Letter from Spain #36

I'm back ... Happy New Year!

Only in Spain could Balthazar be cast as a blackface bullfighter. Yes, it’s that time of the year when the blackface issue has cropped up again. To be honest, I didn’t realise they still did it, but they do - and it seems that in many towns and cities they’re proud of it and they don’t even see what the ‘issue’ is.

I’m referring to the traditional eve of Epiphany parades that took place for the Three Kings - Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar - when many Spanish children receive their Christmas presents. The Three Kings Day itself is preceded by processions on 5 January evening, in which their majesties parade through the streets, showering the crowds with sweets.

In Christian lore, Balthazar is usually depicted as middle eastern or black. In the past (although it still goes on), many Epiphany parades held in Spain have long featured his role played by a white man - sometimes a local councillor - in black make-up.

It’s true that in recent years, opposition has grown to the practice, and many towns and cities have dropped the tradition. Madrid’s former left-wing mayor Manuela Carmena, for example, ended the practice in the Spanish capital in 2016 (outraging the hard right-wing in the process), and the city now employs a black actor to play the role in its parade, which is broadcast live across the country.

However, as part of this year’s festivities, Madrid City Council hired a firm to produce personalised video messages from the Three Kings, which parents in the Chamartín neighbourhood of the capital could request for their children.

One version featured a white man wearing dark face paint representing Balthazar, who spoke in a mock-West African accent and grammatically incorrect Spanish, sparking accusations of racism.

‘It’s incredible that among the 120,000 residents of Madrid who are of African descent, they were unable to find a single one who can play the role of Balthazar,’ said Eduardo Rubino of the left-wing Mas Madrid party, describing the accent as ‘pathetic’ and ‘pure racism’.

Anti-racism groups went further, calling the videos ‘disgusting’, and that it was ‘unforgivable and irresponsible’ that racism could emanate from an institution such Madrid City Council.

The council initially seemed to infer that a black actor hired to deliver Balthazar’s messages had gone down with Covid, and so they had to quickly hire someone else who was available, but who unfortunately ‘wasn’t black’. Then they finally apologised, albeit putting the blame on the company contracted to make the videos.

Between 20 to 30 videos featuring the man in blackface were sent out, the city’s deputy mayor, Maria Inmaculada Sanz Otero, told reporters.

‘It is obviously not the right person to feature in these videos. It’s a regrettable mistake on the part of the company charged with this activity,’ she said, before adding that the council had asked for explanations from the company.

Antoinette Torres, the founder of Afrofeminas, an online community seeking to boost black womens’ visibility in Spain, said there was a ‘lack of political will to tackle racism’ and that nationwide legislation was needed to protect minors and end practices such as blackface.

‘Normalising these tendencies leads to things that shouldn’t be tolerated in the 21st century are still happening in Spain,’ she said, mentioning last year’s hanging of an effigy depicting black Real Madrid player Vinícius Jr from a bridge.

She said that many Spaniards do not see blackface as racist because the education system does not teach the country’s past links to slavery and colonialism. She may be right …

In researching the news, I learnt that in the eastern town of Alcoy (Valencia), dozens of people who were acting the role of pages alongside their kings in Friday’s event, had their faces painted black and with exagerrated, red-painted lips. According to reports, some ran along the edge of the crowd high-fiving children.

In the eve of Epiphany parade in Seville (Andalusia), the role of Balthazar was enacted by a local businessman, José Luis Cabeza, with his face painted black and wearing an outfit inspired by a bullfighter’s ‘suit of lights’ costume. According to El Diario online newspaper, Cabeza is ‘a renowned bullfighting fan who has even tried his hand at being a bullfighter’. Only in Spain could Balthazar be cast as a blackface bullfighter …

The northeastern town of Igualada holds the oldest parade in Catalonia and most of its around 800 participants wear blackface - but the people there defend the use of it, saying they mean no harm and are just continuing a tradition.

‘We don’t consider ourselves xenophobic nor racist, nor do we consider racist the fact that some people dress up and apply make-up to act in a role and to bring joy to kids,’ said Eduard Creus, who leads the private organisation behind the parade, according to a Reuters report. 

I’m old enough to remember seeing the Black and White Minstrel Show on TV, and which I always found a bit weird and creepy, at the very least.

I realise there’s a thin line with certain satire - but should there be? Robert Downey Jr only just got away with it in Tropic Thunder, playing an Australian actor so committed to his role as an African-American sergeant, he’s had surgical skin-darkening procedures. And, of course, there was Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G persona - but I think his caricature was more of an ingenious device for revealing racism. Wasn’t it?

Anyone, however - and especially in Spain - who has any doubt about the racist and ‘toxic legacy’ of blackface minstrels should read this article in The Guardian by David Olusoga. Here’s a quote:

Blackface minstrelsy was a bizarre and disturbing form of racial impersonation founded on cultural appropriation. It took the creative output of enslaved African Americans and weaponised it against them. Minstrelsy was not merely a reflection of American racism – it also became one of the great engines of that racism, propagating and reinforcing ideas that were used to justify slavery and then segregation. It disseminated racial terms and racial stereotypes so potent that some are still with us in the 21st century. It was literally racism made into an artform.

To end this week’s post on a lighter note, I hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas, and/or Three Kings Day, and I wish you a very happy and healthy New Year. Spain is now back to work and I will be blogging regularly again throughout 2024. Sometimes on a Sunday, sometimes a Monday … but stick with me. There’s a lot of exciting things going on!

The Barcelona Connection - Research

In my last post before Christmas, I said that I’d now relate a few notes about Chapters 59 and 63 - about Conso, the Dalí Museum in Figueres itself, and Benjamin going inside to view ‘The Face’.

Conso - her luminous, excited eyes sparkled, as ever the eccentric yet gentle character she’d always been, her face criss-crossed with laughlines and deep creases from a lifetime of squinting in the Catalan sun - is one of my favourite minor characters in the book. She’s based on a combination of three eccentric, colourful friends I’ve had the fortune of knowing over the years - one from Condé Nast in Spain (in Barcelona to be precise), one from the literary world, and a chain-smoking family friend.

If you haven’t been to the Dalí Museum in Figueres yet, then you must - and if you can, please take a copy of The Barcelona Connection with you and then send me a photo! They told me they’d be stocking the book at the museum, but I’m not sure if they’ve got round to it yet.

I’ve been to the museum many times, for research and pleasure. On one occasion, I actually videoed (I don’t think it was allowed) exactly what Benjamin does (on page 345), after heading through the Palau del Vent room and finding the oil study, The Face on the wall of the ‘Workshop’ - although he didn’t have the background noise that I have in the short video below …

Benjamin took a deep breath and approached the work, framed in a glass case. A label on the wall described it as a ‘Study for The Hallucinogenic Toreador’ and painted between 1968-1970. He counted the twenty pin nails on either side of the canvas, with fourteen on top and bottom, then took out Conso’s phone to look at the shot of Jaume’s version, holding it up to compare and squint at both paintings …

Next week I’ll comment on Hendrik and Séverin in Chapter 66 …

Previous links to my research notes are here:

• Chapters 50, 52 and 57 in Letter from Spain #35 (Benjamin on the train to Figueres).

• Chapters 48 and 51 in Letter from Spain #34 (G20 Spouse Party, museum visits and ‘art attacks’).

• Chapters 48 and 51 in Letter from Spain #33 (Picasso Museum).

• Chapters 39 and 42 in Letter from Spain #31 (Hotel Arts & Port Olímpic).

• Chapter 36 in Letter from Spain #29 (Hotel Arts & Port Olímpic).

• Chapter 29 in Letter from Spain #28 (Nîmes to Barcelona and tollgates).

• Chapters 28 and 32 in Letter from Spain #27 (Pedralbes and Jaume, the Marquès de Guíxols).

• Chapter 26 in Letter from Spain #26 (pijos and Beltrán Gómez de Longoria).

• Chapter 25 (again) in Letter from Spain #25 (Benjamin’s thoughts on Púbol, Figueres and Port Lligat-Cadaqués).

• Chapter 25 in Letter from Spain #23 (Benjamin and Elena on the Passeig Marítim).

• Chapters 22 and 24 in Letter from Spain #22 (Plaça Sant Jaume & Nîmes).

• Chapter 21 in Letter from Spain #21 (the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya - MNAC).

• Chapter 18 in Letter from Spain #20 (Nîmes).

• Chapter 16 in Letter from Spain #19 (Marta Soler visiting the offices of La Vanguardia).

• Chapter 15 in Letter from Spain #18 (Sants, Les Corts and the Plaça de la Concòrdia).

• Chapter 14 in Letter from Spain #17 (introducing Inspector Vizcaya and Marta Soler).

• Chapter 13 in Letter from Spain #16 (the painting - the possible study of The Hallucinogenic Toreador by Salvador Dalí).

• Chapters 10 and 12 in Letter from Spain #15 (Isabel Bosch and Lieutenant Trias).

• Chapters 8 and 11 in Letter from Spain #14 (Benjamin at Girona Airport and finding the Marqueses’ home in La Bisbal).

• Chapter 7 in Letter from Spain#12 (Séverin and Jürgen).

• Chapter 5 in Letter from Spain#11 (Elena in Girona).

• Chapters 3-4 in Letter from Spain#9 (Marcos Constantinos in Hampstead, plus Benjamin at the UEA & Stansted).

• Chapter 2 in Letter from Spain#8 (the home of the Marqueses de Guíxols, not far from La Bisbal d’Empordà).

• Chapter 1 in Letter from Spain#7 (Benjamin waking up at the service station).

The Barcelona Connection - Reviews, News & Events

Links to reviews & articles

A review of The Barcelona Connection by Michael Eaude has been published in the October edition of Catalonia Today.

‘Short, fast-moving scenes and the deft joining of two completely different plots … the novel is not just breathlessly rapid and action-packed, but overflows with humour and satire.’

‘The excellent plotting, the local knowledge, the surreal humour, the political satire and the speed of events … it’s an admirable and very readable crime novel.’

Here’s the link for a review of The Barcelona Connection by Dominic Begg that came out in La Revista, a publication of the British-Spanish Society.

‘The Barcelona Connection is a fast-moving page-turner with a helter-skelter plot.’

‘The background to this thriller is realistic and familiar to those who know Barcelona well. It’s a world of cynical, ambitious politicians; civil servants promoted via enchufe; friction between Spanish and Catalan investigators; disruptive anti-capitalist activists; bumbling US dignitaries and security guards; the continuing influence of old supporters of Franco; the soulless 21st century, exemplified by apartment hotels seemingly without human staff-members …’

Here’s a link to a review of the book by Eve Schnitzer published by the Spain in English online newspaper.

‘Tim Parfitt very cleverly weaves together two parallel though quite different stories, set against the background of a contemporary Barcelona that is even busier than usual with major international meetings.’

‘Two plot lines interweave, with some highly ironic as well as suspenseful results … this book has a lot to offer the reader, from pure entertainment to solid information and, possibly, a fuller understanding of the complexities of Spain and Catalonia in particular.’

Here’s the link to an article I was asked to write for The Art Newspaper about my research on Salvador Dalí.

You can also click here for the latest reviews on Amazon, as well as on Goodreads and at Barnes & Noble.

The book is available on Amazon or you can also click here to choose where else to order your copy from. It can also be ordered from any bookshop simply by giving the ISBN number: 978-1-7393326-1-7.

You can also click here for the Kindle edition of A Load of Bull - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid.

For professional enquiries and foreign rights for The Barcelona Connection, please contact my agent Justyna Rzewuska at the Hanska Literary & Film Agency.