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El canto del zaigu
Cuando en el pueblo leonés de Valderas muere el anciano maestro y llega su joven sustituta, se desencadenan una serie de sucesos y de fenómenos que, al parecer, nadie tiene mucho interés en investigar… Crímenes, hechos inexplicables, un detective alcohólico, el descendiente de un indiano que trajo el primer zaigú a Valderas y un sacristán llamado Jesucristo se dan cita en una historia de intriga y humor presidida por el estremecedor canto de un extraño pájaro que para unos es una realidad y para otros no es más que un mito…
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About the author
Luis Leante
27 books24 followersLeante graduated in Classical Philology from the University of Murcia. He has lived in Alicante since 1992, where he worked as a high school teacher until 2009.[2] He published his first novel at age 20, but it was not until 2007, after winning the Alfaguara Prize with his novel See How Much I Love You (in Spanish, Mira si yo te querré), that he began to devote himself entirely to literature. His latest novel, Red Moon (in Spanish, La luna roja), published in Spain in 2009, is a gripping story between a writer and translator, between Alicante, Berlin and Istanbul.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 27, 2016
Mi entrevista con Luis Leante
- ¿Was it difficult to write from such different types personalities as first person? ¿ and did it affect the story in any big ways to have been structured like this?
Well in this book, I wrote from many different perspectives as a way for the reader to find out only the facts I wanted them to know at the time I wanted them to know. By doing it this way I made it so that it was narrated only by what the characters knew or went through so the reader would piece together what was happening or what they thought was happening from what they had figured out from these clues (observant narrator). I did have a third person narrator a few times, at the very beginning of a chapter, in chapter seven and partially in the final chapter. I added a lot of seemingly unimportant back stories that later tied into what was going on with other characters or even later on in the story.
It was difficult at times getting all the different perspectives written in such a different way as to stand apart from the others, I didn't want hopeful and hardworking Ines to sound like her mother, a women who had been in an abusive and unfaithful first marriage with Margarito along with him having killed her first child. It was difficult at time figuring out what clues could be written in connection to what person the story was currently focused on as the first person.
There were main characters that I expanded on more, the maestra being one of them, she was called in after the previous teacher, Don Justo died and I never actually mention her real name which I think adds to the mystery of her as a protagonist. One of the 'secondary characters' Jesucristo falls into lust with her immediately and begins sending her love letters though we don't find out for sure that it's him until chapter 10 which I did in Evelio's point of view so I could add in the conformation of the letters and of him seeing Honorio, the periodista holding hands. I don't let everything fall into place until the end where la maestra confronts Jesucristo about the still contuing love letters and then tells him everything, how she had been in love with Zacarias, his father and that they had been lovers using the church as a meeting place to be together. That they had found trifón and that she thought the affects of his death had been a part of the reason for his heart attack in the church the day she left for her vacations. While I didn't show any scenes where they were together romantically, I did do quite a few scenes where they were bonding and how there opinion of each other were changing, a good example of this being how he thought she was having an affair with his son and in his own way confronting her about it (P:74 - "Se quedò con los ojos abiertos, mirando al sacristan sin atinar a decir nada."). There were other sciences with the two together, my favorite being when they were going through the papers of Don Justo that were still in the house (P:76 - "Es soprendente como se puede conocer a una persona por las cosas que tiene en su casa") and how they spoke more on the Zaigü, it's history and Don justo's obsession with it.
Another one of my plot elements was how Ines ran off with Honorio despite technically still being with Jesucristo. This allowed me to show the different reactions her parents would have to the news, socorrico was upset and cried while her father Canuto did as his father did and fell asleep and never woke up (P181 - Y canuto se quedó acostado para siempre.).
- ¿Can you tell us in detail about the zaigü?
The zaigü is something I added very early on in the story, in chapter one in fact even if only at the end (P: 22 - Inez lo leyò: "Zaigü"). It is one of the more important elements in my story even if it is proved to be a farce later on done by the 'Secondary character' tonto cagancho in the twelfth chapter. I make a lot of mentions about this bird throughout the entire book and I doubt there is a chapter where I didn't mention it. The zaigü as explained on pages 78 and 79 is a bird which Don justo had been obsessed over until his death. He had many many drawings of this fantasy bird and his last one is of one. I made the zaigü have a good historical legend in the town of Valderas by giving the town itself an interesting backstory. In the story an Indian renamed as malgesto who bought a position as a duque brought many different animals and plants from his home but they all died except for two beautiful zaigü birds who had escaped. The males song would foreshadow death while the female one would bring a joyful event. There never is any proof of a real zaigü in the story, discounting the unheard one at the very end, but people have superstitions and beliefs that don't take much to actually believe to be true. It is not until inspector Fidel catches the tonto cagancho causing the noise in the iglesia that anyone stops believing and it is down in a very angry and even violent manner. An example of this being how I made him the victim of Don ciriaco, a man who would not seem to be able to hurt a fly with his pace in the church listening to confessions. I did use some irony in my moments of humor to lighten it slightly. The people of the town use the canto del zaigü and the events that happened after to get themselves attention with the periodistas so as to heighten their economic standpoint. Lino malgestos death was a good point to that as the reporters show up in the next chapter after win expand on her back story. It isn't a story that takes place in belong tome, not even a year with it starting in invierno and ending in October but the one theme that never changes is the sound of the canto del zaigü. After being proved a lie the town becomes abandoned with very few staying.
Other question I thought of asking:
- was it difficult to write in the point of view of a girl? Ines, la maestra, socorrico, ect.
- you have a lot of outdated themes or elements in your books. Is there a reason why?
- what made you decide to use the song of the zaigu, a so-called exotic bird brought by an Indians?
- why do you add a mystical element to a realistic story?
- did you get a lot of inspiration from growing up in caravaca?
- why did you use all real places except for the main location?
Other things of the story:
People:
Ines ( girlfriend of jesucristo, wanted to be a teacher, studied a lot at night when she had the time, daughter of canuto and socorrico, friend of Celerina and la maestra, student of the dead don justo and ran off with Honorio)
Jesucristo ( boyfriend of Ines, son of zacarias, studying to be and eventually is sacristan, in love with la maestra and even sends love letters to her. Likes music)
Maestra ( never find out her real name, is the replacement of Don justo and moves into his old house, smokes, has a secret relationship with zacarias, sleeps with jesucristo at the very end)
Don Justo (dead teacher, dies in the first chapter, obsessed with the legend of the zaigü birds, ines teacher and first love)
Zacarias ( father of Jesucriato, friend of Don justo, had a secret relationship with la maestra, died of a heart attack in the tower of the iglesia)
lino malgesto ( granddaughter of the duque, a very spoiled child, ten years older than socorrico, fell into poverty, was best friends with margarito, died in chapter 7 and we never read from her point of view)
honorio ( dragged into town by Paulina pimenton after a car accident, journalist, runs off with ines)
margarito( first husband of socorrico, abusive and unfaithful, killed their first child)
Celerina ( friend of ines and la maestra, girlfriend of evelio)
socorrico ( mother of ines, wife of canuto, manages and owns a shop, abusive past)
Evelio ( friend of jesucristo, boyfriend of Celerina, helps with the love letters, sees ines and honorio holding hands)
Canuto ( father of ines, ten years younger than socorrico, father went to sleep and never woke up and he did the same after ines ran away)
Inspector Fidel ( kind of a jerk, goes to a brothel every night)
Don ciriaco,
Hernisa,
La cura,
tonto cagancho
My questions (things that confused me)
- Why did the maestra sleep with Jesucristo at the very end when she had apparently been in love with his father?
- What was the deal with Trifons death?
- What happened to ines? I liked her at the beginning, she was willing to work hard for what she wanted.
- Why did we need to know so much about Lino Malgestos past?
- Was the Zaigü real or not? The song at the very end confused me or is that what it was supposed to do?
- ¿Was it difficult to write from such different types personalities as first person? ¿ and did it affect the story in any big ways to have been structured like this?
Well in this book, I wrote from many different perspectives as a way for the reader to find out only the facts I wanted them to know at the time I wanted them to know. By doing it this way I made it so that it was narrated only by what the characters knew or went through so the reader would piece together what was happening or what they thought was happening from what they had figured out from these clues (observant narrator). I did have a third person narrator a few times, at the very beginning of a chapter, in chapter seven and partially in the final chapter. I added a lot of seemingly unimportant back stories that later tied into what was going on with other characters or even later on in the story.
It was difficult at times getting all the different perspectives written in such a different way as to stand apart from the others, I didn't want hopeful and hardworking Ines to sound like her mother, a women who had been in an abusive and unfaithful first marriage with Margarito along with him having killed her first child. It was difficult at time figuring out what clues could be written in connection to what person the story was currently focused on as the first person.
There were main characters that I expanded on more, the maestra being one of them, she was called in after the previous teacher, Don Justo died and I never actually mention her real name which I think adds to the mystery of her as a protagonist. One of the 'secondary characters' Jesucristo falls into lust with her immediately and begins sending her love letters though we don't find out for sure that it's him until chapter 10 which I did in Evelio's point of view so I could add in the conformation of the letters and of him seeing Honorio, the periodista holding hands. I don't let everything fall into place until the end where la maestra confronts Jesucristo about the still contuing love letters and then tells him everything, how she had been in love with Zacarias, his father and that they had been lovers using the church as a meeting place to be together. That they had found trifón and that she thought the affects of his death had been a part of the reason for his heart attack in the church the day she left for her vacations. While I didn't show any scenes where they were together romantically, I did do quite a few scenes where they were bonding and how there opinion of each other were changing, a good example of this being how he thought she was having an affair with his son and in his own way confronting her about it (P:74 - "Se quedò con los ojos abiertos, mirando al sacristan sin atinar a decir nada."). There were other sciences with the two together, my favorite being when they were going through the papers of Don Justo that were still in the house (P:76 - "Es soprendente como se puede conocer a una persona por las cosas que tiene en su casa") and how they spoke more on the Zaigü, it's history and Don justo's obsession with it.
Another one of my plot elements was how Ines ran off with Honorio despite technically still being with Jesucristo. This allowed me to show the different reactions her parents would have to the news, socorrico was upset and cried while her father Canuto did as his father did and fell asleep and never woke up (P181 - Y canuto se quedó acostado para siempre.).
- ¿Can you tell us in detail about the zaigü?
The zaigü is something I added very early on in the story, in chapter one in fact even if only at the end (P: 22 - Inez lo leyò: "Zaigü"). It is one of the more important elements in my story even if it is proved to be a farce later on done by the 'Secondary character' tonto cagancho in the twelfth chapter. I make a lot of mentions about this bird throughout the entire book and I doubt there is a chapter where I didn't mention it. The zaigü as explained on pages 78 and 79 is a bird which Don justo had been obsessed over until his death. He had many many drawings of this fantasy bird and his last one is of one. I made the zaigü have a good historical legend in the town of Valderas by giving the town itself an interesting backstory. In the story an Indian renamed as malgesto who bought a position as a duque brought many different animals and plants from his home but they all died except for two beautiful zaigü birds who had escaped. The males song would foreshadow death while the female one would bring a joyful event. There never is any proof of a real zaigü in the story, discounting the unheard one at the very end, but people have superstitions and beliefs that don't take much to actually believe to be true. It is not until inspector Fidel catches the tonto cagancho causing the noise in the iglesia that anyone stops believing and it is down in a very angry and even violent manner. An example of this being how I made him the victim of Don ciriaco, a man who would not seem to be able to hurt a fly with his pace in the church listening to confessions. I did use some irony in my moments of humor to lighten it slightly. The people of the town use the canto del zaigü and the events that happened after to get themselves attention with the periodistas so as to heighten their economic standpoint. Lino malgestos death was a good point to that as the reporters show up in the next chapter after win expand on her back story. It isn't a story that takes place in belong tome, not even a year with it starting in invierno and ending in October but the one theme that never changes is the sound of the canto del zaigü. After being proved a lie the town becomes abandoned with very few staying.
Other question I thought of asking:
- was it difficult to write in the point of view of a girl? Ines, la maestra, socorrico, ect.
- you have a lot of outdated themes or elements in your books. Is there a reason why?
- what made you decide to use the song of the zaigu, a so-called exotic bird brought by an Indians?
- why do you add a mystical element to a realistic story?
- did you get a lot of inspiration from growing up in caravaca?
- why did you use all real places except for the main location?
Other things of the story:
People:
Ines ( girlfriend of jesucristo, wanted to be a teacher, studied a lot at night when she had the time, daughter of canuto and socorrico, friend of Celerina and la maestra, student of the dead don justo and ran off with Honorio)
Jesucristo ( boyfriend of Ines, son of zacarias, studying to be and eventually is sacristan, in love with la maestra and even sends love letters to her. Likes music)
Maestra ( never find out her real name, is the replacement of Don justo and moves into his old house, smokes, has a secret relationship with zacarias, sleeps with jesucristo at the very end)
Don Justo (dead teacher, dies in the first chapter, obsessed with the legend of the zaigü birds, ines teacher and first love)
Zacarias ( father of Jesucriato, friend of Don justo, had a secret relationship with la maestra, died of a heart attack in the tower of the iglesia)
lino malgesto ( granddaughter of the duque, a very spoiled child, ten years older than socorrico, fell into poverty, was best friends with margarito, died in chapter 7 and we never read from her point of view)
honorio ( dragged into town by Paulina pimenton after a car accident, journalist, runs off with ines)
margarito( first husband of socorrico, abusive and unfaithful, killed their first child)
Celerina ( friend of ines and la maestra, girlfriend of evelio)
socorrico ( mother of ines, wife of canuto, manages and owns a shop, abusive past)
Evelio ( friend of jesucristo, boyfriend of Celerina, helps with the love letters, sees ines and honorio holding hands)
Canuto ( father of ines, ten years younger than socorrico, father went to sleep and never woke up and he did the same after ines ran away)
Inspector Fidel ( kind of a jerk, goes to a brothel every night)
Don ciriaco,
Hernisa,
La cura,
tonto cagancho
My questions (things that confused me)
- Why did the maestra sleep with Jesucristo at the very end when she had apparently been in love with his father?
- What was the deal with Trifons death?
- What happened to ines? I liked her at the beginning, she was willing to work hard for what she wanted.
- Why did we need to know so much about Lino Malgestos past?
- Was the Zaigü real or not? The song at the very end confused me or is that what it was supposed to do?
July 26, 2025
-Uno se acostumbra a todo, incluso a vivir-
Un cuento fresco que se siente como comer un helado de limón sentada al sol. Perfecto para leer en verano y reírse de las tradiciones más arraigadas y de todo lo que se da siempre por sentado.
Un libro para leer sin reparos ni complejos, repleto de esquivos pájaros, personajes entrañables, detalles, colores y surrealismo, mucho surrealismo.
En resumen, carcajadas, momentos incómodos, tristes, absurdos, emocionantes...una patada a la monotonía.
Un cuento fresco que se siente como comer un helado de limón sentada al sol. Perfecto para leer en verano y reírse de las tradiciones más arraigadas y de todo lo que se da siempre por sentado.
Un libro para leer sin reparos ni complejos, repleto de esquivos pájaros, personajes entrañables, detalles, colores y surrealismo, mucho surrealismo.
En resumen, carcajadas, momentos incómodos, tristes, absurdos, emocionantes...una patada a la monotonía.
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