Joan Manuel Serrat 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts

Your Majesties,
Your Royal Highnesses,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Laureates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening.

I have been asked to be brief; which I think is very prudent. In my experience, brevity is generally much appreciated.

Like so many of you, during my university years I was obliged to resort to odd jobs to supplement my meagre grant before my musical skills started to be remunerated. In one of those jobs, were an employee to suffer an emergency, the company had a telephone that only worked with tokens, which were zealously controlled by the foreman, a trusted company man who rationed time in a Stakhanovite manner and diligently distributed the coveted objects. “You have three minutes, young man. That may not seem like a long time to you, but when you have something important to say, three minutes are more than enough.”

I’ll do my best.

As you can see, I am an elderly gentleman; old, even, some might say. I hail from a long post-war period and a humble family that gave me all the best that you may find in me. Along the precarious path, I found reasons to keep going and, thanks to my dreams driving me forward, I managed to make it this far.

I am a person who feels loved and respected, and who likes his job: singing and writing songs.

I am a man who is a partisan of life.

I prefer roads to borders, reason to force, and instinct to social graces.

I am a rational, social animal that needs the individual above and beyond the tribe.

I believe in tolerance. I believe in dialogue and respecting the rights of others as the only way to resolve matters fairly.

I believe in freedom, justice and democracy. Values that either go hand in hand or simply don’t exist.

Maybe that is why I do not like this hostile, polluted world in which we live, lacking in solidarity, where democratic and moral values have been replaced by the greed of the market, where everything has a price.

I can’t bear witnessing atrocities going unchecked due to a lack of unanimous, vehement responses.

I do not settle for seeing my dreams stranded on the other side of the river.

When will the time come to harvest dreams? I grudgingly ask myself, as I see my friends depart before the harvest.

I wish to leave in my wake the memory of a good, fair and grateful man, and I hope that I have not made it to this point just to show my gratitude and affection to those who have generously given me their friendship, their company and their advice, but, rather, from this stage, I wish to thank my teachers –who have been many—, my companions, the friends who have shared this journey with me and have encouraged and helped me –knowingly or not– to continue on this journey and, above all, I wish to thank my wife for allowing me to share my life with her.

My thanks to my parents who gave me life and to my children and grandchildren who are my greatest pride and joy.

Thank you to those who have made my songs their own and to all those from the four corners of the world who rejoice with me in seeing my name added to the resounding roll call of Laureates who have received this Award.

Thank you for your time and good evening to you all.