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Chilean singer brings 'individualistic' sound to U.S.
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Knoxville News-Sentinel, Chilean singer brings 'individualistic' sound to U.S. >>
By Wayne Bledsoe
Chilean singer Mariana Montalvo is having a little trouble understanding questions in English.
"French is no problem. Italian is no problem. English is difficult, but I'm getting better," says Montalvo over a cell phone.
The United States is a new country to conquer. An exile from Chile, her native country, Montalvo has been a resident of France since 1973, when Gen. Augusto Pinochet took control of Chile in a military coup, ousting democratically elected Marxist president Salvador Allende (Allende committed suicide to avoid being taken prisoner). As death squads began rounding up anyone not in support of Pinochet, musicians and artists fled en masse. Celebrated poet Victor Jara was one of many who did not escape and was executed by the Pinochet regime.
"The experience was sad, and I was very young," says Montalvo. "I had to do it, but I didn't want to. I had to leave Chile, but I keep Chile in my heart."
Montalvo began guitar lessons at the age of 8, and she needed no encouragement to sing.
"For us, it is natural to sing, always," she says. "Also, for me, the guitar is part of my body. I always have two or three guitars in my home."
In high school, she began performing in local festivals.
"I began singing songs of other people, but then I began to sing my own songs," she says. Montalvo also began taking Latin American poems and setting them to music -- a practice she has continued through today. Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945, remains a favorite source for Montalvo's music.
After moving to Paris, Montalvo began performing in local nightspots as well as integrating the music of other countries into her work. In addition to instruments, melodies and rhythms from other Latin American countries, she has adapted African elements into her work.
"I make now my own pictures," she says. "It's very individualistic."
Montalvo is currently on tour with "Putumayo Presents Latinas: Women of Latin America" with Colombian artist Toto La Momposina and Brazilian artist Belo Velloso.
"We make a good mixture," says Montalvo. "We didn't know each other before, but we get along well. You always learn from other artists."
So far, she has been happy with her reception in the United States.
"I'm completely unknown in the United States, but the response is good," she says. "After the shows, lots of people buy my records."
And if someone doesn't like her music, Montalvo isn't too concerned.
"There are people who don't like Picasso. There are people who don't like Frank Zappa," she says. "I don't worry about it."
'PUTUMAYO PRESENTS LATINAS: WOMEN OF LATIN AMERICA'
* With: Mariana Montalvo, Toto La Momposina and Belo Velloso
* Where: University Center Auditorium
* When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30
* Tickets: $20, plus service charges, available at Tickets Unlimited outlets, 865-656-4444 10/22/04
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