Seeing her live is quite a spectacle, because she’s from Cuenca Judith Mateo She is one of those artists who, when they go on stage, becomes a force of nature. But in disco format, he does not remain handicapped, and never better said: an overflowing rock energy flows through his arms and hands that turns everything he touches, whether they are versions of classics or his own compositions, into an experience as original as it is addictive. .
Now premieres ‘ViolinArte’an eighth album made up of eleven songs where Manchegan legends have a place, with songs like ‘La Encantá’, feminism with ‘Techo de Cristal’, the tribute to the beginnings of electronic music with ‘Pop Corn’ or disco music with ‘Fiesta’, accompanied by a cast of important international singers such as the Mexican Cecilia Toussaint, the youthful voices of Chicago’s Children Choir, Patry Aguilar, Carolina Padró or the Aragonese Chuse Joven.
How do you make such an extremely varied record so compact?
It is very well spun, it is true. I wanted to give the approach a twist to take a different step in my career, and I think the sound has been achieved. It’s a very, very thoughtful album in terms of tonalities. It’s a pretty experimental album from my point of view. There are songs with up to five or six violins and the mixing process has been complex.
It also has some elements of what we call ‘concept record’, right?
I have been told that he has that air. At first I didn’t realize it, but little by little I have come to understand that this description can be adjusted to ‘Violinarte’, because of how the record flows, and because of the themes it deals with. I have been in this business for twenty years now and I wanted to tell anecdotes that have happened to me as a female instrumentalist throughout my life. If it is already difficult to be a woman in music, imagine being a female instrumentalist, not a singer.
What has led you to adopt this approach?
Maturity, already being a little up to the balls, having seen everything. I already know where I arrive and where I don’t arrive, I no longer have those dreams of adolescence that they put in my head. I already know what business is about, they’re not going to score a goal with anything anymore, they’re not going to convince me who is the one who sings the best because they’ve gone through Operación Triunfo. I have been to talent-shows and from the first show you know who is going to be the winner. I keep making music because I studied at the conservatory, I believe in my project and I know what I want, not because I believe in any of those Chinese tales that are so often seen in this industry. That is why I have also invited women artists who are not so well known. Collaborations have become very boring, and for me, the interesting thing about them seems to me to be discovering new artists. But no, right now, the vast majority of collaborations that you see are done just because the two artists are from the same company. I’m already sick enough of things that are done meaninglessly, just for financial gain. They have come to ask me: ‘But why don’t you sing instead of playing the violin, with how cute you are?’. You’re left wanting to answer, ‘and why the hell do you think I’ve done a conservatory degree?’.
Does this country lack instrumental culture?
Totally, there is no culture of listening to music that is not sung. I myself have had to include songs sung because otherwise the public gets bored. And I know that there have been many, many women who wanted to be instrumentalists, and they have been forced to sing. I wrote a book called ‘101 Songs You’d Hook Up With Anyone’ (Planet ed.) and it took me blood, sweat and tears to find women who were just instrumentalists.
He has toured many countries on tour. Which ones receive your proposal best?
Mexico, without a doubt. Now I go back on tour there and I know it’s going to be great, because every time I’ve gone I’ve found so many good things that I only feel gratitude. This is going to be my fifth Mexican tour. I was about to open the Enanitos Verdes tour in November, and it was going to be amazing because they fill up stadiums wherever they go. But the singer passed away… a pity.