Once upon a time there was an ordinary boy named Antón Álvarez Alfaro who worked in a Pans & Company restaurant. There she spent hours serving pulled pork BBQ sandwiches and mozzarella fingers, sometimes until the wee hours of the morning, but she wasn't paid much for this service: the manager, named Vanesa, cut much of the overtime from the rolls and the company He didn't pay him what he rightfully deserved. But it turned out that this boy made music in his free time under pseudonyms like Crema, Pucho or C. Tangana and over time became a shining star. And then, at the height of fame, he managed to get revenge on the company: revenge is a sandwich served cold and in prime time.
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This fable of the insecure ugly duckling who becomes the swan of urban music, a happy ending that not everyone has, is a story told by C. Tangana in the latest program by Jordi Évole. They stole around 600 euros from him, which is quite a bit for a young man in his situation. You believe Tangana because despite his arrogant pose on stage, when you hear him speak, you're listening to the same normal boy who can't quite believe his success. He even called for a boycott: “If anyone likes my music, they should never eat at a damn Pans & Company again in their life.” The new hero of the precarious class.
There's a mystery surrounding the misunderstood artist who holds down inconsistent and low-paying jobs until one day he triumphs. Charles Bukowski was a mailman, a dishwasher, a car valet, and a thousand other things. Brad Pitt was a costumed chicken and refrigerator delivery man as he distributes advertising brochures. No one would say that there was a time when Pablo washed Moto's windows. There are jokes that show the close connection between acting and hospitality: What does an actor with a job say to an actor without a job?
-What you want to drink?
It seems that despite all odds, true talent always shines through and shines in the sun. But one can detect a certain air of meritocracy in this idea, which is once again wrong: talent in abundance remains underground and its promotion also depends on strokes of luck and the tastes of the market. Remember the boy who was very talented at petanque and had to give up his passion because you can't make a living from petanque. And it's not clear that we have to consider talent as merit.
C. Tangana in the program “Lo de Évole”. Screenshot from the trailer published on the social network X @LoDeEvole.
Among artists there are very few who claim this (and then tell us that fame is shit), only a few are chosen to live with dignity from their work, and many are those who are immersed in waste, parallel jobs in precarious conditions, survive. or devote yourself directly to something else. The artist statute, which the Ministry of Culture is now promising to further develop, is all about ensuring that art not only nourishes the soul, but also.
The precariat, which feeds so much on cultural workers, is a class with low self-confidence and low unionization, as economist Guy Standing has categorized it, making it difficult for them to demand their rights and therefore vulnerable to corporate abuses. What remains is often to become a star denouncing abuses, a strange form of industrial action in spectacular times. No one would hear that Puchito of yesteryear like Tangana of today. They are still there, making deliveries by bike, cleaning houses, serving in bars and restaurants and arranging hotel rooms.
When the pandemic broke out, we realized that the essential workers were not the web designers, the CFOs, the talk show hosts, the secretaries of state or the football players, but those who had jobs that were not socially recognized and had low salaries, them keep the world running. We set out to change, to become better, but it seems that it is difficult. If tourism is the strongest engine of the Spanish economy, two of its pillars, culture and hospitality, united here in the figure of young Antón before his triumph, are supported by people who are not well off.
Exploiting companies need to be careful: any of these children they squeeze may one day exhibit at Reina Sofía or win a Grammy. And when you order a premium chicken sandwich at Pans & Company, you know that on the other side of the register stands potentially one of the most influential artists of the next three generations. Order a refillable soft drink and an autograph.
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