Rodriguez’s fairy tale
Jesús Sixto Paz Rodríguez, better known simply as Rodríguez, was an American musician of Mexican origin who was embraced by bad fortune and who, over the years and thanks to his talent, became an icon of distant lands. Born in Detroit in 1940, the folkrock guitarist and singer had the opportunity to produce two albums – Cold
Fact (1970) and Coming from Reality (1971). None of the productions were successful. In fact, his first album sold just six copies. After this apparently resounding disaster, Rodríguez, orphaned since he was three years old, was fired by Sussex Records, which closed its doors in 1975. The singer decided to retire due to the failure and dedicated himself for many years to construction and to his family, made up of his wife Konny, and daughters.
After giving up his career, Sixto – whose name is due to the fact that he is the sixth child in the family of six – bought a residence at a government auction for $50, where he lived until 2013. He tried unsuccessfully to enter politics by running for office – the Detroit City Council, the Detroit Mayor’s Office, and the Michigan House of Representatives.
However, time and destiny had a big surprise in store for him. A copy of his first album was taken by an American to South Africa, where enthusiasts against racism and segregation apartheid policies adopted some of the songs as anthems of their struggle, since the theme of the songs addresses problems of the society of that time and that, unfortunately, remain unresolved such as discrimination, lack of opportunities for the poor, drug addiction, drug trafficking, crime, politics, pollution, firearms, violence against women, alienation, marginalization, and many more. Emblematic of their music is the song called “Anti Establishment Blues,” whose lyrics say, “Garbage ain’t collected, women ain’t protected/Politicians using, people they’re abusing/The mafia’s getting bigger, like pollution in the river/And you tell me that this is where it’s at.”
The album was copied by thousands of South Africans and many bands even paid tribute to the songs of the composer and artist of Mexican origin.
Believing that the artist’s few productions were due to the alleged death of Rodríguez, some of his followers launched a campaign in the south of the dark continent to search and learn more about his idol. With the arrival of the internet the search became easier. Rodríguez’s followers located one of the then-construction worker’s daughters and took him to South Africa. However, because the singer had left the artistic activity, promoters had to buy him a guitar to be able to perform the concerts. South African artists and admirers of Rodríguez took the stage with his idol to accompany them in the presentations.
Africa was not the only land where Sixto is famous. An Australian company acquired the rights to the music and marketed it on the island and its surroundings, making the singer-songwriter a recognized artist in New Zealand as well.
His renewed fame led Rodríguez to abandon his life as he had lived it until then to rise from the ashes and return to the stage through the front door. His story was shown in the documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” by Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, which won the 2013 Oscar, among many other awards. The singer took his music to different places around the world, the United States and Canada.
Rodríguez’s songs have been compared to those of Nobel Prize winner
Bob Dylan, and he is even more famous in South Africa than Elvis Presley himself.
The singer-songwriter left this world on August 8, 2023, after suffering a stroke at the beginning of the year. In his final concerts, Rodríguez was accompanied by his relatives – who due to the artist’s blindness had to take him to where the microphone was to perform his songs before the public.
I hope that one day in the near future someone will truly honor this artist whose legacy leaves us an excellent message of struggle and tenacity. Long live Rodríguez.