‘I didn’t dance until I was 45’: how Jorge Drexler went from repressed doctor to rump-shaking Oscar-winner

How did a Uruguayan medic who grew up under an anti-music dictatorship win a best song Academy award? As he looks set to scoop up more prizes at the Latin Grammys, we meet the extraordinary Jorge Drexler

It makes sense that a Uruguayan doctor turned singer would write a song that begins: “Long live science! Long live poetry!” Guitar y Vos (Guitar and You) is also the first track that Jorge Drexler performs this afternoon at a music industry event in the basement of Madrid’s Movistar arena. The second is El Otro Lado del Rio (The Other Side of the River), which he composed for the Che Guevara road movie The Motorcycle Diaries.