How was Antoni Vidal Ferrando, according to his daughter: "If Barça plays, for him everything takes a back seat"

PalmaIt is known that he was friends with the writers Blai Bonet, Bernat Vidal i Tomàs and Jaume Pomar; also with the couple Maria Antònia Oliver and Jaume Fuster – the latter, incidentally, taught him his first notions of computing. He was born in 1945 in Santanyí, a land of writers. And the protagonist of these lines is no exception: Antoni Vidal Ferrando, poet, narrator, and historian. His story is told by the writer's eldest daughter, Antònia. He has another son, Andreu.

His mother was an embroiderer and his father, a sailor. He was an only child and, since his father spent long periods at sea, he grew up surrounded by women: his mother, his aunts, and the rest of the family. Perhaps it is the fact of having grown up with so many women, says the daughter, that has "given him a very special sensitivity, also very marked by the emotions that were lived at home". And she says that the poet, even now, especially remembers "the longing that the grandmother felt when the sailor grandfather was away".

Of the first memories Antònia has of her father, and the most vivid, was when he told her stories with a little doll: Esclaramunda. When she was older, her image of him is different: that of a man who “always studied or read, shut away in his study”. His appearance too: with a mustache, plastic-rimmed glasses, and a quiff – although, when Antònia was born, “he was already starting to go bald!”. Vidal Ferrando was a teacher: “He studied teaching and, when I had already been born – in 1973 – he still took History courses. He has always had an enormous passion for learning”. The poet felt, according to his daughter, “a genuine vocation for his work as a teacher”. In fact, both children were his students. “As a teacher, he was very much like he has always been as a father: a righteous person, with very clear principles, with moral sense, empathy, and affection. He was not at all authoritarian, but he was demanding”.

Beyond learning and teaching, and obviously the craft of writing, Antoni Vidal Ferrando has had other hobbies throughout his life, such as fishing, ballroom dancing, football, and radio. “He has always loved fishing. As a family, we spent some summers at Colonia de Sant Jordi and he had a dinghy there. He spent many hours there. The rest of the family all got seasick on the boat. But we had some dinners on the dinghy on moonlit nights and it was very beautiful”.

Another great passion of the poet is ballroom dancing, which he learned from an aunt of his, Marina. “He danced a lot with her when he was little. Even today, if there’s dancing at the social club, he doesn’t miss it”. And he doesn’t miss any Barça match either: “He’s a big football fan. When he was young, he used to go to see Ses Salines and Santanyí play, but if Barça is playing, everything else takes a back seat”, says Antònia.

A very clear memory Antònia has is that the writer always had the radio on at home: “He went everywhere with a transistor radio: he took it to his study, to the bathroom when he showered, and even to bed. In fact, it took us quite a while to get a color television”, she says. Besides the news, he listened to stations that played music, and he says he particularly likes “boleros and salsa, although he also listens to classical music and has an important collection”.

As a striking event, she recalls that on the day of the coup d'état on February 23rd, in 1982, Vidal Ferrando didn’t let go of the transistor radio: “My mother, my siblings, and I were at our grandparents’ house and he called us to come home immediately. He didn’t know exactly what was happening, but he sensed that it was a very serious situation and he was very scared”, recounts the daughter.

Love is the great vital driving force of the writer. He never misses an opportunity to praise Rosa, the woman he fell in love with when he saw her walking in Santanyí, where her father, who was a civil guard, retired. "He has always been a very loving man," says Antònia. However, for some years now, his granddaughters have stolen his heart. "He has enjoyed, and still does, being a grandfather. They are his life".