Maria, thanks.
GARCIA: Thanks a lot, Adrian.
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