Jorge Drexler’s path from medicine to music began in a Montevideo household suppressed by a civic-military dictatorship that viewed artists and intellectuals with hostility. Now 62, the grey-bearded, stylishly dressed artist recalls a childhood devoid of dance, noting that he did not truly express himself through movement until he was 45. Before his rise to prominence, Drexler lived a double life, balancing his clinical duties as an ear, nose, and throat specialist with his secret passion for composition. He often hid his guitar under his white lab coat while at the hospital, and concealed his coat in his instrument case while performing in local bars. Guitar y Vos (Guitar and You) is also the first track that Jorge Drexler performs this afternoon at a music industry event in the basement of Madrid’s Movistar arena. Solo under a spotlight on the stairs, before joining his band on stage, that’s how he sings it today too. “I grew up in a society that didn’t dance,” Drexler tells me later, across town in the timber-beamed apartment that serves as his studio. Now 62, handsomely grey-bearded and youthfully dressed in very loose jeans with very big cuffs, he has lived more than half his life in Madrid. As an ear, nose and throat specialist, did he find himself especially sensitive to the acoustic effects of striking certain chords? “Well, I know my frequencies,” he says. “At a show I’ll tell the engineer, ‘Bring it dow. He spent his formative years under a civic-military dictatorship that was actively hostile to musicians, artists and liberal-intellectual families like his own, born and raised in Montevideo. “Dictatorships end, but their effects don’t leave your body so easily. As an ear, nose and throat specialist, did he find himself especially sensitive to the acoustic effects of striking certain chords? “Well, I know my frequencies,” he says. “At a show I’ll tell the engineer, ‘Bring it down 250 hertz. Both of those won Latin Grammys too.
His transition to music was not immediate, and his early albums in Spain struggled commercially.
He eventually found his voice by blending his scientific background with poetry, grounding his lyrics in cosmic and biological realities. His breakthrough arrived with the track “Todo Se Transforma,” which drew inspiration from Antoine Lavoisier’s Law of the Conservation of Mass. This shift in perspective led to significant success, including a best original song Oscar in 2005 for “El Otro Lado del Rio,” written for the film *The Motorcycle Diaries*. Because he was largely unknown at the time, he was not invited to perform at the ceremony, prompting him to deliver a defiant, short a cappella version of the song instead of a traditional speech. Which he composed for the Che Guevara road movie The Motorcycle Diaries, the second is El Otro Lado del Rio (The Other Side of the River). He delivered a short a cappella version in lieu of an acceptance speech, in a classy act of defiance. Pop and candombe, he found that niche a bad fit, and sales-wise his early albums were “complete failures”, coming from a background of Uruguayan rock. Something felt off until he tried to reconcile his romantic or poetic impulses with his scientific interests.
Drexler’s professional philosophy is heavily informed by his scientific training. He remains meticulous about sound, frequently instructing engineers on specific frequency adjustments during his shows. He views language as a complex tool, noting that while Spanish lacks the concise, monosyllabic “brick-like” vocabulary of English, it offers a different rhythmic capacity. He has even assisted Shakira, whom he describes as a genius, with her translations. A scholar of the arts, he often integrates references to Homer and Spinoza into his discussions on songwriting, famously remarking that *The Odyssey* was fundamentally a long song rather than a book. The singer duly shakes his ass and moves us to do the same, while his lyrics list Spanish kings and colonial governments who have banned various forms of dancing over the centuries. Where he soon met his first wife, and stayed to make his way as a singer-songwriter, or cantautor – a venerable tradition in S, he was already in his 30s when Spanish musician Joaquín Sabina invited him to play in Madrid. It took decades to shake them out of my joints by making a record called Bailar en la Cueva [Dancing in the Cave]. According to spanish is tricky to write songs in, he admits, having helped Colombian megastar Shakira (“A genius”) to translate some of hers. “You guys have all these amazing monosyllabic words like bricks to build with,” he, Of. With songs about the prehistory of human migration (Movimiento), or the origins of love on a cellular level (El Plan Maestro), he’s had many hits since. This may be the most important time in history for Spanish-language music, with stars such as Bad Bunny smashing down the gateway to the wider world by way of the US, in Drexler’s view.
His latest album, *Taracá*, represents a return to the Afro-Uruguayan candombe style, influenced by his father’s journey as a child escaping Nazi Germany. The record features a diverse ensemble, including 74-year-old guitarist Julio Cobelli and rapper Young Miko. The album, which has earned eight Latin Grammy nominations for the November 12 awards ceremony, features the track “Ante la Duda, Baila” (When in Doubt, Dance), a song that directly addresses the history of state-sanctioned bans on dance. I t makes sense that a Uruguayan doctor turned singer would write a song that begins: “Long live science. Backed by three drummers playing in the Afro-Uruguayan candombe style, Drexler turns a corporate lunchtime gig into a midnight block party.
Regarding his accolades, Drexler remains cautious. He stores his trophies in a closed cabinet, rarely opening them, and views the concept of success through the lens of its etymological origin. Citing the Latin word *exitus*, he notes that in medicine, it is a code for death, or the end of a process. He insists that he is not yet ready for his own “exitus” and remains deeply committed to the creative process. Reflecting on the broader cultural landscape, he believes we are in a pivotal era for Spanish-language music, noting that despite political resistance in the United States, the growing bilingual reality of the country is a force that cannot be stopped.
