| Juan Luis Guerra |
Juan Luis Guerra during a concert in Boston, Massachusetts.
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Juan Luis Guerra Seijas |
| Born |
June 7, 1957 (1957-06-07) (age 52) |
| Origin |
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Genres |
Merengue, bachata, salsa, latin pop |
| Occupations |
Record producer, songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, guitarist |
| Instruments |
Guitar, piano |
| Years active |
1984-present |
| Labels |
EMI Records |
| Associated acts |
440 |
| Website |
Official Site |
Juan Luis Guerra-Seijas (born June 7, 1957) is a Dominican singer, songwriter, and self-producer who has sold 20 million records, and won numerous awards including nine Latin Grammy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Latin Billboard Music Awards. He won 5 Latin Grammy awards in 2007 tying him with Juanes for the record of most Latin Grammys won in one night. He was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and is the son of Olga Seijas and Gilberto Guerra, a basketball player.
He is one of the most internationally recognized Dominican artists in decades past. His pop style of merengue and bolero and Afro-pop/Latin fusion have garnered him considerable success outside the Dominican Republic. Juan Luis Guerra is sometimes associated with the popular Dominican music called bachata, and while this association is partially true, he actually uses the basics of Bachata rhythm with a more bolero feel to the melodies in some of his songs.[1] He does not limit himself to one style of music, instead, he incorporates diverse rhythms like merengue, bolero-bachata, balada, salsa, rock and roll, and gospel.[citation needed] "Ojalá Que Llueva Café" ("If Only It Rained Coffee") is one of his most critically acclaimed self-written and composed pieces. A remix of "La llave de mi corazón" ("The key to my heart") with Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas is also an example of his fusing of different genres.
Career
Before he committed to music, Guerra studied philosophy and literature at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. He then studied guitar and music theory at El Conservatorio Nacional de Música de Santo Domingo, then decided to go to the United States to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. He graduated from Berklee in 1982 with a diploma in jazz composition.[2] After his return to the Dominican Republic from he released his first album, Soplando (1984) with a group of local musicians that subsequently became known as Juan Luis Guerra y 440. The group members were Maridalia Hernández, Roger Zayas-Bazán, and Mariela Mercado. The band's name in Spanish is officially publicized as Cuatro Cuarenta (Four Forty), a shortening of the normally strict reading of number "four hundred and forty". The 440 part of the band's name refers to the standard tuning of A440. Reportedly the name for the band came from a practice session where Juan Luis's brother suggested the name because the name would reflect how "in-tune and precise they were".[citation needed] According to Guerra, this first album was based on jazz tunes and concepts he had learned at Berklee, and it "wasn't intended to be a commercial hit." Subsequently, however, he began to write more merengues.[2]
Two albums followed, Mudanza y Acarreo and Mientras más lo pienso ... tú. The band garnered some fame in their country, and were nominated to attend the Festival of OTI (Organization of Iberoamerican Television) to represent the Dominican Republic.
Their next album, in 1989, brought them international fame. Ojalá Que Llueva Café, a slow melodic number with superfast background tracks, became a number one hit in many Latin American countries, with the hit song of the same name. Subsequently, a video of the hit song was filmed and Juan Luis Guerra and his 440 band began touring. (The song's fame was revived in 1996 and 2008 with covers by Café Tacuba and Rosario Flores respectively). In 1990, they released their next album, Bachata Rosa, which became a major hit and earned him his first Grammy award. The album, having sold more than five million copies at that time, allowed Guerra to keep touring Latin America, USA and Europe. This album contains memorable love songs such as "Burbujas de Amor" (Bubbles of Love), "Bachata Rosa", "Rosalia", "Como Abeja al Panal" (Like a Bee to the Beehive), "A Pedir Su Mano" (To Ask For Your Hand), "Carta de Amor" (Love Letter), and "Estrellitas y Duendes" (Little stars and elves).
Guerra became a controversial figure in 1992 after he released his next album, Areíto (which is a Taíno word for song and dance). It featured the hit single "El costo de la vida", (The Cost of Life), whose video version was banned in several countries because it had an "anti-American" undertone, this due to the fact that there is a generalized underlying fear in Latin America of broadcasting public criticisms against the United States. The video has also been interpreted as anti-capitalist. Other songs also included protests against the poor conditions in many Latin American countries, the celebration of the 'discovery' of the Americas ("1492"), and the double standards of first-world nations.
In his next album, Fogaraté (1995), he stayed away from recording any protest songs. This album is particularly centered in the more rural and lesser known types of Dominican music, like the Perico Ripiao.
Guerra's 1998 release Ni es lo Mismo ni es Igual (It is not the same nor is it equal) garnered much critical acclaim, winning three Latin Grammys in 2000 for Best Merengue Performance, Best Tropical Song, and Best Engineered Album. Its hits include "Mi PC" (My PC), "Quisiera" (I Would Like To), and "El Niágara En Bicicleta" (Niagara on bicycle).
Juan Luis Guerra in concert in Madrid, Spain, during the
Para tí tour. July 2005.
In 2004, Guerra released his first new album in six years. Entitled "Para Ti" (For you), the album's songs are mostly religious in nature, reflecting Guerra's fervent Christianity. With this album the singer won two awards at the 2005 Billboards, in the categories of Gospel-Pop and Tropical-Merengue, for the hit single Las Avispas (The wasps), the first time ever that one song has won these two categories at the same time. Other hits included "Para Ti" and "Soldado" (Soldier). At the same time, Guerra was honored with the Latino Special Award for the Music Academy of Spain for his contributions to the music of his country and the Caribbean in the last 20 years.
In January 2006, Juan Luis performed at Berklee's 60th anniversary along with other artists such as Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, Michael Camilo and Chiara Chivello. That same year, he recorded with Diego Torres in "Abriendo Caminos" (Opening roads) and with Maná in "Bendita Tu Luz" (Blessed your light).
Notably, Juan Luis Guerra was part of the highest grossing music tour of all time, as he was the opening act for the The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour at their San Juan, Puerto Rico show in February, 2006.
He was also invited by Sting to sing with him at a concert at Altos de Chavón, La Romana in the Dominican Republic in 2006. At the Premio Lo Nuestro awards in 2007, he was given the honorary lifetime achievement award. He also performed the lead single of his new album, "La Llave De Mi Corazón", released in March 2007.
"La llave de mi corazón" reached number one on the Billboard charts for four consecutive weeks, and was the #1 selling album in Colombia while climbing the charts in other countries[citation needed]. Guerra won more than 20 awards with this CD, including 5 Latin Grammy Awards, 6 cassandra, 4 billboard Awards, 2 lo nuestro, and one Grammy Award.
Juan Luis Guerra was honored at the Latin Grammy Awards in 2007 with 5 awards, sweeping each category he was nominated in: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Tropical Song & Best Merengue Album. The engineers of the album, Allan Leschhorn, Luis Mansilla, Ronnie Torres, and Adam Ayan were awarded Best Engineered album. One night prior to the Latin Grammy Awards he received the Academy's Person of the Year Award for his contribution to Latin music and for his philanthropy.
On March 10, 2008, Juan Luis was honored with 6 awards in los Premios Casandra, the most important award event in the Dominican Republic. He won for Orchestrator of the year, Outstanding artist abroad, Music album of the year for "La Llave de mi Corazón" and "El Soberano" (The Sovereign), the most important award of the night.
On March 16, 2008 He and other artists participated in the Paz Sin Fronteras concert raised by Juanes, because of the conflict in recent days between Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
On April 11, 2008 Juan Luis Guerra was the Billboard Latin awards big winner, with 7 nominations and 3 awards.
On September 15, 2008 Guerra was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace "in recognition of his efforts for the benefit of children with disabilities and children in need."[3]
On May 9, 2009, Guerra was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Berklee College of Music at its commencement ceremony.
Singing in other languages
Guerra has recorded several songs in English, like "July 19th" on his Fogaraté release (1995), and more recently "Medicine for My Soul" and "Something Good" with Italian singer Chiara Chivello. Some of his songs have verses in both English and Spanish such as "Woman del Callao", "Guavaberry", "Señorita" and more recently "La Llave de Mi Corazón". Album Areíto featured two songs, cover-title song "Areíto" and "Naboria daca, mayanimacaná" which are sung in the Arawak language of the extinct Taino natives of Hispaniola. Juan Luis Guerra also recorded the album "Bachata Rosa" in Portuguese.
Lyrical style
Being a native Dominican, his music is heavily influenced by native caribbean rhythms, such as Bachata and Son. His lyrics are often charged with intentionally simple, heavily metaphorized erotic, or popular expressions, such as "Burbujas de Amor" (Bubbles Of Love) :
Spanish:
- "Quisiera ser un pez,
- Para tocar mi nariz en tu pecera,
- Y hacer burbujas de amor por donde quiera,
- Oh oh oh oh, pasar la noche en vela mojado en ti.
- Un pez,
- Para bordar de corales tu cintura,
- Y hacer siluetas de amor bajo la luna,
- Saciar esta locura mojado en ti."
|
- I would like to be a fish
- To touch your fishbowl with my nose
- And make bubbles of love wherever I can
- To spend the night awake, soaked in you
- A fish,
- To embroider your waist with corals,
- And to make love silhouettes under the moon
- To quench this madness, soaked in you
|
Or "El Niágara en Bicicleta" (Niagara on Bicycle):
Spanish:
- "No me digan que los médicos se fueron
- No me digan que no tienen anestesia
- No me digan que el alcohol se lo bebieron
- Y que el hilo de coser fue bordado en un mantel
- No me digan que las pinzas se perdieron
- Que el estetoscopio está de fiesta
- Que los rayos X se fundieron
- Y que el suero ya se uso para endulzar el café"
|
- Don't tell me that the doctors have gone
- Don't tell me that they don't have anesthesia
- Don't tell me that they've drunk the alcohol
- And that the suture thread was embroidered into a table cloth
- Don't tell me that the tweezers got lost
- That the stethoscope is out partying
- That the X-rays melted
- And that the IV serum was used up to sweeten the coffee
|
The song title is in fact a popular expression for something difficult or impossible to achieve
Discographies
Singles in charts- peak positions
- 1989 Ojala que llueva café - 22
- 1990 Como Abeja Al Panal - 31
- 1990 Burbujas de amor - 02
- 1990 La Bilirrubina - 09
- 1990 A Pedir Su Mano - 13
- 1991 Frio Frio - 04
- 1991 Estrellitas y Duendes - 03
- 1991 Cartas de Amor - 35
- 1991 Bachata Rosa - 15
- 1992 Señales De Humo - 06
- 1993 El Costo de la Vida - 01
- 1993 Rompiendo Fuente - 27
- 1993 Mal De Amor - 04
- 1993 Coronita De Flores - 04
- 1994 La Cosquillita - 06
- 1994 Viviré - 05
- 1994 Cuando te Beso - 28
- 1995 El Beso de la Ciguatera - 25
- 1998 Mi PC - 01
- 1999 Palomita Blanca - 01
- 1999 El Niágara en Bicicleta - 02
- 2001 Tu - 28
- 2001 Quisiera - 33
- 2004 Las Avispas - 04
- 2005 Para Ti - 17
- 2007 Que Me Des tu Carino - 02
- 2007 La Travesía - 03
- 2007 La Llave de Mi Corazón - 01
- 2008 Sólo Tengo Ojos Para Ti - 28
- 2008 Como Yo -
440 Members
- Roger Zayas
- Maridalia Hernández
- Mariela Mercado
- Marco Hernández (replaced Maridalia Hernández)
- Adalgisa Pantaleón (replaced Mariela Mercado)
- Quico Rizek (replaced Marco Hernández)
- ^ iASO Records, David Wayne. "Juan Luis Guerra Biography", Juan Luis Guerra Biography, 2008, iASO Records.
- ^ a b Mark Small, "Juan Luis Guerra: Tropical Music Superstar," Berklee Today, vol. 17, no. 1 (Summer 2005).
- ^ "Musician Juan Luis Guerra of the Dominican Republic designated UNESCO Artist for Peace," UNESCO press release, September 16, 2008
External references
- Manuel, Peter. Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae.
External links
