the support of his girlfriend, the love of his audience, the values ​​of his family and the nostalgia for his beginnings, in an exclusive talk

Duki is rewriting the history of Argentine artists abroad. It seems like an exaggeration, but it really is a fact and there is no doubt about it. He is the spearhead and number one in urban music success. of Argentina in many countries around the world.

The milestones that existed before this true record by Mauro “Duki” Lombardo were, for example, the shows of Sandra at Madison Square Garden, Mercedes Sosa at Lincoln Center, Fito Paez at Carnegie Hall and The Fabulous Cadillacs free at El Choppo in Mexico City. That is the Olympus to which it belongs.

His great achievement is having reached the gigantic Bernabéu stadium in Madrid, where sold out 65 thousand tickets They only went on sale in January of this year.

Duki is 27 years old and will surely have other historic achievements later in his career, just as he did by surpassing his four Vélez from 2022 with the two River from 2023. But it is still amazing to fill the Bernabéu, where – for example – he performed last week Taylor Swift, who gave two concerts as part of her successful “The Era’s Tour.”

It is not necessary to assume that Duki arrived at the Bernabéu from one day to the next, but that it is really the fruit of years of coming to Spain and each time filling larger rooms than on the previous visit.

This is how in 2018 he arrived for the first time and played at the Sala But, in front of 1,500 people, when his hit was still fresh. She don’t give a fo, a collaboration with Khea that reached number 7 in the Argentine ranking and was certified Gold Record in Spain. Her career had just started, but she had already toured the freestyle circuit rapping in the legendary plaza The Fifth Stepand had put together the trap group Devil Modewith Ysy-A and Neo Pistea.

The following year he went to the La Riviera theater, for 2,500 fans, when he appeared in the remix of the mega-hit knocking down the club and the release of their first album, with guests such as Khea, C. Tangana, YSY A, Marcianos Crew, Eladio Carrión and more.

After the pandemic, he resumed traveling and in 2021 he filled the Palacio Vistalegre, with 13,500 spectators. At that point he had recorded with Bad Bunny and released the album Since the end of the worldwith hits like Malbec and Pintao.

The final comeback was in 2023 with two shows at the Wizink Center in Madrid and the Palau Sant Jori in Barcelona, ​​adding 60 thousand Spanish fans and singing songs from their brand new third studio album, Before America.

That is really plays at home. He is known by the public and also by the musicians, with whom he made many collaborations, for example Rels B and Quevedo. He was also in large streaming events such as La Velada del Año 3, by Ibai Llanos on Twitch

Therefore, to celebrate his sold out Bernabéu, Duki called a large press conference on Thursday with more than 100 journalists from Argentina, Spain and Mexico. Additionally, just half a block away, the Bernabéu subway station was renamed “Duko” (his nickname) for a few days. A true phenomenonwith brands like Mahou beer launching a line called Modo Diablo, with billboards throughout the city.

After the press conference, Duki chatted with Clarion in one of the highest stands at the Bernabéu, overlooking the playing field, where the immense stage was already set up and work continued on the production of the show.

-In 2021, when you played in Vélez, you said that you had seen a Charly García recital there as a child. What did you see in this stadium, a show or just football on television?

-I did not see anything. Only football games on television. I wanted to come last week to see Taylor Swift with my whole family, from my parents to my grandparents, but my girlfriend (Emilia Mernes) was with her last shows at Movistar Arena and I had to be present. We always try to accompany each other.

-How did you spend the conference? You mentioned that when you arrived at the stadium you were reminded of everything that was to come.

-Yes, I was nervous. They weren’t nerves of tension but more beautiful nerves, of perhaps being more sensitive and vulnerable. The reality is that these days I was here with my family, very calm and relaxed… until today I stepped foot in the stadium and there you began to feel a strong change in energy.

-Did you know that your mother was going to ask you a question?

-I had no idea. I wanted to kill her! Because if she had at least known, she wouldn’t have hit me like that and I would have been prepared. But she caught me off guard.

-It is very good that you allow yourself to get emotional and even cry or break down. Perhaps someone else would have tried to control the situation and get tough.

-I already know myself, I think there is no choice but to get excited. Then came the question where they showed me an old Rolling Stone cover and reminded me of some statements, so I was already somewhat sensitive to everything. And well, two plus two, four.

Regarding his relationship with Spain, Duki said that he had come before the pandemic. “We came in 2018, to the But Room, with a capacity of almost a thousand people,” he said.

And he added: “I just remember that at that moment we were talking to my producer because there were many colleagues who were playing at festivals, with nice shows everywhere, along with a lot of artists, and I told him ‘I want to play at festivals.’ He responded that we had two options: play festivals or not, but if we wanted to cut tickets we had to start little by little.

-Hence the successive visits.

-Yeah. So we started in 2018, then in 2019 La Riviera came out, in 2020 we had the pandemic strike, and in 2021 we returned with the Vistalegre Palace. In 2023 we had the Wizink and the Palau Sant Jordi, so we said it was time to go to the stadium.

The truth is that it is a beautiful relationship with Spain, because as I told you, it started from scratch, with a much closer and more real connection between people. I was walking down the street in an unknown country and I met fans a lot. Madrid has many similarities with Buenos Aires, so you almost feel at home many times.

-What’s coming now are shows in Milan, Berlin and London. Are you going for the first time or have you already been to all the cities?

-I never went to Berlin. I was in Paris and recorded a video clip with Morat, with the band. I was in Milan and London.

-Do you really notice differences in the public from one place to another, or does the Latin fervor transfer with you?

-I feel that currently, with all this social media, the euphoria of the Latin public is very much mimicked. So I think it depends more on how each artist is and their behavior with the public, rather than the nationality where they come from. It is also true that the majority of the public is Latino. It’s not that Parisian people are going to see me. Everyone understands the code and has this very euphoric behavior.

-There is a good definition in a song from your latest album: “I have the love of my people, the courage of my mother, the magic of always, the calm of my father.”

-Many times I think that things come out more because of freestyle and what I am feeling at the moment and what is happening to me in the place where I am. That phrase is actually quite like that, because it is very nice to have my mother and father as an example. My mom is a super warrior, a fighter. And my dad is a wiser guy, calm, relaxed, with a different temper, a peace, a calm.

And with respect to the love of my people, it is the reason why we are really here, because of that connection that I try to make and that affection that my audience has towards me.

– You often say that behind all this success there is a lot of work and responsibility. Your message is that things with many artists of your generation do not happen magically.

-I think that one counts more than anything one’s own experience. And sometimes, as the years go by, you begin to feel nostalgic for the memories of where you come from.

It began to happen to me that I felt a very beautiful distance from the past, when someone said that he had just started rapping, going to battles and he believed that he had nothing, but he had a lot. So it’s a bit of that vision.

-And why do you think that some of your litter didn’t get that far even though they had talent?

-It has to do with what we are talking about about my family, which is also part of my team. It’s not just one’s job, but that of the people around you. I grew up in a house where many principles and values ​​were passed on to me; They taught me many things.

My mother is a lawyer and for as long as I can remember she told me “Never sign anything.” They are tools that life gives you. Next is choosing which allies are going to accompany you and what vision each one has. There is also one’s decision making, because sometimes there are people who make the wrong decisions or many people who don’t even dare to make them. Sometimes those who are most encouraged and make the most decisions are the ones who go the furthest.