The wrong answer: why can't musicians admit to being conservatives?

Have you heard? A tempest is going on in the usually placid teacup of Spanish pop. In Marie Claire, they interview singer-songwriter Lourdes Hernández, alias Russian Red. Asked about her politics, left or right, she answers: "If I have to choose, the right." The wrong answer, it seems. As I check out the internet I am shaken by the ferocity of the reactions, almost invariably negative: "fascist," "turncoat," "harpy," and lots more - including ingenious variations on her stage name, such as German Gray.

In view of this, we should underline the obvious. If she has to choose (as she puts it, an important proviso suggestive of indifference) Lourdes can define herself as she wishes. This doesn't necessarily mean that she wants to cut back the newly won civil rights of homosexuals, or thinks the invasion of Iraq was a good idea, or wants to bomb the Axis of Evil. Just as one can be of the left, and feel embarrassed at some of the aberrant doings of the Zapatero government. There are many ideological nuances, which cannot easily be treated in the context of an interview.

This doesn't necessarily mean that she wants to cut back the rights of homosexuals, or thinks the invasion of Iraq was a good idea

One thought that comes to mind at this point is that such a question would hardly be asked in the music media, which start from the assumption that politics is a bore anyway. Regarding her second album, what the journalists were interested in was her stay in Glasgow to record with musicians from the band Belle and Sebastian. This should not be read as professional criticism: that is exactly what I, too, would be interested in. It's automatic. Interviews, and the space reserved for them, are designed to skim the surface of things, and no deeper. Besides, on this terrain the prevailing tone is one of hobnobbing with the artist, nickel-and dime feminism, closing ranks and all that.

Until her slip, Lourdes Hernández was cool. In 2009 she apologized for leaving the Córdoba firm that put out her first album, to go to Sony Music Entertainment, though she kept up appearances by releasing her songs with the label Octubre (another Bolshevik reference? Wheels within wheels). But these business matters are of little interest to the music media, which prefer to respect the convention that artists are angels without bank accounts.

On the contrary, the music media profession shouted for joy that a vocalist of her nature had risen so high on the Promusicae charts (nobody asked what pathetic financial figures lay behind those high ratings). Besides, Lourdes was faithful to the orthopedic style of English grammar that passes for a hallmark of a true Spanish indie musician. In her new CD, Fuerteventura, even the thanks to her family are in English.

In a way, Lourdes is consistent with her leanings as revealed in Marie Claire. To me, this is easier to put up with than the pretensions of so many musicians, indie or mainstream, who preach a revolutionary line but practice musical conservatism. Forget their lifestyle; it's their art that is reactionary. Because they follow fads, imitate models and cling to the insubstantial. Am I suggesting that the thought that goes into their productions is a bit weak, a bit deficient? No, just dumb. Lastly, I like quixotic gestures, be it coming out for the Popular Party in a supposedly leftist profession, or commitment to a splinter party. I remember the wonderful explanation of the Brazilian soul man Tim Maia when he declared his support for the then-minuscule Brazilian Socialist Party: "Brazil is the only country in world where whores come, pimps get jealous, pushers get addicted, and poor people vote for the right." And here, poor people and, possibly, certain indie singer-songwriters.