The Poetry of Rock. The North American classics, the Hispanic tradition and Enrique Bunbury

As an activity prior to Enrique Bunbury's concert in El Paso, the Cervantes Institute of this city will offer a talk by two specialists in rock poetry: the poet Jeff Sirkin, currently a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso, and the writer, music journalist and director of the Center Silvia Grijalba. In a bilingual talk they will discuss the importance of song lyrics as a literary genre and, specifically, the importance of song lyrics in the work of Enrique Bunbury. We thank Enrique Bunbury for supporting this talk by making it known among his followers, as a prelude to his concert. During the event, the interview between Grijalba and the composer about why he sings in Spanish will be screened.

Jeff Sirkin is the author of the poetry book Travelers Aid Society (Veliz Books, 2016). In addition to poetry, he writes about music's relationship to post-modern literature and the historical avant-garde, and has done work on Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan, punk, rock, and the relationship between 20th century literature and popular music. He teaches classes on twentieth-century American literature and culture, with a focus on post-war texts and post-structuralist theory. He is an associate professor in the Department of Literary Creation at Utep.

Sílvia Grijalba is the author of the book Palabra de Rock. Antología de letristas españoles (Ed. Fundación Lara), an anthology of the best Spanish rock poets, selected and prefaced by her, the essay Dios salve a la Movida and several novels. In 2011 she received the prestigious Fernando Lara Novel Award for Contigo aprendí. She is also co-author of the book Bunbury, en plano secuencia, which collects the photographs taken by Jose Girl during the Palosanto Tour accompanied by texts, anecdotes and chronicles of the protagonists written by Grijalba. For twenty years she has been the coordinator of the popular music department of the newspaper El Mundo. Her texts on rock have appeared in Rolling Stone, The Guardian and Vogue. She currently directs the Instituto Cervantes in Albuquerque and its extension in El Paso.

Enrique Bunbury began his musical career with Héroes del Silencio, with whom he recorded four studio albums. In 1996 he began his solo career, with a discography that spans from Radical sonora (1997) to the most recent Curso de levitación intensivo (2020). He has also been involved in collective albums, among them one dedicated to the work of the writer Leopoldo María Panero. Last 2021 he published Exilio Topanga (La Bella Varsovia), his first book of poems.