Fenna Frei is the stage name of the talented songwriter Candela Cibriano, 32 years old, granddaughter of the famous actress Ana María Campoy and grandson of Pepe, from whom she inherited her artistic talent. Both have greatly influenced his career since his childhood, when his interest in music and other disciplines began.
Fenna is blonde, tall and slim. She naturally poses for photos on the streets of San Telmo. On the other hand, she is affable, good humoured, simple and sincere. She likes to talk at length, tell about her life, her travels and, above all, her music, which she defines as “songs with airs of dream pop and electronic bases, electronic alternative pop”.
These days he is presenting his EP entitled The silence woke me up an introspective work in which his piano is the main protagonist (presents it April 9 at La Tangente).
A race of their own
Without clinging to direct and popularly recognized relatives, she undertook, at the strength of her lungs, a career that led her to perform on various local stages, as well as to walk the underground alone in countries such as England or the Germany, where He traveled with his band and gathered great experiences.
Since she was a child, Fenna has lived art with great attachment “not only because she grew up in a family of artists, but also because of the support of my parents who are not artists, but have been my impetus. Dad is Pepe’s brother,” she says, as a cover letter.
On the other hand, the singer emulates her uncles as the big push for her interest in music: “On my mother’s side I have two music-loving uncles. One is a bandoneonist and groso. From the age of six he stimulated me to play the piano, lots of national rock and tango. My uncles belong to the rock generation “, he claims.
Although he mentioned the piano and it is a fundamental instrument in his proposal, other instruments have also been his allies.
“I’ve felt my calling since I was six, I’ve also been playing flute, guitar and singing since I was ten. I felt mine had more to do with music than acting.”, he remarks.
work with Pepe
However, his landings in great theatrical performances are also part of his curriculum he worked with nothing more and nothing less than his uncle Pepe Cibrián.
“I studied theater because my uncle Pepe called me for the show dracula. Eventually I studied music production, which I finished right by the premiere of dracula. It was an incredible experience working with my uncle,” says the artist.
Analyzing the relationship with his father’s brother, Fenna adds the following: “Pepe’s families have always been his cast. With dad and us the relationship is sporadic. But we are always at his previews, sometimes we go to Pilar’s to find him. I was inside at the time dracula I got to know him better and felt even more familiar than ever.”
With regards to her uncle’s way of being, she goes even deeper: “When she creates a family with whom she works, she invites you to eat, you stay at her house to sleep, it means sharing everything, she is very generous”.
Despite the fact that the singer says that they do not see each other so often, her relative’s gestures say a thousand words.
“I remember he visited me at Caras y Caretas in 2018. He uploaded videos of me to his social networks. He thinks my sister and I are Pepe’s only nieces. It’s not little.”
On his uncle’s emotional issues, Frei is initially cautious when it comes to expressing his opinion.
“When he got married and separated, I sent him a WhatsApp, asked how he was. Pepe has appeared in the media in recent years. Nahuel, in many cases, has behaved very well,” he says first, and then describes his uncle in more depth in the emotional field:
“I’m usually not involved in his private life, even if Pepe is changeable in his personality. It is normal for him to break ties and rebuild them. Pepe befriended and feuded with many couples throughout his life. I will be grateful to him for life for having advised me and for having summoned me at the time dracula”.
Memories of Grandma Ana María
Both Fenna and her sister Magalí, two years her senior, They were the only granddaughters of Ana María Campoy. No minor details.
“He was with us for a long time when we were little. We were my grandmother’s revenge. She has been working as an actress since she was 4 years old. What she couldn’t mother to her children, she did to us, her granddaughters. Dad lived his childhood in a lonely way ”, says the artist, takes a breath and continues.
“She was a great-grandmother. Instead of playing with dolls, we would work on acting fantasies and I would attend her recordings, she would take us on stage and people would say hello to my sister and me,” she recalls.
It should be noted that those meetings with grandmother Ana María Campoy were not always behind closed doors or inside television studios or theaters.
“She took us to the Solar de la Abadía to have a snack and people came to her to kiss her, to say hello. They loved grandma! I also remember the time we went by surprise to Susana Giménez’s program to sing with my sister when she nearly died of pneumonia. We also went there in 1997, when grandma turned 70,” the 30-year-old recounts.
Attuned to family problems, Frei stresses the importance of having experienced many family problems with his sister always by his side.
“We are very close friends with Magalí, we always help each other. He had a very spiritual relationship with our grandmother. He studied film directing, is a poet, editor and super sensitive. We are also neighbors, we live in the same building. He takes care of my cats when I travel; we are different, opposites, but we complement each other,” he expresses.
A woman with ideologies
“In elementary school, I studied in three schools. There is a family legacy of non-attachment. My parents are like that, but schematic at the same time. My father, Roberto, is an architect and he loves technology. At the age of 40 he studied 3D animation and was an innovative creator elsiteo.comit was successful,” reveals the singer.
Similarly, Fena takes the opportunity to throw flowers at his mother, whom he considers a great influence on her in ideological matters.
“Mum works at the UN, she is a mediator, an activist for social transformation”.
According to her account, her mother is a great example and it is also due to the fact that, in addition to belonging to a bourgeois family that never lacked for anything, she is often interested in minorities.
“I am a feminist and I fight for minorities in the field of sound. I am part of the Multisound Network. We all know each other, we take responsibility: women, trans, non-binary. We are only the 11% working on sound issues. The fight is for us to gain more space. I’ve always had a tendency to go against the tide.
Everything this multifunctional artist tells underlines that it is the result of a context.
“As a girl I felt very masculine, I got along better with boys. I was precocious, but I liked to hang out with important people. I didn’t like being around patriarchal girls. I grew up close to the gay community, hung out with actors, casts of my uncles. That is why freedoms and not conservatism, ”she points out.
On the other hand, the social commitment of Pepito’s niece extends even further, even towards people with less economic means.
“I am part of the Yes Foundation. We do night tours, go out and chat with people in street situations. We listen to you and understand how difficult it is to get into the system when you are out. We go as a group at night.
That direct action through activism was a fundamental element in the singer’s life to “understand inequalities, differences. And when I go home I appreciate my privileges.”
After taking the last sip of his coffee, he analyzes the following: “Artists generally have a lot of ego, that’s why it’s worth giving your body, because it makes us more humble. We should all go out and be close to reality.”
rolling around the world
The journey through Frei’s life has been a constant since then he likes to get to know new places and learn about their culturesas well as taking their music to different stages.
“I travel every year. Now I’m going to Mexico for five months. My boyfriend’s name is Vladimir and he’s from there, but he lives here, is a lawyer and teaches philosophy of law at the UBA. I like Mexico for a limited time, because it’s also chaotic. When I play there, they pay attention because there isn’t much independent culture there.”
As for his musical exploits in Europe, the artist has surprising anecdotes.
“’Are we going to Europe?’ I asked the musicians. And we just left. It was beautiful but sacrificed. We carried equipment, cables, computers, everything was very tiring, but the experience was super positive,” he underlines.
Traveling in a self-managed way has involved a much greater sacrifice than those who go out to play around the world with producers who organize everything.
“All contact was made by email. We rented a two-room apartment in which five people lived, we were in front of the Arsenal stadium. We traveled on the subway, carrying the 18 kilo anvils from one side to the other to play for 30 people”.
The arrival of the singer with her band in Germany also took place by train, with heavy instruments on it.
“It happens that the Uber cost a lot, that’s why it was all by train. There we played Sofar Sounds, which is an up and coming music event company and whose location is undisclosed. They send you the address privately. It was great!”
Although it is worth noting a non-secondary fact for Fena to bring his music to Europe: in part, it had to do with a love story.
“In 2017 I went on a trip with my sister and had a summer love in London. When I returned, I was obsessed with seeing him again, with finding myself. At one point the idea of going to play there also had to do with going back to the veil,” she reveals.
However, the reunion did come, but it wasn’t the way the vocalist dreamed.
“Upon arrival, I located it, but it was strange. I was disappointed. The day he was supposed to play, two hours earlier he had told me that he wasn’t coming to see me. She broke my heart. so I wrote Cold, a song that helped me heal the pain in the face of tremendous sadness. Because healthy music, always healthy”, concludes Fenna Frei, security through.
Source: Clarin
