Diego Maradona, who died on November 25, 2020 at the age of 60 due to cardiorespiratory arrest at his home in Tigre, not only played football like no other: he also sang. And he did it very well.
In 1986, at the height of his fame, two months after becoming world champion with the Argentine national team in Mexico, Diego Maradona he recorded with the duo Pimpinela the song Dear frienddedicated to his mother, Dalma Salvadora Franco, better known as Ms Totaor directly La Tota, “and all the mothers of the world”.
It was, why not, the Pimpi-Diego trio: Joaquín Galán, Lucía Galán and El Diez. A storm of melodic music, Child Veira would say.
The registration
Recording took place at Panda studios, in Floresta, the same console paradise where, that same year, Patricio Rey and his Redonditos de Ricota put together the album. Octoberand Sumo did it Here come the monkeys two masterpieces, national rock classics.
The sound engineer was Mario Breuer, famous for his work with Luis Alberto Spinetta, Charly García and Andrés Calamaro, among other figures. An ace of knobs. A legend.
His assistant was Walter Chacón, no less talented. “Diego recorded at Panda Studios all afternoon, about five hours. Imagine what it was like to have Maradona in there, in 1986!” Chacón said in a post published by journalist Nicolás Igarzábal, still moved by what he had experienced.
And he explained: “It was something exciting. I don’t know how they discovered it in the neighbourhood, but two or three hours after the recording started there were more and more people outside the studio waiting to see Maradona come out”.
Mexico’s hero the onion who dreamed of playing in a World Cup and consecrating himself in the First DivisionChacon added, “I was very worried about singing well… Then, at a certain point, he said to Mario (Breuer): ‘if you tell me I sing well, I’ll give you the shirt’. At the check we all burst out laughing.
Video
The video clip of Dear friend was recorded in September of the same year in Milan, Italy. In the images, the three of them are seen singing side by side, with headphones, immersed in the lyrics.
Joaquín Galán wears a loose, silky and shiny green dress, Bee Gees style.
No less than eighty, with curlers falling on her forehead, Lucía is wearing a blue jacket.
Diego wears a yellow striped sweater, like a golf player or, even, a tourist who goes for a walk along Avenida 3 in Villa Gesell or along the pedestrian street of San Martín de Mar del Plata.
As they sing, reading the lyrics leaning on a lectern, Joachim, Lucía and Diego take a few steps, let themselves be carried away, as they say, by the rhythm.
At one point, at the climax of the refrain, Diego laughs tenderly, as if he remembered the Neapolitan Milanese his mother prepared for him in Fiorito or something like that.
If necessary, to reach the highest tones, Diego closes his eyes, concentrating as in the second before guiding the ball with his left fist in the play that led to the first goal he scored against Peter Shilton in the same Mexico World Cup. The biggest trick of him.
Diego was, without a doubt, an artist. Could he have been a singer if he hadn’t dedicated himself to football? Yes sure. Actor? Mashed potato. Poet? Obvious. cooking MasterChef celebrities? No problem. How amusing his duels with Germán Martitegui, the rudest of the members of the jury, would have been!
The song
“The song Dear friend it was born in a very homely way. My brother Joaquín composed it for Diego to give to her mother, Doña Tota. But Diego was enthusiastic: ‘let’s record it for all mothers, not just mine or yours, and let’s do it on a record’”, Lucía said about the origin of the song.
“It was a very beautiful moment,” he added.
In the end, the theme was published in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. The proceeds went to UNICEFinstitution whose ambassador at that time was the Ten.
Pimpinela had met Maradona four years earlier, in 1982. Of course: between the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, who didn’t want to take a picture with the young man who dazzled with his dribbling? Everyone, definitely. If even Freddie Mercury invited him to go on stage during a Queen concert at the Vélez stadium in 1981…
“Diego came with his family to the first show we did in Buenos Aires. From there, a friendship was born,” recalled Joaquín.
In November 2020, when Diego died, Joaquín and Lucía dedicated a few words to him on social media: “An immense sadness. We keep the good times we share. Our respect for your children and your family”, wrote the interpreters Of Forget me and turn around on his Instagram profile.
it is better to go back to Dear friend.
What does the song say? Among other issues, he underlines: “Dear friend, despite the distance, I still keep the scent of your laughter and your joy. Dear friend, I would leave what I have to feel your hand in mine for just a moment.
And he ends: “For a caress, dear friend, mamma mia…”.
The link between Diego and Doña Tota, passed away in 2011, she was very strong. they adored each other. Not for nothing, Maradona named his first daughter “Dalma”.
There is a shocking photo: the former captain of the Argentine national team, with all his hair dyed yellow, as if he were Johnny Rotten but much heavier, is lying down, looking for some peace in the midst of the treatment he had undergone in Cuba to overcome his addictions. And Doña Tota appears and kisses him on the forehead.
Now we’re back in Mexico ’86. Diego has just raised his glass. José María Muñoz, the emblematic speaker of Radio Rivadavia, puts him in contact by telephone with her mother, who had just shouted the three goals of Carlos Bilardo’s team against Germany in her home in Devoto.
“Talking to my mum is very difficult, I would like to have her here next to me. Because I know what she suffers when they tell her that the child plays badly or the child does this or that… So, I’m sure that today the child has made me happy” Diego said.
“My life. I love you too. Go and rest, son, because today you made me the happiest mother in the world”Total replied.
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Source: Clarin
