Judit Martín reveals that Lluís Pasqual passed off her voice as Montserrat Caballé's
The comedian explained that she recorded some recordings that were used as real statements at the tribute to the soprano
BarcelonaComedian Judit Martín, currently in the spotlight for the premiere of the film Pizza movies, visited the podcast La ruina and shared one of the most surreal stories of her career. As she detailed in the conversation with Tomàs Fuentes and Ignasi Taltavull and confirmed to ARA, years ago she received the commission to record a series of phrases imitating the voice of a famous Catalan opera singer whose name she does not reveal, but of whom she does give some clues that make her easily identifiable ("An opera singer with the name of a black virgin," she says). The plot twist is that her recordings would have been used in the tribute to Montserrat Caballé in 2019 without ever stating that the voice heard was Judit Martín's and not the soprano's. That event, held at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, was directed and presented by Lluís Pasqual.
Although she does not pronounce the name in full, Martín recalls that she received the commission from a prestigious theatre director with "the initials: LL, dot, Pasqual". "You should do the voice that this soprano had in '85," the actress says the director told her.
Martín assures that her recording was broadcast at the event and was passed off as a real declaration by Caballé in which she explained that if one day they were to pay her tribute, she wanted Pasqual to be the one to organize it. Theoretically, it was an interview on Ràdio Reus that would have taken place in 1988, just after a recital by the soprano at the Teatre Fortuny. L'ARA has contacted the station and a reporter from that time has confirmed that the recording never existed and that the voice of the interviewer who appeared at the gala was not from anyone at the radio station.
Martín says she saw the tribute via TV3 and that it was then that she discovered they had used her work, even though at no point was it indicated that she was the one speaking and, in fact, her name does not appear in the credits. "The audio that resonated in that venue was me saying: «I am so happy that if one day they pay tribute to me, I want you to do it»", recalls Martín, who assures that her name did not appear even in the production credits. In fact, in the media coverage of the tribute, the moment of the cut from the Ràdio Reus interview was particularly highlighted, and it was experienced with great emotion.
To top it all off, the comedian details that she received no financial compensation for her work and was not even invited to the tribute event. Martín says jokingly that if she hasn't told the story before it's because "there could be legal problems".