In mid-2012, Daniel Samper Pizano temporarily returned to his earliest childhood through the surprise visit of two masked men. In the office of a certain director of EL TIEMPO (whose identities we reserve) Samper and the office owner were photographed with wrestlers Captain America and El Jaguar from Colombia, in flamboyant wrestling poses, as if they were, once again, just kids who are fans of the sport.
Worth the infamous recording of that session the films El Santo and Blue Demonwith simulations of the turnstile at the top and the double Nelson key, was buried by the great photographer Héctor Fabio Zamora, who died earlier this year.
(We also recommend: Jesús Abad Colorado’s Book Collection is an illustrated encyclopedia of the conflict).
But now, ten years after that “battle” to remember, Samper Pizano returns to the ring of his passion by publishing the book “The night my father was humiliated and other strokes of humor”. From the cover it appears that the show of the fighters with their masked faces is part of the main poster and in it Samper includes other accomplices:
“It helped me rebuild the cast my comrade Humberto Dorado -says Samper in his new book- who I suspect has managed to debut as a precocious masked man by the name of Garrick the Terrible, biting the dust of the mat”.
Such a provocative reference introduces the world of a very popular hobby in the middle of the last century. It was inevitable to consult Dorado himself, recognized as an actor, librettist, poetry reciter (Garrick is the protagonist of the poem “Laughing Crying”) but hitherto unpublished as a fighter:
“Daniel is the only one who tells me that,” Dorado clarifies. Others are a little jealous of me. The El Terrible thing is a fabrication. What happened is that the great Antonio Cantús (King Kong) coached me for a wrestling scene before a play. The Terrible was Iván in Russian history and in Eisenstein’s film, the first one I showed at the Los Andes University Alumni Film Club over there in the old headquarters in the early 1970s a Stage Combat title awarded by a professional double school”.
So Dorado escapes from the shed, leaving Samper Pizano inside, who has answered a questionnaire from EL TIEMPO about his new book and his early calling as a wrestling fan:
Another of Samper Pizano’s almost forty books, this one with 256 pages and the Aguilar seal,
Photo:
Penguin Random House
How did the first of the 40 lyrics that make up The Night My Father Was Humiliated and Other Hits of Humor come about?
Around 1953 or 1954 a golden age of wrestling began in Colombia and especially in Bogotá. For a few decades, there were wrestling programs every Wednesday and Saturday night in two tents installed on the Plaza de Toros grounds. Information appeared in the press, some fights were broadcast on the radio, and we kids collected Kings of the Ring candy. I was one of those infected with the fever. The title of the book reflects an incident I witnessed that I have never been able to forget.
You also pay tribute to the obituary journalists. What was the best obituary you read in the Colombian press?
The column that Klim (Lucas Caballero Calderón) was writing when Alfonso López Pumarejo died in November 1959.
By the way, have you thought about what you want to say in your own obituary?
“The person responsible for preparing this obituary has apologized because he has passed away.”
What is your theory that music volume is inversely proportional to sexual fitness?
I refer to what I say in my book.
(At this point it is appropriate to explain that the above-mentioned chapter is a diatribe by Samper Pizano against the noise that we Colombians usually put on the music we listen to. His conclusion is hilarious: “There is an inverse relationship between the capacity of the device that vibrates in the living room and the device that sleeps in the bedroom, the more passive this one is, the more active it is, so you know: to determine the owner’s powerlessness, it is enough to stick to the power of the device”.)
(Another recommended book: Pedro Alonso switches from The Paper House to a paper book).
tribute to his friends
In various interviews and previous writings, Samper Pizano has told about his friendship with the writer Alvaro Cepeda Samaudioa member of the Barranquilla group who introduced him to Gabriel García Márquez.
In his new post, Samper Pizano pays tribute to him by recounting how Cepeda took him to a meeting that eventually kicked off the Vallenato Festival and where he also became friends with the composer Rafael Esalona.
The book is also rich in homages to other names close to Samper Pizano, such as: Joaquin Sabina, Juan Gossain and some of their relatives. But Cepeda’s case is particularly timely as this year marks the 50th anniversary of his death.
What was your last memory of Álvaro Cepeda Samudio?
The funny and loving cards I sent to my daughters from the New York hospital where she died. The last one said: “You have an uncle for a while”.
Has your perception of Mother Nature changed much during the pandemic?
Yes, I found it terrifying.
Where is the YouPorn University that graduated him as Matador reveals in the cartoon in chapter 14?
I’m afraid it’s a fake diploma, in line with what’s fashionable among our politicians. In any case, we would have to ask Matador where he got the document from, because thank God we don’t go to the same places.
How smart is the toilet you rated compared to world politicians?
This restroom is like a senator, also because of the nature of the matter it handles.
Why did you translate traditional Colombian coplas into English and which one is your favorite?
Because I have two simultaneous goals: to promote the learning of the English language in Chiquinquirá, Cucunubá, Vélez and in between, and to spread Andean folklore in English-speaking countries.
(Another parenthesis here to emphasize the undeniable poetic streak of Samper Pizano, who offers this translation of some popular Colombian verses):
An old woman and an old man
They fell into a well
and the old lady said:
“Oh, what a tasty old man!”
Poem in English:
An old man and an old woman
fell into a muddy pool,
and the old woman commented:
“What a cool old man!”
(Another interesting note: Teresita Gómez, the 79-year-old pianist who saved Gustavo Petro’s estate).
more memories
The writer and journalist from Bogota has published almost 40 titles in different genres.
Daniel Samper Pizano’s humor books have had an enthusiastic audience among those who have read his pen at EL TIEMPO for exactly 50 years. There are already almost forty titles that he has released in different genres.
He currently continues to write his weekly column on the Los Danieles website, remains a member of the Colombian and Spanish language academies and is frequently invited to journalistic events such as the Gabo Festival or cultural events such as the Hay Festival and the Carnival of the Arts, in Barranquilla .
Although he is currently in Spain, he will be returning to Colombia in the next few days to present his book on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the Los Fundadores Library of the Moderno High School.
You devote a separate chapter to your relationship with Spain: what bothers you most about this country and what do you like best?
I like everything except that the Spanish spoken there is very bad.
When was the last time you wore a tie, an article of clothing that you publicly dislike?
When I took the P chair at the Academy of Language. A chair at the academy is worth a tie.
Many of these writings could have been published in the column he wrote in Carousel magazine. Missing dessert notes?
Some of them are from this paila. Yes, I miss Dessert Notes every day. Especially at lunchtime…
Finally, football runs through your entire book from goal to goal, what are your expectations for the World Cup in Qatar that is just around the corner?
With Colombia not participating, I don’t see any champions other than Spain.
(One final recommendation: “Cinema is a childish, magnificent and perverted genre”: Carolina Sanín)
On sex and other specialties from Samper
In his new title, Daniel Samper Pizano spreads his wisdom on various topics, but in particular about sexual activity. Unsurprisingly, in Chapter 14 he opens an erotic clinic with eight answers to questions he received from his readers.
The most comforting thing is the confession of his full vitality at the age of only 77: “I can only confirm that I’m still very active. At least in terms of work, food and football fans. Something is something right now.”
In the same spirit (or maybe in the opposite sense, as a certain beauty queen preached), Samper Pizano announces the creation of a new company, responding to the acronym of Unmapol: National Union of Bad Powderswhose President he declares himself for life.
He concludes by commenting on a complaint that caused a stir among conspiracy theory lovers and lovers in general: they found 11,500 counterfeit condoms in five cities across the country. With admirable intellectual clarity, Samper Pizano clears up the mystery: they are martians. “So it’s not about leaky condoms, but about creatures with a strange elastic and transparent texture (…) But we use them wrong, in a very bad place and to accomplish annoying missions.”
More news in detail
The Killers return to Bogotá renewed and with new music
‘Feeling it a lot’, the documentary that reveals the secrets of Joaquin Sabina
Here’s what Evanescence singer Amy Lee looks like after her dedication to children’s music
JULY CESAR GUZMAN
Editor of the Visual Table by EL TIEMPO
(On twitter: @julguz).