The project you cooked in this kitchen…

I called Harkaitz [Cano], saying that he had a project, that he would come to Irun, that he would explain. He came and in this same kitchen I gave him what he had written until then: page and a half. He grabbed her, got up and said: “This is an accordion. There is nothing more than opening the bellows and letting the sound come out!” I remember that he said that, getting up… On that page and a half there was a synopsis of the story that I had in my head. And what's important, I showed him on that page the photograph of the giants. Of course, the photograph called him a lot.

What did the synopsis say?

It was, so to speak, the beginning of history. In 1965 they were taken to New York to unveil the giants of Pamplona, but because of racism, they were unable to assemble the black giants at the parade. In the synopsis he said that our protagonist, Manex, the Basque, was there, and also told the path that Manex had to walk, some details of that journey or trip. For example, the festival of Monterey, General De Gaulle, Algeria, Madrid…

Where did the idea of that journey come from?

The journey is real, there are no lies. History itself is based on two historical facts. On the one hand, the New York City Parade -- even though the black giants didn't come, that's been a poetic license that we've taken -- and on the other hand, a real journey through the world. One day they told me I was in Cuba. On an anniversary of the revolution some commanders arrived in the Basque Country, some friends of the orchestra Van Van...

In those circles, I went to Cuba in 1991, with Negu Gorriak. In fact, Van Van left us all the equipment to play there. I was wearing a t-shirt, "Black Panther, Power to the People," and the people next to me grabbed it and told me the story of the journey. Since then, I have had the opportunity to document myself and I have learned that some Black Panthers are refugees in Cuba. But, in addition to Cuba, they also took refuge in Algeria. Apparently, the Black Panthers went from the United States to Canada, to Quebec, from there to Montreal, from Montreal to Algeria, from there to Madrid and from there to Cuba. It was a historic fact, and that was the synopsis. For the rest, we had to open the bellows and know what was going on in each place, put it in history.

Is racism the main theme of Black is Beltza?

There is not a single main theme… Today it is said that all things are in contact. “Excuse me! And not before?” I answer. Previously, there were links and relationships. For example, I have heard many speeches from Che Guevara. Many of them are intimately related to the time when the comic book appears. For example, your intervention at the UN headquarters. We've put this conference in the exhibition that accompanies the comic book, at the Alhóndiga de Bilbao, and I've also received a couple of phrases from that conference, not to use it in the comic book, but to take advantage of the song I've made: “Humanity has said: Enough! And it has started and its march is the most gigantic!” Great! There's another phrase, Cher's, terrible. “There are no longer weak enemies that are not taken into account because there are no isolated people.” Everyone is organizing Che at that time! He's going to Congo, he's going to Bolivia. It's an international revolution, he says. Music is also in touch everywhere.

The starting point was a press cut that reported on the journey of the giants from Pamplona to New York on the occasion of the World Fair.

I read the news fourteen years ago and kept the press clipping, as I often do. I read this and that, I draw attention, and I pick it up. For example, they serve me to make songs. The exhibition by the Alhóndiga of Bilbao shows, for example, some press clippings collected since 2000. Today I would be unthinkable, because I read all the press in digital, even though I'm a Berria subscriber. But fourteen years ago, I used a lot of paper press. “If I ever decide to do something, here I have the information,” he said. The court around Juan Rulfo, for example, dates back to 2001. When I read that the giants had been in New York, and that they hadn't let the black giants parade, I kept it. The news surprised me.

Save for eleven years…

But five years later, in another newspaper, I read the same news. It was the same picture, always giants. I cut it back and kept it. On the other hand, I already remembered what I had been told in Cuba and “Wow! I have to write a novel! I said to myself. But I like to work with people. When I made music, I did. I started working, and soon I want other musicians next to me. In 2002, I met Josu Landa. He told the story of the giants, and he loved it. He said to me: "Here you have to create the Basque Maltese Short! ". That Hugo Pratt world character! But life is life, there were many ups and downs along the way, and that's where I left the project until 2009.

And then?

“I have to make an animation film,” I said at the time. I went to Dibulitoon [video production services in Irun]. In 2006 I also made with them the video clip Euskal Herria Jamaika Clash, and meanwhile, I saw the animated film with Balsean Bashi, very powerful! I was told I had to write Dibulitoon's script. “Do you know what your good friend would be for this? Harkaitz Cano”. Of course, I already knew Harkaitz, we had a very nice relationship. I called.

The comic book is on the street. I don’t know if the film’s path is closed…

Let's not talk! The problem is that tempos are very different. I mean, musicians work almost all of a sudden. “I also have to sing the Black is Beltza!” And I did. He calls Mikel Azpiroz and says yes. If within a year I plan to make the album, I know what the deadlines are. But in the case of a film, the deadlines are extremely long. And to take the book out, please note that in 2000 I had the idea, that five years ago I met with Harkaitz Cano, that three years ago – when we finished the script – I contacted Jorge Alderete ...

Black is Beltza arrives in Basque, Spanish, Catalan and French.

We will also have some meetings to translate them into English. On the other hand, we have published it here in Spanish, but it has a special edition in Mexico. I was at the Guadalajara Book Fair and reached an agreement for two more editions: The Zarauztarra group will leave in spring in Colombia and in September in Argentina. And we will also distribute it in Chile.

You have made a strong commitment to the product…

If I do a job, I stick to my skin. It is essential for me to explain here and there what I do. It's my own school: self-management, "do it yourself." I come from self-management, and I always play there, whether it's a record, whether it's a movie or a book.

What is this work on your way as a musician or artist?

Another artifact! The Black is Beltza is a lot. At the Alhóndiga de Bilbao they also have a pedagogical team and we were told that they wanted to take the Black is Beltza and make a didactic unit. I myself have studied Pedagogy and I found the intention wonderful. It's about motivating young people, and they're getting it. They're getting tremendous feedback. They're crazy with joy. In one of them the Haikos are invented; in the other, the texts of the bunbuilos; in the next one, the classical comics are analyzed, or the works of the illustrating women… When they told me the idea it seemed chapeau, and I also went to one of those workshops.

The illustrator is Jorge Alderete…

When I saw the work I was doing for the Argentine band Los Fabsos Cadillacs, I was very surprised. I knew the group, I went with them to Mexico in 1992. I met in Los Angeles with his manager and asked him about the draftsman. "Yes, boy, you met him in Mexico! A guy who does all the Alicia Forum posters!” Alderete is more illustrative than comics, makes afixas, record covers and all of this and that. I had also made comic strips, but not as much as this. However, I contacted him. Jorge saw me playing in Buenos Aires, in the Mythical Cement, with All Your Dead, and from there he knew me. I explained my intention to him and he asked me for a script. He picked it up and showed it to his wife. His wife is a galerist and art critic in Mexico City. Jorge soon told me: “Fermin, it seems to be done to illustrate, but I have to tell the truth: my wife has told me that I have to do this work yes or yes.” He was my best ally at home! It's been a little hard to work together, by the distance. But we acted through Skype, we were also in Barcelona, I spent time with him in DF... It has been wonderful to work with Jorge Alderete.