• Submitted by: admin
• international
• Music
• United States
• 05 / 06 / 2010

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Carlos Varela is touring the United States for the first time since 1998.

A protege of New Song icon Silvio Rodriguez, the 47-year-old singer-songwriter is known for his compelling and insightful songs that hook listeners with a unique poetic perspective on life on the island nation.

His riveting performance in September in Havana before more than a million people was a highlight of El Concierto por la Paz (The Concert for Peace) organized by Colombian pop singer Juanes.

Well-crafted lyrics delivered in a soft, melodious voice with a nylon-string guitar or in a scratchy growl with hard-strummed steel strings have defined the style of Carlos Varela. He is also considered a controversial artist in Cuba.

His latest album, "No Es el Fin" ("It Is Not the End"), is a mix of new songs and old ones rebottled in new arrangements. The troubadour considers the project the most coherent and musical of his career.

Varela arrives in Northern California this weekend for shows in Sonoma and Oakland as part of a six-city tour.

Varela has not performed in the United States since 1998, when he was part of the "Dialogue With Cuba" conference at UC Berkeley. We caught up with Carlos online for an e-mail interview.

Q: Your U.S. tour is highly anticipated as a signal that the door is opening again between the United States and Cuba. How do you perceive it?

A: I am convinced that as artists we can achieve more than politicians have in over 50 years of bad relations to create a special communication between people who differ in political ideology. As artists we are more in touch with reality and better understand the priorities of the average citizen.

Q: On your latest album, you masterfully weave electric and acoustic sounds to complement your lyrics. How has your creative process evolved from your first recording?

A: I try to understand and reflect the reality that surrounds me. To that end, I weigh out the changes I experience and that continually reshapes my songs. Having had the opportunity to travel to other countries and interact with other artists has given me a more global perspective on certain things which are quite noticeable on the lyrics and music of this album.

I am a fanatic for new technology too, and now thanks to computers and the Internet, we do not have to wait years to see and hear what is happening in the rest of the world or depend on Cuban radio or television to tell us what is going on.

Q: Life in Cuba is not easy. Do you feel a responsibility to inspire the Cuban people with your songs, or are you merely the mirror?

A: In the beginning my songs were like photographs, but now they are more analytical. In either case I believe looking at ourselves through a mirror helps us to understand better and draw conclusions that help us change what we don't like about
our reality. I know of many cases where my songs have served as inspiration, comfort, escape, therapy or simply pleasure, which in either case gives me satisfaction.

Q: You are constantly called "the Bob Dylan of Cuba." What do you think of the comparison?

A: I don't like being labeled but understand how the media does it to describe your work in a few words. Last December I was in Los Angeles with Jackson Browne and heard my album, "No Es el Fin," described as "Dave Matthews meets Bruce Springsteen," which I found congenial. I have never met Bob Dylan, but I did use the same microphone he used to record his last album.

Carlos Varela performs at 8 p.m. Friday at Ramekins Event Center, 450 W. Spain St., Sonoma. (707) 933-0450 or

www.ramekinsevents.com. Also at 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 2 (family matinee) and 7 p.m. Sunday, at Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or www.yoshis.com/Oakland.

This article appeared on page F - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Courtesy / Dennis McNally

Source: //www.sfgate.com/