On tour with her recently released album, El hombre invisible (2009), nominated for best alternative album at the 11th Annual Latin Grammy’s, Ely Guerra shares a little about her creative process with the album, her intense fervor as a young girl, her love of making elegant perfumes. Acclaimed as one of México’s most profound songwriters, her work has appeared on several México’s premier film soundtracks such as Amores Perros and the recent compilation, Bi Mexicano: Nuestros Clásicos Hechos Rock, that offers new takes on classical Mexican folk songs.
Tell us about your recent album. What was your process this go around? What are you celebrating?
The album started as a creative collaboration. The process was beautiful. This is the first collaborative album I’ve done. For me, this creative process was a real collaboration because it was a sort of harmonious inspiration. It wasn’t just that the artists came to make music with me, it was that they were inspisring me every step of the way. All my creative projects come from a place of self-actualization. I don’t’ just write from a formula. We are always in a process of creating. All my projects have this sort of virtue. This honesty that comes from the fact that we are always recreating ourselves. Always growing always changing. I think I need to speak generally in that way because you ask me what I’m celebrating, and well, this is what I celebrate. I don’t limit myself to what I’ve done before. I celebrate the constant change.
What plans are in store for your music?
For us as musicians, we feel honored to be going to another country with our music. It would be a lie for me to say I have all these plans for the future. Right now I’m concerned with this future happening now. We’re doing a tour in the US. That is what is the most important, the here and now. We’re taking the album directly to the fans, delivering it to fans’ hands and promoting as best we can.
Your father used to be the coach for Las Chivas? What role has your family played in your career?
I think sports is a discipline that keeps one healthy. My songs are my voice. And finding myself was easier because of the discipline that came from my parents and my childhood. My parents were hesitant about my career, like any parents would be. I am the first musician in my family. It’s not that they readily accepted what I was choosing to do with my life, but over time they’ve really supported me. I hear other musicians who speak badly about their parents saying no my parents never helped me or whatever. I’m not like that. My parents understood that this was something I had to do.
So how did you get started in the music business?
I started writing songs when I was nine and haven’t stopped. I know I was a very intense child. When I read back to what I wrote at 9,10,11, I can see the intensity the ways in which I was different from my peers. When I was 16, I was offered my first job in the music industry and it was then that I realized that maybe I could make a carrer out of this, that I could pursue my music professionally. Back then you couldn’t make a cd at home on your computer, you had to go somewhere and find someone to help you out, give you a hand.
What music was around you growing up?
In my family there weren’t really musicians. My father had a love for Brazilian music. The music that came to my ears was that kind of fine music, and it probably has influenced me greatly. In my family, music wasn’t a priority. In that sence there wasn’t too much of an influence.
You said you don’t’ like talking about the future…
Well when I say I don’t’ like taking about the future I just mean in that I don’t know what’s going to happen next, what my next project will be. “esperame, no?” I just finished an album [light laughter].
On tour with her recently released album, El hombre invisible (2009), nominated for best alternative album at the 11th Annual Latin Grammy’s, Ely Guerra shares a little about her creative process with the album, her intense fervor as a young girl, her love of making elegant perfumes. Acclaimed as one of México’s most profound songwriters, her work has appeared on several México’s premier film soundtracks such as Amores Perros and the recent compilation, Bi Mexicano: Nuestros Clásicos Hechos Rock, that offers new takes on classical Mexican folk songs.
Tell us about your recent album. What was your process this go around? What are you celebrating?
The album started as a creative collaboration. The process was beautiful. This is the first collaborative album I’ve done. For me, this creative process was a real collaboration because it was a sort of harmonious inspiration. It wasn’t just that the artists came to make music with me, it was that they were inspisring me every step of the way. All my creative projects come from a place of self-actualization. I don’t’ just write from a formula. We are always in a process of creating. All my projects have this sort of virtue. This honesty that comes from the fact that we are always recreating ourselves. Always growing always changing. I think I need to speak generally in that way because you ask me what I’m celebrating, and well, this is what I celebrate. I don’t limit myself to what I’ve done before. I celebrate the constant change.
What plans are in store for your music?
For us as musicians, we feel honored to be going to another country with our music. It would be a lie for me to say I have all these plans for the future. Right now I’m concerned with this future happening now. We’re doing a tour in the US. That is what is the most important, the here and now. We’re taking the album directly to the fans, delivering it to fans’ hands and promoting as best we can.
Your father used to be the coach for Las Chivas? What role has your family played in your career?
I think sports is a discipline that keeps one healthy. My songs are my voice. And finding myself was easier because of the discipline that came from my parents and my childhood. My parents were hesitant about my career, like any parents would be. I am the first musician in my family. It’s not that they readily accepted what I was choosing to do with my life, but over time they’ve really supported me. I hear other musicians who speak badly about their parents saying no my parents never helped me or whatever. I’m not like that. My parents understood that this was something I had to do.
So how did you get started in the music business?
I started writing songs when I was nine and haven’t stopped. I know I was a very intense child. When I read back to what I wrote at 9,10,11, I can see the intensity the ways in which I was different from my peers. When I was 16, I was offered my first job in the music industry and it was then that I realized that maybe I could make a carrer out of this, that I could pursue my music professionally. Back then you couldn’t make a cd at home on your computer, you had to go somewhere and find someone to help you out, give you a hand.
What music was around you growing up?
In my family there weren’t really musicians. My father had a love for Brazilian music. The music that came to my ears was that kind of fine music, and it probably has influenced me greatly. In my family, music wasn’t a priority. In that sence there wasn’t too much of an influence.
You said you don’t’ like talking about the future…
Well when I say I don’t’ like taking about the future I just mean in that I don’t know what’s going to happen next, what my next project will be. “esperame, no?” I just finished an album [light laughter].
What other creative avenues do you explore?
I would like to have food play a bigger role in my life. I love to cook. There are many things I would love to do pero me falta el tiempo. I wish for more time to be able to fit everything else. I also make perfumes. Making perfumes is like making music, you have to hit the right note. It’s very intense and satisfying. I’d love to open up my own line of perfumes and creams one day.
Catch Ely Guerra live:
Ely Guerra (Hombre Invisible Tour)
Sept. 25, 2010
Republic
1520 N Fremont St
Chicago, IL 60622