After many years without releasing a full album of their new songs, Leon Gieco today he presented his new work, the little man of the seawhere special guests such as ex Pink Floyd appear Roger Watersthe cuban boy Silvio RodríguezFrench soprano Emma Shapplinthe Spanish Carlos Nunezthe mexican lilac down jacketsthe Uruguayan murga wait Catalina and Argentine Gustavo Santaolalla.
This long-awaited recording work is the result of a long and intense process of composition, recording and production by León together with musician and producer Luis Gurevich.
Total, the little man of the sea contains 13 songs, all composed by the Gieco-Gurevich duo, with the exception of versions by I dream of snakes (Silvio Rodriguez), Case (where his partner, Alicia Scherman attended) e Spin, spin, sunflower (Vittorio Giara). It was recorded in studios in Argentina, the United States and various cities around the world from where special appearances have come during the pandemic.
The roster of instrumentalists is a veritable collection of Gieco’s musical heroes., all musicians who have played on their favorite artists’ records. For example Vinnie Colaiuta (Sting, Jeff Beck) on drums, Leland Sklar (James Taylor, Phil Collins) on bass, Dean Parks (Steely Dan, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder) on guitars, Luis Conte (Eric Clapton) on percussion, Jerry Douglas (Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello) in the dobro and Michael Thompson (Elton John, Rod Stewart).
Vocal cord problems
Just as 11 years went by without releasing an album, León Gieco also stopped performing live. In a press conference he said that “I have a vocal cord problem that is not operable and It will take a long time for the phoniatry to heal me“.
And he added: “I’m going through a moment of uncertainty regarding the hoarseness, but when my voice starts to improve, I will try to gradually resume activity and sing again”.
Despite the impossibility of giving long recitals, he has made a few solidarity appearances in recent years, either alone or accompanied by Lito Vitale. In recent weeks he has been present at the shows of Nito Mestre at the Teatro Opera and Lisandro Aristimuño at the Gran Rex.
The call to Roger Waters
As for the composing duo he has with Luis Gurevich, he explained: “My relationship with Luis right now is almost perfect, we don’t disturb each other, we create together, compose and record because he is also a multi-instrumentalist and a great technician He’s a very important person to me and in addition to being a very good composer, he is an extraordinary versionist or recreater of songs. The truth is, I could not have found a more perfect person”.
Regarding Roger Waters’ appearance on the guest list, he commented, “I had the idea of inviting Joan Baez but she couldn’t attend because she was on tour in Canada and then engineer and producer Gustavo Borner brilliantly agreed that Roger Waters had told me at the Estadio Único to count on him for what he wanted. We gave him the freedom to do what he wants and we received some nice words and he even sings a small part of a song.”
Another unexpected rarity is the presence of the Uruguayan murga Agarrate Catalina and the guitarist Lula Bertoldi in a version of the classic Sueño con serpientes by Silvio Rodríguez.
“It always seemed like such a delusional song, so beautiful, meaning so many things, that I thought we could make it like petergabrielesca and with Luis we made a version of it in 2013 to sing it with Agarrate Catalina at the Luna Park, with a Uruguayan rhythm, so when it came time to record the album, we didn’t hesitate to call the murga and Silvio also accepted the invitation and Borner proposed that the guitar solo was done by Lula,” he says.
Proudly, León says: “I have a message from Silvio who listening to it told me that not only had he completed it, but that the song had grown, so we are very happy to have recorded it that way”.
The advance singles
A month ago, León Gieco launched the song suns and flowersthe fourth preview of the new album, the first since The landingfrom 2011. That single and video were made together with the talented Mexican singer Lila Downs.
According to Leon; “suns and flowers It comes from a very concrete image, when the Mothers entered the former ESMA, they promised to fill that place with suns and flowers to put so much life into a place of so much death. And I always thought about recording it with Lila Downs, because I love her voice, for what she represents and because she knows the pain of her people, ours and all of America. She makes me very happy that she accepted.”
The kick off for León’s future new album was the theme everything burns (ft. Jaime López), released April 7, 2021.
At the time, León said the following: “It is the song that opens the door to an album that we are finishing. I wrote it a little over three years ago, but it retains that unexpected energy with which I encountered a few months ago , recording – isolated and at a distance – an album that was in the plans for 2020 and suddenly began to take shape.While all this is happening, here I am, sitting on my balcony, with the bible and the water heater, the photo of Pugliese and Discépolo, looking Thing everything burns and regretting not singing like Gardel”.
The next cut was Alimentacion.comwith Sergio Arau, published on September 30, 2021.
On the creation of this new song that he began to sketch about two years ago, Gieco told through a press release: “It was one day that I found myself looking for a magnifying glass to be able to read the ingredients on the label of something I had bought and when I started reading familiar elements and even very rare names appeared, which due to their structure also had a rhythmic sense… From there the idea was born to start writing them, group them and obviously over time look for their meaning”.
“If I had to define the song, I’d say it’s food trap rap, fun and problematic,” he added.
On November 19 of last year, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, León released the third single: Friendshipin duet with Gustavo Santaolalla
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Source: Clarin
