It’s almost time to eat, but for Sergio Dalma (Sabadell, 61 years old) there is no rest. He and his team have turned an Italian wine shop in central Madrid into their promotion office, and have been there since the early hours of the morning. “Do you want something to drink or eat?” asks the artist, who has already eaten several pieces of panettone. That the event is here is no coincidence: it is one of his favorite places in the capital and represents the essence of his new album, out on November 14th. Return to Via Dalmathe interpreter pays homage for the fourth time to the Italian artists and the songs that have made the history of Spain. It is his 23rd album, but he maintains intact the enthusiasm in promoting each new work and also a little nervousness: “Sometimes I think that, in the years that I have been around, I have maintained a good rhythm”.
It’s been more than three decades since he became famous thanks to the album That girl is mine (1989). During this time he realized what is most important to keep his career active: “I’ve gotten used to needing space to disconnect between projects. I like to keep working, but I force myself to have that time.” This new project is a thank you to Dalma Streetan album released in 2010 and which celebrates its anniversary this year. “I wouldn’t have imagined that album would become a trilogy (Via Dalma II was released in 2012 and Dalma Street III, in 2017). Many things and authors had fallen into oblivion, and it was worth remembering them, but looking for an album recorded here, not in Italy, with very young producers. It was a challenge to tackle such iconic songs again. The original is always the original, but I bring it into my field.” He recovers immortal songs, among others, by Laura Pausini and Franco Battiato.
Everyone knows him as Sergio Dalma, but that’s just his stage name. Behind the artist lies Josep Capdevila: “Over the years I have also learned to make the artist and the person coexist. Having this duality was the key. At the beginning I was very afraid that one would eat the other. I was able to make them coexist well. I give much more credit to the person, because he prevailed and stopped the artist.” For everything to continue the same way, he decided to give priority to himself: “I am one of those who want to live a routine life. I lived 27 years in Madrid, I decided to return to my homeland and live in an isolated and quiet city,” he says.
There were never any artistic references in his home, but he always knew that music was his passion: “I remember that at school I went up on stage and did everything. In my city, when the orchestra arrived I saw them as if from another planet. The world of acting attracted my attention a lot, but music was a magnet.” It was as a child that he began to discover Italian music. “At the age of 16 I told my parents that I wanted to dedicate myself to this. They accepted, I continued studying and started to graduate in Romance, French and Italian Philology.” And the rest is history.
His music, his voice and his lyrics have conquered several generations, transforming songs like dance together (1991) into timeless hits. “There was a before and after in my career with that song and with that Eurovision song (it came in fourth place). I never thought that song would have such a long life. There are people who weren’t born who sing it from top to bottom,” he reflects, adding: “There was so much repercussion that I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get out of it and I was fighting to make sure it didn’t happen.” More than three decades have passed, but Dalma wanted to constantly renew the version of that song and not remain stagnant: “I never let it become something that weighed me down, but I constantly updated it so that that magical moment with the audience would never be diluted.”
Precisely for this reason every release is a new challenge for him: “The responsibility weighs on you and demands more from you. In recent years I have tried to learn and get to know what my audience is like, what they want from me and listen to them”. He has his followers always present, and every step he takes is taken with them in mind: “You have to give a lot of value to them who pay a ticket to come and visit you. For me it is a need and a responsibility that, at times, oppresses me.”
To maintain the naturalness and humility that he transmits, the support of the family was essential. “I had people around me who helped me a lot. When you start you think you are the king of the world because you are realizing your dream, which is what you wanted. But you also have to nourish the person. I have some merits, but also those who accompanied and surrounded me.” He also acknowledges that it hasn’t been easy to manage everything that has happened to him: “Fame is complicated, that’s why I’ve never pursued it. I’ve pursued it by doing what I like, which is going on stage, in front of one person or in front of a thousand. You have to be able to digest fame because sometimes it can become indigestible.”
As for whether he thinks about the end of his career, his answer is clear because he has already thought about it: “I’m in the final stretch, but I think it will be a more or less long stretch. I’m not starting now, so just as I appeared I will also have to disappear. There is a very big problem when you retire because I think: what will I do? I have to look for a job for the day I retire that has nothing to do with music.” He respects those artists who stay on stage until the end, but he has no intention of doing so: “I have a lot of fun with myself and with everyday life. We will have already had a trip that will have been worth it, I will be satisfied. I wouldn’t want to stay there for many more years and if people withdraw me, I want to be the one to decide.”
Today, he says, he lives more peacefully: “I appreciate a series of things that are basic and that previously went unnoticed: rediscovering the daily routine, spending time with friends, with family, shopping at the market, cooking and having fun. I need it and, from time to time, I have to dedicate myself only to that.” But he has always been clear that he wanted to separate his artistic side from his personal and private life. “There was a time when it was more difficult for me to stop it (especially after the divorce from Maribel Sanz in 1998), but I always tried to ensure that that aspect was respected and I think the media understood this well.”
He is worried about the future, especially since he became a grandfather two years ago: “I have the feeling that society is a bit off track, that we are deteriorating everything. When you get older you worry about what you could leave to your children or grandchildren. But I have a lot of faith and hope in the new generations.” And in his near future is the preparation of his tour, which will begin in March 2026 in San Sebastián and end in February 2027 in Madrid. “You see the years when it comes to preparing for the tour, traveling… you get a little more tired. But you go out on stage and say: my back doesn’t hurt anymore!” Looking at the past is not part of their plans because “it has already been lived and suffered”.
