This is a compilation of all the back covers I've done so far in 2021 for the newspaper EL SALTO.
The back cover of this Spanish independent newspaper always contains a column written by Layla Martínez called "La Tostadora", in which she talks about various socio-political subjects using music as the unifying thread.
#57 FANS
Editorial illustration for the back cover of El Salto Diario. This time Layla Martínez writes about fans and their idols: how that relationship is often more complex than it seems, even though it has been commonly ridiculed and mocked in the media, and how it may be the closest phenomenon to utopic romanticism we can see nowadays.
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#56 LES RALLIZES DÉNUDÉS
Editorial illustration for the back cover of El Salto Diario. In this issue Layla Martínez talks about the mysterious japanese band Les Rallizes Dénudés and their idea of music.
"Its members saw themselves as revolutionaries and thought their music would contribute to the overthrow of the established order. But their lyrics calling for revolution or sympathizing with resistance movements wasn’t enough for them /… / They wanted to completely assault culture, destroy music, end the recording industry, destroy forever existing ideas about what a song should be ”.
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#55 TINO CASAL
Editorial illustration for the back cover of El Salto Diario. This time Layla Martínez talks about Tino Casal, a very undervalued Spanish musician and artist from the 80’s who passed away way too soon in a car accident when he was aged 41.
“In Spain, on the other hand, the movement arrived differently. The end of the dictatorship made the atmosphere more optimistic and the new romantic did not arrive so much as an aesthetic of “escaping from reality”, decadency, but rather of celebration, exultation. /…/ Tino Casal’s style drew from the new romantic, but also glam, techno, and Bowie’s pop. His music was pure festive hedonism: sweaty bodies on the dance floor, impossible carding, spandex and sequins. Excess, overflow, rupture ”.
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#54 POSH POP
Editorial illustration for the back cover of El Salto Diario. On the #54 issue Layla Martínez's article makes us reflect on a phenomenon that we could observe in the Spanish music scene previously to the pandemic. Bands formed by young men coming from the wealthiest families started to be a pretty common thing, and there was something in common between them: posh aesthetics, superficial apolitical lyrics...
They ended bringing to our daily conversations and debates a well-known formula to success: ✧・゚:* rich parents *:・゚✧
They ended bringing to our daily conversations and debates a well-known formula to success: ✧・゚:* rich parents *:・゚✧
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#53 NUESTRO CORAJE
Editorial illustration for the back cover of El Salto Diario. On the #53 issue Layla Martínez talks about a generation of creative women in Spain who started fighting for a better situation with their songs in the ’70s. María Jiménez was widely known for her song “Se acabó”, in which she spoke openly and in a rebel fresh tone about the violence she suffered from her husband.
—̳͟͞͞♥
#51 SOS COLOMBIA
Editorial illustration for the back cover of El Salto Diario. In the issue #51 Layla Martínez talks about Colombia, and how they have been using music as a way to protest and a way to lift their morale during the Paro Nacional.
El pueblo no se rinde.
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#50 ESTÁN PASANDO
Editorial illustration for the back cover of El Salto Diario. This time Layla Martínez talks about how some bands romanticize extreme right symbols in the name of free art and music.
“You only whitewash and trivialize oppressions that do not affect you”, Layla Martínez
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#49 AUTHENTICITY
Editorial illustration for the back cover of El Salto Diario. In this #49 issue, the topic was: Folk music, how rescuing traditional elements feels more authentic depending on who it’s coming from, and how it’s done.
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#48 THE ICONS
On the #48 issue Layla Martínez gives a thought to how icons are commonly allowed to act in very unethical ways and they're still respected and loved by their fans. Is cancel culture really a thing, or is it a natural consequence of really questionable behavior repeated in time?
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#47 DEW DROP INN
On the #47 issue Layla Martínez talks about the black and lgtbi origins of Rockabilly, in the times of segregation in the US, and how they were not recognized by the general public. Instead, their influence was just ignored and kept in the shadows.
In the illustration: Esquerita, Patsy Vidalia and other performer. Oh yeah, and the foot of the white guy who got all the attention.
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#46 THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED
Back cover for El Salto Diario picturing lifelong rock-n-roll fans leaving flowers for Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson at the iconic Buddy Holly Glasses Monument where their plane crashed 60 years ago, famously coined the day the music died.
Thank you so much for taking the time to take a look at this project.
It's the second year I'm working with them and it has been very rewarding.
They give me freedom to be creative and they fully trust me professionally.
I love the topics I have to illustrate, I've learned a lot from all the articles.
𝕿𝖔 𝖇𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖚𝖊𝖉...