El gusto es mío. Victor Manuel

Recipes, culinary memories, anecdotes, emotions and feelings that celebrate the joy of living and sharing, forming a fresco of the memory of the famous singer-songwriter.

"Melancholy washes over me when I open my recipe notebooks and see what I have cooked and for whom." Memory, flavours and aromas: this is El gusto es mío. A journey through the personal and emotional history of Víctor Manuel around a table or at the kitchen hob. Ingredient by ingredient, the singer-songwriter weaves a string of memories, anecdotes, emotions and feelings that make up a banquet of memory. Journeys along different roads, reunions with old friends, culinary anecdotes alongside his grandparents or his children, the story of a great love… all without leaving the kitchen, making that perfect recipe with the flavours and aromas that have given meaning to a whole life.

Perhaps less well known is Víctor Manuel's side as an accomplished cook, a passion born of his love of cooking. El gusto es mío is therefore a cookery book, although it is much more. It is memories and experiences peppered with amusing anecdotes featuring great figures from Spain's recent history, all accompanied by emblematic recipes related to the subject, cooked by him and illustrated with photographs that together make up a deluxe edition.

Divided into several sections covering his childhood in Asturias, his arrival in Madrid and his travels through Spain and Latin America, Víctor Manuel turns the pages of that notebook of his life and not only shares the recipes and musical notes that have made him who he is, but also reveals a map full of coloured pins where different aromas and flavours mingle, markets with the finest ingredients and restaurants with unforgettable menus. An emotional journey that, ultimately, forms an intimate map of his story.

With this original project in which Víctor Manuel showcases his culinary talents and reveals an intimate side unknown until now, the singer will begin a new tour of the stages of several cities that the live shows of Casi nada está en su sitio did not reach. Shortly after the book's launch, a programme of special concerts will be announced, highly select in terms of venues and dates, during which the artist will continue to present El gusto es mío, his latest songs and his timeless greatest hits, with the warmth and naturalness that characterise him.

About the author:

Víctor Manuel was born in Mieres (Asturias), next to the Puente de la Perra, on 7 July 1947. From childhood he showed a clear musical vocation: he loved to sing and play the harmonica. At the age of fourteen he entered the Autumn Arts Competition in his home town, where he became a finalist. A couple of years later he moved to Madrid, where he studied several courses in music theory, sang on the radio, trained with a singing teacher and began composing his first songs with the help of his guitar. In 1965 he recorded his first tracks and took part in the Benidorm Festival. A year later he entered the Atlántico Festival and the Miño Festival as a composer.

He found his path as a songwriter and performer with songs that are now music history, such as El cobarde and El tren de madera. The year was 1967. La romería, Paxarinos and El abuelo Víctor would become his first major hits a year later.

Throughout his artistic career he has worked as an actor in Morbo and Al diablo con amor, both directed by Gonzalo Suárez. He has composed for various singers and produced artists including Pablo Milanés, Ana Belén and Rosa León. He has also done production work on films such as Divinas palabras, El vuelo de la paloma, Tirano Banderas, Bajarse al moro, Yo soy esa, El día que nací yo and Yo me bajo en la próxima. His discography is as extensive as it is prestigious, both in Spain and internationally. You need only recall the titles of a few of the albums that form part of our musical memory to stir our nostalgia: Quiero abrazarte tanto, Canción para Pilar, Soy un corazón tendido al sol, Ay amor, Por el camino, Qué te puedo dar, A dónde irán los besos, Mucho más que dos, El gusto es nuestro, Vivir para cantarlo, El hijo del ferroviario, Una canción me trajo aquí and Canciones regaladas. The book is in Spanish.