The sketched man. A conversation with Jaume Sisa

“I have lived all my life in hiding, and perhaps one day I would like to come out of hiding. But I have a problem, and that’s that if I come out, I don’t know who I am”. Jaume Sisa, the galactic singer-songwriter, author of songs that have been classics for more than a generation, talks about his many lives and identities, which make up the chequered biography of his memories and the constant search for his “authentic self”, the mystery that has accompanied him throughout his life.

Jaume Sisa pioneered the underground movement and counterculture of Barcelona in the 1960s and 1970s. Musician, singer-songwriter, and poet, his work greatly influences the present day. Today, the eccentric, mystical, naïve, and surrealist singer-songwriter is admired even by people who don’t identify as music lovers. For more than a generation, some of his songs have become true classics.

An enthusiast of ambiguity and change, Sisa has lived many lives, both with his own name or with that his many other alter egos. Even so, the galactic singer-songwriter has walked through life without finding what he was looking for. Music saved him from an anodyne life, but it hasn’t helped him solve the most important mystery: knowing who he is.

At the height of his professional career, when he was enjoying enormous popularity in Catalonia, Jaume Sisa opted for artistic suicide. At the age of 36, he announced his definitive retirement from the stage. Two years later, he reappeared in Madrid as a bolero singer. As Ricardo Solfa, he sought to revive the melodic song sung in Spanish. He even confessed to Luís Eduardo Aute, a friend of his, that he had everything ready to sell more records than Julio Iglesias.

In interviews at the time, Solfa denied any relationship with Jaume Sisa. He claimed to know him only by ear. A decade later, Sisa became Ventura Mestres, Armando Llamado and, finally, El Viajante. And, with this transitional character, he took the road back to his original identity: Jaume Sisa, albeit, a better Sisa with more maturity and skepticism. This documentary shows Sisa uncovered and as he has never been seen before.

Cinema-Rescat Award, Festival Internacional de Cinema de Reus, 2021.
On 23 November 2021, the TV3 programme ‘Sense Ficció‘ broadcast the documentary, with an opening night viewership of 194,000 people.