The international singer and composer Rosana Arbelo Gopar (Arrecife, 1963) is now Favorite Daughter of Arrecife, the first woman to receive this recognition in the history of the city, municipal sources emphasize, since until now it had not been given to any other in the city. The mayor of Arrecife, Astrid Pérez, promoter of the initiative, which was unanimously ratified by the plenary session of the capital Corporation on September 2, presented her tonight with the medal and the parchment that certifies this award in an emotional ceremony held on the Islote de Fermina. There, facing the sea where her father used to fish, as the singer recalled today, Rosana received the title of the city where she was born 58 years ago in a humble family of eight siblings, of whom she is the youngest.
The singer, who was moved by the recognition, gave "a million thanks from the bottom of my heart, like the sea, for this gift" and for giving it to her "in life because that way I can enjoy it and celebrate it in the best way, which is by thanking and sharing it with all of you and with everyone on the island and around the world."
Rosana knew what she wanted to dream in life and believed it "so much that it ended up becoming a reality. Between believing and creating there is only a change of letter", she stated. She recalled that at the age of three she "played the melody of the Blue Danube with one finger and my family decided to give me a guitar." When she decided to leave Lanzarote and go to study in Madrid, she asked her siblings for help, who provided it. "I want to thank all of them for saying yes. None of them were surprised that while the rest of my high school classmates said they were going to study Medicine, Journalism... I was going to study music. No one told me 'you're crazy', but 'do it well'. I arrived in Madrid full of dreams and to give shape to everything that began in an intuitive way," she recalled minutes before performing before the public.
In the capital of Spain she began to compose Lunas Rotas, a work with which she debuted in 1996 in the world of music and with which she started the career of one of the most international and awarded Spanish artists. She managed to be a diamond record in less than a year with Lunas Rotas. "In Spain, barely an hour and twenty minutes had passed and it had already been a sales record to the point that the record factories opened at night to register that record and continue making copies. After 15 days, more than 35 countries around the world, suddenly, for something that I didn't understand very well, the same thing was happening. In China, Germany, Italy... it worked." She wondered "what is in that record. I know it. There is a lot of this land that teaches you that the best thing you can do is walk barefoot, go with an unbuttoned heart. Go straight ahead but with honesty, without stepping on anyone and with talent, effort and perseverance so that no matter what happens, no matter what they do to you, you remain honest," she said to applause, while taking off her shoes.
Every day she remembers where she comes from because "if I don't know it, I don't know where I'm going to go", said the singer, who acknowledged that "I am super proud to be from here. Of every eight heartbeats, one is from Arrecife." Read the full story in La Provincia
