Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. I like to think that since this assertion is, in addition to a semantic play, the title of Simone Signoret’s memoirs, the von Cachitos decided not to step on any of the Las diabolicas and that is why they titled their special New Year’s Eve gala There is no more nostalgia like the previous one, which says the same thing. His seventh end-of-year special – the show first aired in 2013, had a December 31 presence in 2014 but didn’t air its first original format on New Year’s Eve until 2015 – has focused on the 1980s and given its umpteenth twist on the concept that sustains him: the pain of being separated from home, relatives or friends, or the melancholy sadness caused by the memory of a lost happiness, according to the RAE. Nostalgia, come on.
Nostalgia doesn’t get good press. There are those who believe that by missing the UHF they will inevitably end up cheering Franco, like those who want to warn us that smoking a joint leads directly to a heroin overdose. But Cachitos shows year after year that nostalgia, like any other emotion – or sentimental subgenre in this case – is neither good nor bad in and of itself. It all depends on how it is managed. And Cachitos knows how to use it. There is more to refer to in the last nine years.
The programme, which uses nostalgia more confidently, couldn’t help but point out that the 1980s is the most prostitute last decade since commercial yearnings, yofuiaegb and substitutes. Or as Virginia Díaz, its presenter, rightly pointed out, “the only nostalgia that has lasted longer than the decade that inspires it”. Danger of not voting for the Falange in the end, but surrounded by platitudes surrounding Naranjito. As sometimes happened. In any case, we forgive the musical archaeologists of the RTVE archives, the people who make us happy when we label them.
To revisit the 1980s, the program had several guests, a living history of music and music television. Gurruchaga opened the season with the interpretation of his Tic, toc (my old alarm clock) and soon Ángel Casas appeared on the big screen, because the Mondragón Orchestra’s first appearance on television was on Musical Express, the Catalan journalist’s first program of the year . “I remember him often and hold him in high esteem – perhaps the program was recorded before Casa’s death? And then came the memory of Viaje con nosotros and the sketch where Gurruchaga and Hervé Villechaize parodied Victoria Prego’s interview with Felipe González and remembered that González had called him personally to congratulate him. “For much less than that, we had to answer parliamentary questions in ‘Cachitos,'” added Díaz. Of course, there was no mention of the New Year’s Eve special he wrote in 1988 and in which he starred: ‘The massive program that shocked all of Spain and for which he ended up being separated from TVE forever. It’s a masterpiece,” Nacho Vigalondo recalled last year.
THE LAST SUPPER by Javier Gurruchaga is on YouTube. The massive program that shocked all of Spain and for which he would end up being separated from TVE forever. It’s a masterpiece. https://t.co/ytaXBRV224
— EVIL RAYS (@vigalondo) November 21, 2021
Sorry for falling for what the program is trying to ironize, but television wasn’t what it was for too long and to prove it, we went from Gurruchaga to Jordi Évole infiltrating the program and finally with his band The Gentlemen’s Pact, Kinder Jesus sang. Good attempt to draw audience to atresmedia.
But before we continue with the eighties guests. Pablo Carbonell and Pepe Begines, who now have a band together called Toreros Con chanclas, composed a medley of their respective groups’ hits: My yellow water, I see nothing and whose are you? that my canary died. And of course the crystal ball was mentioned, Count Carbeo Carbonell even said that he believes that children today do not read because there is no program like the crystal ball. Other times he has said that he hated the shower in his hostel back then and thanks to La bola he was able to shower in his changing room at least once a week. Begines recalled that he was first registered with Social Security when he was at a TVE performance.
After that, Christina Rosenvinge, protagonist and discreet and sensitive observer of the last 40 years of Spanish music, caused a stir and appeared on our screen. Four decades on stage and set also as a presenter, Cachitos well remembers hosting the music show FM 2 in 1982 and having the opportunity to interview Leonard Cohen. Or Leonard Cohen had the opportunity to be interviewed by Christina, depending on how you look at it. She sang I’m going in a car, a song she admits is showing its age when it comes to the automotive industry – “now I’m going to ride my bike” -. Somewhere in Sweden, Greta Thunberg smiles happily.
The contingent of young artists – not necessarily more modern, let’s see who beats Gurruchaga or Rosenvinge too modern – this time provided the always nice Varry Brava, who fired Raffaella Carrá from the same program last year with his song Raffaella Covered Another Year After The Joke that they got along just as well as the Cano brothers. And the question always remains: are these the performances that we will see at Cachitos in 20 years? It’s almost like nostalgia for the future. Carson McCullers wrote that we are most nostalgic for places we don’t know, and of course the future is one of them. Virginia Díaz closed the program with a quote from Jesús Quintero: “Life can be beautiful if you insist on doing it.” The television too.
You can follow EL PAÍS TELEVISIÓN on Twitter or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Receive the TV newsletter
All the news from channels and platforms, with interviews, news and analysis, as well as recommendations and criticism from our journalists
SIGN UP