2024-04-21 03:01:00
The artistic life of Ezequiel Rocha It is crossed by dissimilar activities. It is restless, eclectic. She sang and acted in several musicals, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame according to Pepe Cibrián and All heart, by Peter Macfarlane. He is the jazz singer of the film The dream of heroes, by Sergio Renán. He illustrated and drew. And he also produced. For example, Musicargentina, vernacular work that foreshadowed the present. And the present is that he has just published his sixth solo album, called Thanks to Mercedes… she has given us so much, that this Argentine multi-artist based in Peru will present the April 25 at 8:30 p.m. at the BAC Theater (Suipacha 1333).
“Recording a tribute album to Mercedes Sosa was an unfinished business for me,” points out E-zequiel, as they call him in the media. “From a very young age I admired his interpretation, his songbook about great composers of our country to whose lyrics he put his mark and wonderful voice. Whenever he heard her on his records or saw her at his concerts, he would come out very moved”.
The project to evoke La Negra was born in June 2023, when Rocha held a concert under the name Tunes for Mercedes, accompanied by Lucho González, historic arranger and guitarist from Tucumán. And it came to fruition when they both noticed that gave for more. “Lucho set the course and the quality of the arrangements in his personal style, but without losing the essence“, the taste and the imprint that Mercedes gave to each of her performances,” describes Rocha, who completed the cast with the percussionist Martín González Puig and Mariano Delgado on second guitar. “Our show with Lucho consists of 16 songs, but we had to choose only eight for the album. And among them they couldn’t miss ‘Thanks to life’, ‘Everything changes’, ‘Let me go’ and ‘Reason for living’”.
E-zequiel made contact with González in Lima, where he has lived since 2014. And he admits that he owes the Peruvian guitarist the incorporation of concepts, rhythms and ways to approach the songs in a unique way. “With Lucho we worked meticulously on each song, each tonality, each expression, each cadence. “He molded me to bring out the best in me as a performer,” says the Argentine-Peruvian performer who he recognizes in ‘Everything changes’, the poet’s gem. chileno Julio Numhauser globalized by Mercedes, the most emotional version of the work. “Is a song very mobilizing For me, living in another country. Undoubtedly, when this happens to us we are faced with rapid changes, in customs, in roots, and at the same time necessary for rapid adaptability and survival. As the poetry says, ‘My love does not change no matter how far away I am, nor the memory, nor the pain of my town and my people.'”
Rocha made the decision to migrate to Peru because on one of his trips he sang as a guest at a concert by Edu Arauco, one of the most important contemporary musicians in that country, who suggested that he sing “a couple of tangos.” “From then on things began to happen unexpectedly, as proposals began to appear to perform in traditional Lima venues such as Jazz Zone, La Vida Misma or Cocodrilo Verde, where I began connecting with renowned Peruvian singer-songwriters such as Lalo Salazar. And then I stayed.”
Rocha lives in the “serene and friendly” neighborhood of San Miguel, located a few steps from the Pacific, where he was also inspired to work. With the soul of Chabucahis previous album, in tribute to Chabuca Granda. “This album was a before and after in my career,” she is sincere. “It involved a period of much musical growth, since Chabuca always had a wide variety of themes in his poetry and lyrics, which he innovated and merged through the waltz, the marinera, the landau, and all the richness of Afro-Peruvian music. ”, he indicates.
Between Mercedes and Chabuca the artist walks, therefore, protected in a current cultural context different from that of Argentina. “Although in Peru there is political corruption, social inequality and strong insecurity, it is also true that there is more and more space for culture, thanks to the support of the Ministry that is growing. In March, without going any further, economic stimuli were launched to finance artistic projects during the year, something that unfortunately is not happening in Argentina, where we are experiencing a moment of great uncertainty and despair in all aspects… the economic, the social, and of course the cultural.”