From Leiva to Doncic via Loquillo: The relationship between love of basketball and love of music

The presence in Granada during the ACB Basketball Cup of the El Jardín de las Delicias Festival that is sponsored by Endesa will bring together two worlds that have a natural relationship, music and basketball. Proof of this is that there is already a musical dedicated to the inventor of basketball, James Naismith, for his extraordinary contribution. But we do not actually need to go so far.

Current top-flight artists like Leiva (he will perform at El Jardín in Madrid on 23 September) and Dani Martín (unforgettable performance at El Jardín in 2019) are passionate basketball lovers.

For Dani Martín it goes back a long way. This is what he posted on the social networks: "The NBA (National Basketball Association) reminds me of when I was young and read magazines like "Basketball Giants" and I was crazy about players like Jordan, Olajuwon, Wilkins, Webb, Magic, Bird, Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone". The singer is so passionate that he wore his collection of modern and retro NBA T-shirts during his "Greatest Hits and Small Disasters" tour. Dani was also one of the first to react to Pau Gasol's retirement: "Dearest Pau Gasol, what can I say? You have given your all for us, you have taken the name of Spain all over the world. You are, and have always been, a fighter. I wish you all the best, good health and send you my best regards. You're great" Leiva's relationship with basketball is just as close. Very few Spanish artists (with the exception of Los del Rio and Macarena) can boast of having been played over the speakers at an NBA pavilion. Leiva managed it through a really special fan, Luka Doncic. This genius from Slovenia uploaded a story on Instagram in which he appeared singing Lady Madrid on his way to the Mavericks pavilion. Hours later, Leiva's song could be heard in the pavilion while the Dallas and Phoenix players were warming up. This is what they call flying the flag, even if it is by adoption. But Leiva is not the only singer blessed by Doncic. When he played for Real Madrid he used to like uploading songs.

He was once filmed listening to "La Mujer Verde", a song by Mikel Izal, another artist who will perform at El Jardín de las Delicias (24 September). "It was incredible, I thanked him and said: You are going to be MVP in the NBA". The artist from Vitoria was not far wrong.

Izal spoke with Amaya Valdemoro about his love of basketball for Movistar. "I used to play basketball. I was a bit like Rudy Fernández, if you forgive me for saying so. I played shooting guard and sometimes point guard, one of those who sneaks through the defence and makes a layup, a tricky devil. The court changed me, but I was really not so good. I played for Baskonia, at the same time as Ramón Rivas and Pablo Laso. If I could sign up a player for my team, it would be Llull, because he is magic. He does things that you think are impossible. He really enjoys himself. I was quite the reverse. Whenever I played for the Álava regional selection at a higher level, I completely lost it".

It is impossible to talk about the relationship between basketball and Spanish music without mentioning Tachenko, the band from Zaragoza. They started in 2002, and the name appeared when Andrés Perruca and Sergio Vinadé still played with El Niño Gusano.

The last song on their last album was "Soy ruso, señor" (I am Russian). From there to Tachenko was just a short step, but upwards. "We thought it was an unusual name and it reminded us of a gigantic, clumsy player. We also like to think big but we were still a bit slapdash. I remember how we liked it straight away... The audience seemed to like the name, but there was a certain amount of confusion at the beginning, because not everyone new the player... I remember seeing him on the TV when I was very small, but I do not remember him very clearly...". For the younger ones, this is who we are talking about: Vladimir Tkachenko, 2’21m, was a basketball legend in the 80s. He played for CSKA and the Soviet Union (he finished his playing career in Guadalajara in 1990).

Loquillo (1’95m) is another name that comes automatically to mind when talking about the relationship between basketball and music. He was given this nickname by a legendary Spanish basketball player, Juan Antonio San Epifanio, Epi. It was in a Spanish youth championship. José María Sanz Beltrán was then just a boy and he always wore a leather jerkin with a patch with "El Pájaro Loco"... This is how Loquillo remembered in an interview in Marca: "I jumped to take a pass from Epi, but he threw the ball so hard that I ended up crashing into the barriers. He came up to me and said: ‘Now you're not El Pájaro Loco (Woody Woodpecker) you're just a crazy little bird’. And what Epi said stayed forever. Everyone started to call me Loquillo, and what started out as an insult became a brand name".

There is no shortage of basketball players who are real music lovers. The Real Madrid player Sergio Llull is a fan of Los Sidecars, although his list of preferences also includes Leiva and Love of Lesbian, which goes to show he is not only a good player, he has good taste.

In the NBA it is easy to find players who dabbled in music, there are even some that could have had a successful career, like Victor Oladipo who plays for the Miami Heat and is also a good rock singer. Marvin Bagley (Detroit) and Damian Lillard (Portland) are fighting for the title of best rapper in the best league in the world.

Lou Williams (Atlanta), Lonzo Ball (Chicago) and Andre Drummond (Brooklyn) also dedicate their time to music when the season ends.

So here we have a loving relationship with a perfect stage in Granada where these two fields can deepen their relationship and show why they were born to be together: Music Lover and Basketball Lover.