Luis Ortega I Córdoba, (EFE).- Gustavo Santaolalla, one of the most internationally awarded contemporary Argentine musicians, with 19 Grammys, two Oscars or a Golden Globe, recognizes that each recognition he has received throughout his prolific career establishes “a stronger connection” with that work and “with the people”.
In a meeting with EFE, before participating for the first time in the Córdoba International Guitar Festival, Santaolalla, 71, is “very happy and very honored” to participate in this event that gives him the opportunity to travel to Andalusia, “where my grandfather was from”, so his performance is “very special and very personal”.
“It never ceases to surprise me that they call me for events of this type, where so many great artists have passed through,” highlights the Argentine, who flees from “expectations” before a concert in which he offers his latest work “Retracing the Road” to the public. ”, a “kind of tour, a journey through my life through my music” in which he plays “things I wrote when I was 17 years old”.
A very heterogeneous public
With more than 50 years of career, Santaolalla highlights having a “very heterogeneous” public, but he is sure of “being able to connect very well with the people here”, something that he has always achieved with his “people” and that has led to reap great recognition of “different types”.
“Each recognition always represents for me having established a stronger connection with something that I made a stronger connection than perhaps with other things. The recognition of some work that connected with people in a more powerful way and I celebrate all of them, no matter how big or small they are”.
The renowned Argentine artist assures that he does not have “any theme or song” that has marked him especially, since that “would have to ask people, the public”, although perhaps he highlights his beginnings that have led him to what he is today, even collaborating with alternative music bands from all over Latin America and actively participating in songs for groups such as “Café Tacvba, Maldita Vecindad, Julieta Venegas or Juanes”.
But also, in soundtracks of award-winning films such as Brokeback Mountain and Babel, Amores Perros, 21 Gramos and Biutifu, or even the music of the famous video game “The Last of Us” and that of the HBO series inspired by it and released with great success in 2023.
The story of Gustavo Santaolalla through his music
And it is difficult for Santaolalla to choose the guitarist with whom he would like or would have liked to play since “there are many and very great ones.” “Maybe Atahualpa Yupanqui, probably, or John Mclaughlin.”
In “Desandando el camino” the Argentine portrays his trajectory from Arco Iris, his first band in Argentina, to Bajofondo, the Grammy-winning multi-Latin electro-tango group. and he is presented surrounded by an exquisite group of musicians with a wide variety of instruments.
“One of the things I like about this show is that it is the story of my life through music” in which he can use an “incredible amount of timbres” by being “with musicians who can play many instruments,” which that gives it “something very special, very different”. “There is a richness and a timbre of lots of sounds that make the show very, very special, very particular”, reiterates Santaolalla.
After successfully passing through the Córdoba Festival, Gustavo Santaolalla will take a summer break on his tour that will take him to Madrid in December and then will go through Galicia, Paris, to the Bataclan theater, and then Barcelona. EFE