Eliana Cuevas

VIDAS - ELIANA CUEVAS - DISC REVIEW

By Dianne Wells
WHOLENOTE MAGAZINE
DOUBLE ISSUE!
DEC 07 / JAN 08

With a stellar band behind her, and highly sophisticated arrangements by members of her ensemble as well as other artists such as Aaron Davis, this CD serves as a tribute to her accomplishments as a gifted songwriter. From a biting portrayal of homelessness in the Toronto winter to the trials and celebrations of life and love to humour, innuendo and vivid fantasy, her lyrics and rhythms are absolutely engaging. Her hypnotic interpretation of Alfonsina and the Sea (Ramirez/Luna) is prefaced by George Koller's eerie improvisation evoking the allure of the sea as a perfect alternative to a life of pain. The last song in the Album, Infinite Solitude (Eliana Cuevas) is as heart-wrenching as it is a poetic mystery.THE LIVE MUSIC REPORT - June 2007
Eliana Cuevas at the Toronto Jazz Festival

June 22, 2007 • Primus Stage • Nathan Phillips Square • Toronto
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Poetry and Rhythm
by Joyce Corbett with photo by Roger Humbert

Eliana Cuevas Subtle, strong, elegant, sophisticated yet simple and honest, that is how I would describe Eliana Cuevas’ singing, stage presence and music. She impresses with her strength but is never forceful. South American rhythms, flamenco, poetry, jazz harmonies are all elements of her music which obviously flows from the core of her being. Almost all of the songs she sang on this occasion were originals, most in Spanish, a couple in Portuguese. When asked if I understood the lyrics, I realized that if you don’t you are missing out on an important part of her art, the poetry of her lyrics. For example, she sang a beautiful song about a waterfall in her native Venezuela. In the pool of the falls the water is so sweet she wishes to be transformed into a fish and immerse herself in it. But although understanding the lyrics completes the appreciation of her art, one can enjoy the purely musical aspect of her singing — the sound of her voice, its rhythmic flow, the smooth modulations of pitch and the use of dynamics — and feel the emotions behind it. On this perfect afternoon her voice was complemented by her regular quintet, a stellar group of musicians. The poetry of the music and the excitement of its rhythms needed no translation.

The one long set was very much all of one cloth but contained much variety from the celebratory folk feel of “Luna Llena” (Full Moon), through the drama and sensuality of “Irracional (Como un animal)” and the soaring sailing-on-air feel of “El Susurro el Aire”, with its powerful rhythmic base. There were piano passages of exquisite beauty and solid, complex percussion with a particularly jaw-dropping cajon solo from Luis Orbegoso.
Eliana Cuevas’ original treatment of the South American classic “Alfonsina y el Mar” was sublime. Written about the suicide of Ibero-American poet Alfonsina Storni, the lyrics speak of a path of pain and suffering leading to the sea and of Alfonsina lulled by the songs of the conches as the phosphorescent sea horses swim around her and the sea creatures play at her side. Not only was Eliana Cuevas’ interpretation of it wondrously sensitive but the entire composition was poetic. In his opening and concluding solos, George Koller extracted sounds I have never before heard emanating from a bass, sounds of wind and waves, of whales and dolphins playing.

I look forward to hearing more of Eliana Cuevas with these musicians and to her soon-to-be released third CD.

The musicians
Eliana Cuevas – vocals
George Koller – bass
Luis Guerra – piano
Luis Orbegoso – percussion
Daniel Stone – percussion

REINA LATINA - CANADA'S EMERGING LATIN MUSIC QUEEN

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - 02:58 PM
By: Patricia D’Cunha

Cuevas dazzles audiences with Latin vibes and English, Portuguese and Spanish melodies. (Photo: Patricia D’Cunha/680News)

Toronto - On a blistery cold winter’s day, Eliana Cuevas approached the corner of Dundas and University streets and once again encountered the same homeless man who always sat on this block, wearing a smile on his face. She gazed into his eyes and wondered what it would be like for him to spend another night on the street, in frigidity. Another Night in –20 Degrees, loosely translated in Spanish as Otra Noche de -20 Grados, tells this story. Such moments of human frailty, emotional angst and interactions are what inspire this Latin singer-songwriter’s compositions.
While it would be easy to simply cover standards and music from other artists, Cuevas, 28, insists on writing her own material. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, she started writing music since she was eight-years-old – a talent she carried with her when she immigrated to Canada in her teens. “To me what is most important is to sing words that I mean…I love for my musicians to give my music a bit of who they are, their souls and personality coming through my music,” she said in a phone interview.
At a performance at Nathan Phillips Square last Friday, crowds of music enthusiasts gathered to hear this soulful Latin singer and her quintet chisel a mature sensibility that is often lost in today’s mass-marketed music. One of the other noteworthy songs – Un Nuevo Idioma (A New Language) – was a poem her father wrote to her mother, much before Cuevas was born. “My mother showed it to me long after he passed away, and so I decided to write music for it,” she said.
Growing up, her father, who played the piano and cuatro – a Venezuelan four-string guitar – was a huge musical influence in her life. “I used to sing with my father when I was little…he meant the world to me and still feel he is by my side all the time,” said Cuevas. “He had a lot of do with my love for music.” On her first album, Cohesion, released in 2002, she dedicated the song, Homero to her father. The beginning of the track includes a voice clip of Cuevas as a child, with her father, Homero, which was recorded in Caracas on Aug. 13, 1978.
Cuevas’ other musical influences include the popular Venezuelan band, Guaco, well-known Brazilian singer, Elis Regina, flamenco vocalist, Remeiros Amaya, Simon Diaz, a singer and composer in Venezuela, and Aretha Franklin.
She attended the music conservatory in Venezuela and took courses at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Cuevas also studied Ibero-American history at the University of Toronto and graduated with a BA in 2002. But, what she really wanted to do was sing. After arriving in Canada, Cuevas was still under-age and was not able to get into jazz clubs. But, with her affinity for salsa dancing, she managed to get a fake ID and weaseled her away into a popular Latin club, called Berlin. A salsa band was playing and boldly asked them if they needed a singer. They did.
Soon, she began to accompany various ensembles, such as pop artist, Joée, Latin-jazz group, Cruzao, Latin-folk band Cassava, salsa heavyweight Marrón Matizado, flamenco guitarist Jorge Miguel and the Brazilian band, Pedras da Ruapop. When she started to work with the Brazilian band, Cuevas was nervous because she didn’t speak Portuguese, but soon, a passion for this music emerged. “The music we were doing was so wonderful, it was very fulfilling,” she said. However, when the band stopped performing, “it left an emptiness” in her.
But, with original material on hand, she decided it was time to make her first CD, which was produced by Canadian jazz trumpeter, Nick “Brownman” Ali. Cuevas has worked with many influential musicians, including Ali and bassist, George Koller, who played on her follow-up record, Ventura, released in 2004. “I love working with people that make music they love; when they are making music, they really put their heart into it,” she said.
The Venezuelan, Cuban, Brazilian, Peruvian and jazz overtones in her second CD, Ventura, steer away from the typical salsa sound, which most people misconstrue as Latin music. “It opened a lot of doors for me (because) the music could not be found anywhere else,” she reflected.
Cuevas has taken her true interpretation of Latin music across Canada and to the international stage, including her first performance in Venezuela at the Hatillo Jazz Festival, near Caracas, in 2006. Last year, she recorded a live performance at the Mod Club Theatre in Toronto, which was broadcasted nationally on CBC Radio. Cuevas is also popular on JazzFM91’s playlist, heard on Amanda Martinez’s Café Latino show.
But, there is more to come from Cuevas. She is currently working on a new CD due out later this summer, with a coveted gig with her quintet at the Courthouse on Sept. 21. Meanwhile, you can catch Cuevas performing with flamenco guitarist Jorge Miguel at various shows across Canada during July to August. Visit http://www.elianacuevas.com for show dates and audio samples and her spot on MySpace.com

VENTURA - ELIANA CUEVAS - DISC REVIEW

BRENT RAYNOR
NOW - VOLUME 24, ISSUE 4
SEPTEMBER 23, 2004

Toronto-based Venezuelan singer Cuevas shows remarkable maturity for such a young performer. Besides having a thoroughly engaging voice, she refuses to rely on classic covers, instead writing nearly all the songs on Ventura. These Latin jazz tunes have the typical maracas, shakers and cowbells aplenty to get you moving, but it's Jorge Miguel's nylon-string guitar work that steals the show, most notably on the sublime Luna Llena. Cuevas's Spanish and English lyrics deal with love and nature but steer clear of the cheesy clichés that plague many contemporary jazz singers. She just might be the next Norah Jones. Cuevas launches Ventura at the Glenn Gould Studio Friday (September 24).

NUEVO WAVE

BY ERROL NAZARETH
EYE WEEKLY MAGAZINE VOLUME 13, ISSUE 51
SEPTEMBER 23, 2004

Like Colombian singer/guitarist Diego Marulanda, 24-year-old Venezuela-born singer Eliana Cuevas is battling the perception that Latin music is synonymous with salsa and Shakira. While Marulanda -- who plays no less than 18 instruments and is an expert in Colombian music -- prefers doing a war dance on stereotypes of Latin music in interviews, Cuevas' criticisms are understated. Interestingly, this subtlety is reflected in Ventura, Cuevas' first full-length album, which nicely ties together Venezuelan, Cuban, Brazilian, Peruvian and jazz rhythms. Or as she writes in the disc's liner notes, "If you want to know more about me -- listen to my music. It is as honest as I know how to be and reflects my thoughts and feelings better than I could ever articulate in a bio." After reading this, you could be forgiven for assuming that Cuevas is a reluctant interview.

Thankfully, this isn't the case. Reached by phone in Fredericton, where she and her band performed at the city's Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, Cuevas speaks passionately about her creative process and musical philosophies.

"I wanted to move away from the typical salsa sound, not because I have anything against it -- I love listening to it and dancing to it -- but it's just not me," she says. "On my first EP [2002's Cohesion], I had a bigger group. I had three horns and a drum set and it was good, but I wanted something more acoustic this time.

"I think that for my voice and the type of songs I write, it works better 'cause I like to focus on the lyric," Cuevas says. "If there's more space, the listener can pay more attention to the words and they won't be overwhelmed by a big sound and intricate arrangements.

Cuevas credits this approach to her prior experience singing in a Brazilian group; the music really resonated with her because "there's a gentleness to it and it matched my personality more. I think that a lot of times people's personalities come through in their music and that's why I wanted something more intimate and simple."
The arrangements she favours perfectly complement this collection of personal songs. And the most personal of these is "Un Nuevo Idioma."

"It's a poem written by my father to my mother," she says. "He wrote it to her before I was born. He was just expressing how much he loves my mother and wished he could create a new language to express that to her." Cuevas is fond of saying she likes simplicity, but this shouldn't be interpreted as a preference for music that doesn't have brains. Veteran bassist George Koller, who plays on Ventura, raves about Cuevas' compositional skills. "She writes all of her material and a lot of it involves advanced harmony and rhythm.

That's very rare for someone her age," he says. "As a musician, it's very satisfying intellectually and rhythmically to play this music because you have jazz harmony and Latin rhythms so your whole body and brain is involved. "She's got a lot going for her."

EN UNA NOCHE ESPECIAL ESTA VENEZOLANA LANZA SU NUEVO CD.

Por Ciro Alquichire V.
EL POPULAR WEEKLY, TORONTO
THURSDAY, SEPT. 23, 2004

Su música tiene una mezcla de ritmos, brasileños, latinos, jazz y hasta de los llanos venezolanos, mezcla que se nota claramente en cada una de las canciones que contiene su CD, titulado Eliana Cuevas Ventura, del cual se realizará el lanzamiento en un evento de gala, que contará no sólo con la interpretación de la artista, sino con el respaldo de grandes músicos de diferentes partes del mundo, que ayudaron en la creación de esta obra discográfica.

Eliana Cuevas, es una de esas artistas premiadas en la vida, tiene voz y figura, pero lo mejor es que logra atrapar a su público con algo más que un buen ritmo, un son latino, una puesta en escena, lo atrapa en cada palabra que contiene las letras de sus canciones que ella misma compone en los momentos que la vida le regala. Esta venezolana, que se inició en carrera artística entre los sonidos del jazz, llega con un regalo para todos sus seguidores, su nuevo CD, que contiene 10 canciones de su autoría y que será dado a conocer en un gran concierto que se realizará el próximo 24 de septiembre a las 8 de la noche, en el Glenn Gould Studio, del 250 Front Street West. Para los que no conocen a esta cantante, ganadora en los premios Artista Latina del Año en el 2003, por su voz, Eliana Cuevas ha realizado una carrera ascendente desde que se inició cantando en diferentes afamados sitios nocturnos de Toronto, en donde con su música logró conectarse inmediatamente, no solo con el público de habla hispana, sino con todos aquellos que tenían la suerte de escucharla.

Con las ganas de éxito, pero más que nada con el deseo de dar a conocer su música, esta artista nacida en Caracas, tiene en sus composiciones esa misma mezcla que hace tan diferente a la ciudad que la vio nacer como cantante, Toronto, porque tiene ritmos latinos, con sonidos africanos, algo de jazz, mucho de son cubano y brasileño, algunas son acompañadas de violines, guitarras, maracas y el cajón, un instrumento de percusión utilizado especialmente en el flamenco, pasando también por ese sonido que hace especial a la música de los llanos venezolanos.

Esa mezcla, se nota claramente en cada una de sus canciones que contiene el CD, titulado Eliana Cuevas Ventura, del cual se realizará el lanzamiento en un evento de gala, que contara no sólo con la interpretación de la artista, sino con el respaldo de los grandes músicos de diferentes partes del mundo, que ayudaron en la creación de esta obra discográfica.
Una de las características que también demuestra el empuje de esta latina y la credibilidad que tiene sus música, es que el gobierno canadiense patrocinó la producción de su CD, por intermedio de los auxilios que dan para apoyar las creaciones artísticas.

En los últimos meses esta venezolana, ha logrado penetrar en gran parte del público canadiense, porque su música la ha llevado a diferentes puntos del país, en donde en cada concierto demuestra, no solo que nació para la música, sino que el ritmo latino que lleva en la sangre le sale por todos sus poros a la hora de pararse en un escenario y frente a un público, ávido de buena música.
Eliana tiene una formación artística, que le permite pasar con gran facilidad de la música en español, al portugués y terminar con canciones en inglés, es tal su diversidad que en su nuevo CD, una de las canciones fue compuesta por ella primero en inglés y luego fue pasada al español.

"Para mí eso fue un gran paso, escribir en inglés, pero esa canción en especial, Rompe mi alma, siempre fue pensada en inglés y luego se pasó al español" dijo la artista.
Agregó que por ahora está concentrada en realizar presentaciones en Canadá y ganar el mercado norteamericano, pero que espera pronto poder ir a compartir su música con todos los latinos, en cada uno de sus países, especialmente en Venezuela en donde ella espera encontrar el respaldo de sus compatriotas.
Estudiante de música en Venezuela, Eliana vino a Canadá estudiar en la universidad de Toronto, de donde se graduó en artes y estudios iberoamericanos, pero paralelo a ello, la artista continuó con la música, logrando que fuera invitada a cantar con artistas reconocidos como Joée, Latín-jazz unit Cruzao, el grupo de reggae Tabarruk, la banda Cassava, el grupo de salsa Marrón Matizado, el grupo de Ritmo Azul, el guitarrista de flamenco Jorge Miguel, la banda de salsa Cache y el grupo brasileño Pedras da Rua, entre otros.
Para Eliana uno de los pilares más fuertes de su carrera ha sido su mamá, quien no sólo la respalda en este proyecto que se hace realidad ahora, sino que la anima a que siga adelante con su carrera artística, pero también su padre, que aunque ya muerto, ha sido una fuerte influencia para esta cantante, tanto que una de sus canciones es un poema que escribió su padre para enamorar a su esposa, y que ella le compuso la música, siento esta una de las melodías más especiales para la artista.
"Para mí todos los que me rodean, hacen parte de este resultado artístico, mi madre, mis músicos, mis amigos, mi novio, y mi público, por eso para todos ellos es mi música", dijo la cantante.

Lo que vive y siente la artista

Para dar una versión más cercana a lo que es y siente la cantante, El Popular, retomando los nombres de cada una de las canciones de su nuevo CD, realizó esta entrevista rápida con la artista.

El Popular: ¿Qué es el Perdón?
Eliana Cuevas: Es importante saber arrepentirse, saber perdonar y saber pedir perdón cuando uno se equivoca.
E.P.: ¿Tu Objetivo?
E.C: La vida está llena de etapas y de cambios así que uno siempre tiene que trazarse nuevas metas y objetivos. Lo más importante para mí es conseguir el balance entre todos ellos.
E.P: ¿Qué le significa una Luna Llena?
E.C: Para mí es sinónimo de pasión incontrolable y quizás irracional.
E.P: ¿Qué es lo Irracional en Eliana?
E.C: Todos los seres humanos podemos ser irracionales y yo considero que eso a veces es algo muy positivo.
E.P: ¿Cuáles son tus sueños?
E.C: Es bueno soñar, pero es aún mucho mejor despertar y conocer la realidad.
E.P: ¿El samba la llama?
E.C: De esta canción sólo puedo decir una cosa: estoy enamorada de la música brasileña.
E.P: ¿Qué fue un Nuevo Idioma?
E.C: Ese es el que le escribió mi papá a mi mamá.
E.P: ¿Un Susurro del aire?
E.C: Todos tenemos una conexión con la naturaleza y a veces solo nos damos cuenta de eso cuando estamos totalmente alejados de otros seres humanos.
E.P: Sus mejores Treinta Horas
E.C: Las mejores treinta horas que recuerdo en este momento me llenaron de sorpresas y las viví llenas de espontaneidad.
E.P: ¿Qué le Rompe el alma?
E.C: A veces vale la pena arriesgarlo todo por un minuto de gloria.

THE LATIN TOUCH

Alliston Herald Newspaper

2004-02-06

"The Latin touch -- The Millpond centre swayed to the sound of Latin
jazz Saturday as the Eliana Cuevas quartet performed to a sold-out
crowd. The Venezuelan-born, Toronto-based singer, soothed..."

SOL A SOLID SUCCESS

Fiesta del Sol's founder says the Latin music fest has proved itself and there'll definitely be more.

James Reaney, Arts & Entertainment
Columnist
London Free Press

2003-09-01

“… Some day, the first Fiesta del Sol will also be remembered for bringing Toronto Latin jazz singer Eliana Cuevas' group to London. The Venezuelan-born Cuevas writes much of her own material. Even when Cuevas sings a standard, her approach is original.

Her afternoon set at the north stage closed with a completely fresh approach to Girl From Ipanema. The arrangement had beautiful passages with Cuevas singing wordlessly in a duet with trumpet/flugelhorn player Bob Rice, a Toronto musician who has worked with London performer Grant Smith.

Like many other fine singers, Cuevas can sound like a horn so it was fun trying to pick which of the intertwined lines were the vocalist's and which were the brass player's.

Cuevas also had a Cuban pianist who had played London before with a fine Latin singer. Luis Guerra, 20, had played a Sunfest Presents concert at the Hilton London hotel with Cuban jazz singer Mayra Caridad Valdes as a teenager… He is playing as well with Cuevas as he did with the Cuban star.”