Invivible but irreplaceable. This is how Joaquín Sabina defined the Spanish capital in the eighties. And that is how it could be defined now. A city of everyone and for no one, in which there are fewer and fewer holes to put down roots. And at the same time, a capital full of picturesque corners, streets that do not sleep and happy people who live day by day.
Sabina’s hole in La Latina
Sabina knows better than anyone the paradoxes and flaws of Madrid. He moved to the neighborhood of La Latina at the time of the Spanish Transition with Lucía Correa, who was then his wife, and also the muse of his songs. Their house was at number 23 of Tabernillas Street (today nicknamed Melancholy Street), where we now find El Bombín: a tapas bar that pays homage to the artist.
A few meters away, at number 42 Cava Baja Street, is Lãniak, the place that was once the legendary Mandrágora. Here Sabina established himself as a musician with Javier Krahe and Alberto Perez, playing his first songs for a dedicated and participative audience. The stage and the windows of the venue are witnesses of those magical years.
Malasaña in the history of Sabina
The Malasaña neighborhood was one of the most frequented by Sabina during the eighties. He is remembered at Café Manuela (Calle de San Vicente Ferrer, 29), a regular meeting point for artists and writers, and Café Comercial, the emblematic venue at Glorieta de Bilbao. Also at Peor para el Sol (Calle de la Unión, 2), which pays a small tribute to Sabina every night with the song that gives its name to the bar; Sala Taboo (formerly Elígeme), which was owned by Sabina himself and the scene of many evenings, and Los Diablos Azules (Calle de Apodaca, 6), a bar that belongs to Jimena, the singer-songwriter’s current partner.
Sabina now lives in the vicinity of Tirso de Molina, an environment that has inspired several of his songs. Despite singing a thousand and one times “que me lleven al sur donde nací” (may they take me to the south where I was born), the musician has made Madrid his home.