Germán Borda (Bogotá, Colombia, 1935) He first came to Toledo with his mother for a few days in the 60s of the last century. But a few years ago he returned for a longer period, a fortnight which he spent in the city due to his interest in one of the myths that concern it, namely the coexistence between the three cultures or religions – Jews, Muslims. . and Christians – in the Middle Ages.
Now this Seasoned Colombian musical composer, as well as professor, writer, cultural critic in his country’s mediaAfter several comings and goings, he settled in Toledo, where, despite his 90 years of life, he still has a lot of energy and desire to start new projects in the city, encouraged by the warm welcome of Toledo that surrounds it. Among them, although it is something that has ended since the pandemic, there is its novel ‘K. Etiología de una utopia’ (Ediciones Doce Calles, 2022), which will be presented this Thursday, October 3 at the Hojablanca Bookstore at 7:30 p.m..
“It is a very ambitious and very particular novel in several respects,” says its author, who explains to ABC that, on the one hand, “its structure is different and can be read from any point, since it does not have the sequence of a novel.” to use or standardize. And, on the other hand, as a musical composer, he specifies that he wrote several previous works to arrive at this novel.
In this joint work, we find at the beginning the variations dedicated to Borges, which last 33 seconds, but which can be repeated throughout the book; a work for oboe and orchestra, “Flumina”, which he himself produced with the Bogotá Philharmonic, and finally, a string quartet, “The Origin of Time”, which is the leitmotif of the novel and what moves its protagonist, called Kwho is a billionaire interested in everything cultural and scientific.
“He’s a sort of Bill Gates, a multifaceted character who believes he can save the planet with a string quartet, who takes us into the world of the absurd”says Germán Borda, who says K was born in his head as “a mythical character, almost as if he were a god.” In his utopia, he emphasizes, he presents himself as “a messiah, but chaotic”, since his intention is to liberate humanity by capturing and understanding a string quartet, which would elevate it to a higher level .
Something that, in his opinion, is very far from being achieved in such an apocalyptic world today, with wars and corruption everywhere and, in particular, on his continent, in America, where he recalls that he There are populist governments that consider the Spaniards. you have to ask for forgiveness. “I am pro-Hispanist”, defends the Colombian author, who regrets that “Spain is no longer one, as before”, which leads according to him to a “distancing between the indigenous element and the descendants of ‘Spaniards, what I believe is very harmful.
With this novel, in the form of metaphor, the author, like the protagonist, intends to elevate culture and, in particular, the world of classical music to a predominant role. for society. “I should have had more,” complains Borda, who believes that “the music has clearly prostituted itself, because there is a lot of difference between current classical music and the follies that many composers do. As my teacher said: “Sound is very ductile”.
