Uruguayan Singer Jorge Drexler Reflects on Family, Loss and New Album ‘Taracá’
Madrid, Spain – Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler appeared on the Spanish television program La Revuelta on Tuesday, discussing his new album Taracá, his family history, and the emotional shift of becoming a father while simultaneously experiencing loss.
Drexler presented Taracá, his thirteenth studio album, to host David Broncano, gifting him a vinyl copy. The album’s creation was deeply intertwined with personal grief, as it is dedicated to his father, Günther Drexler, who passed away two years ago. This loss prompted Drexler to return to recording in Uruguay, a location also significant to his earlier work.
The conversation took a turn towards Drexler’s family’s unexpected connection to Bolivia. His father, a Jewish-German native who fled Berlin in 1939, found refuge in Bolivia, a nation then considered one of the poorest in Latin America but remarkably open to receiving European refugees. Drexler highlighted Bolivia’s generosity, stating it offered a visa when few other countries would, and expressed his gratitude through his song “Bolivia.”
“My father lived in Bolivia for nine years,” Drexler explained. “It was the only country that gave them a visa. I have a song called Bolivia that speaks of my gratitude to them.”
Drexler’s reflections extended to the complex emotional transition of becoming a parent while simultaneously losing a parent. He described the peculiar feeling of shifting roles within the family dynamic. “Strange things happen in your actions,” he said, explaining his decision to record in Uruguay. “When you lose your father, you stop feeling like a son, but you still are one in some way. But you have no one to say son to, and no one to say dad to.”
He noted this wasn’t the first time a major life change coincided with a return to Uruguay for recording. “It’s curious, because when I went from being only a son, the first album I made in that family situation, I also went to record in Uruguay, just to be sure.”
The discussion also touched on a historical conflict, with Broncano framing the 1879-1884 war between Bolivia and Chile as a “poetically hard” event, noting Bolivia’s loss of its coastline. While Drexler didn’t offer an opinion on the conflict itself, he emphasized his Bolivian roots and the importance of remembering such historical events.
Instagram post about the show featuring Drexler
