SUNRISE, Fla. – Juanes stands with his back to the small group of sound technicians, crewmen and onlookers, his ears covered with headphones, his face centered on musicians who bring to life the songs that are so familiar to anyone who has turned on a Spanish-language radio station in the last few years.
On the eve of launching round two of his hugely successful “Mi Sangre” world tour, the 33-year-old Colombian rocker is rehearsing in a nondescript room within a cavernous suburban Miami arena. There is no entourage, and no pretense.
Juanes performs Tuesday in Seattle.
For Juanes – winner of 12 Latin Grammys, named by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people and to People’s list of the 50 sexiest men alive – none of that matters.
“For me, the most important thing is art, the songs, my music,” Juanes said at the end of the session Jan. 27. “I don’t see myself as a sex symbol or Latin lover, or all those kinds of things. For me, the most important thing is just to be focused on my music.”
Juanes, a shortening of his full name Juan Esteban Aristizabal, is often compared to fellow one-named rockers Bono and Sting, with whom he shares a passion for social activism. His story-form lyrics and everyman presence draw comparisons to Bruce Springsteen. But in the five years since Juanes made his solo debut, he has become something entirely new – the first truly international rock star to emerge from Latin America.
“Mi Sangre,” or “My Blood,” has worldwide sales of more than 2.3 million, including nearly 1 million in the United States. The album has been in the top 10 of Billboard’s Top Latin Albums since it was released in September 2004. Its anthem of the broken-hearted, “La Camisa Negra” or “The Black Shirt,” has topped charts in non-Spanish-speaking nations such as Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.
Perhaps what Juanes likes most about that song, with its infectious rhythm taken from the guasca folk style of Colombia’s northern mountains, is that it’s the favorite of his 2-year-old daughter, Luna, whose name means moon. (He and his Colombian-born wife, Karen, also have a 7-month-old daughter named Paloma, the Spanish word for dove.)
As with all of his songs, Juanes says the melody for “La Camisa Negra” came first. Sometimes he wakes with a melody in his head, records it before it slips away, and then works to build the song around it. The lyrics often come last, usually driven by the melody.
| 8 p.m. Tuesday, Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., Seattle; $59.50 to $69.50, 206-292-ARTS, www.theparamount.com. |
“The songs just come from my heart and my soul,” he said.
Juanes grew up in Medellin, where his father and brothers taught him guitar in traditional Latin styles. As a teen, he discovered heavy metal, specifically Metallica, and helped form a rock band, Ekhymosis, meaning bruise, which recorded seven albums and found national success. In 1999, he set off for Los Angeles with his guitar and a demo tape and, in a short time, was signed by renowned Latin alternative producer Gustavo Santaolalla.
His songs have a pop sensibility and his hooks are memorable. He usually writes about love, even when he is condemning the rebel violence and drug-trade bloodshed plaguing his homeland.
“For me, the most important mission that we have, all (of us), is just to learn about love,” he said. “That is the reason why we all the time are fighting, and we are killing each other, because we don’t understand. … We don’t learn how important is love.”
Associated Press
Juanes performs Tuesday in Seattle.
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