Frogtoon Music

Voces Por Patagonia (Album) by Juanafé

Artist Biography For Juanafé

Juana Fe Is A Musical Band But Their Fundamentals Their Inspiration And Their Ways Of Working Transcend The Strictly Artistic And They Are - For That Reason - One Of The Most Striking Projects Of The Chilean Music Scene Of The 2000s. Known Massively For Their 2007 Song "Callejero" The Group Develops Chilean And Continental Tropical Sounds Has Performed Extensively In Chile And Has Travelled Abroad Several Times. In 2014 The Band's Founder And Singer Juanito Ayala Left The Band's Label And Studio La Makinita. Without Him The Group Incorporated A New Voice And Has Continued With Its History. The Band Was Born As A Restlessness Of Percussionist And Singer Juan Ayala And Bassist Jaime Concha Both Members Of Mal De Chagas Until 2002. The Influence Of Musicians Such As The Latin-French Sargento García At A Time When These Sounds Had Hardly Any Echoes In Chile Led Them To Seek Musical Paths Less Restricted To Rock. Together With Guitarist Gonzalo Diablo Ibáñez They Consolidated A Creative Nucleus And Began To Call Themselves Juana Fe. The Name Was Inspired By The Character Of "Mrs. Juanita" Recurrently Quoted By President Ricardo Lagos In A Reference That They Found Derogatory "The Name Is A Response To That Bullshit Of Devaluing Popular Knowledge. To Call Her Mrs Juanita Is To Laugh At Her And That's Why We Call Ourselves Juana Fe" Says Juan Ayala. Street Musicians And Pachangueros
The Three Of Them Were University Students But They Decided That In Order To Carry Out Their Musical Project They Had To Commit Themselves To It Full Time. Thus In Open Inspiration To The History Of Los Jaivas They Decided To Live In Community. Throughout 2003 They Worked Intensely Selling Soy Hamburgers In University Circuits And With The Money They Raised They Rented A 12-Room House In The Barrio Brasil. There They Set Up Their Rehearsal Room And Their Own Residence And On New Year's Day 2004 They Debuted As A Band In The Same Place. The Arrival Of Keyboardist Rodrigo Rojas In March 2004 Sealed Their Formation Which Already Included Two Percussionists. The Application To A Fondo De La Música From The State-Owned Consejo De La Cultura Allowed Them To Record Their First Album. The Lyrics Were Nourished By A Memory Workshop In The Northern Part Of Santiago Where Juan Ayala Is From "Thanks To That We Got To Know The Old Inhabitants Of That Area And We Got Into The Heart Of What Allende's Government Was Like. We Saw People Like The Leader Of La Pincoya Luzmenia Toro Who Is An Example Of Señora Juana" Says Ayala. Recorded With The Production Of Cuban Musician David Ortega The Album Was Called Con Los Pies En El Barrio And Had A Unique Promotional Tour. As Part Of The State Programme "Gobierno Más Cerca" The Group Visited 20 Peripheral Towns But Had What They Call Their "first Defeat". "Before Us A Reggaeton Group Used To Play Before 500 People. We Realised That We Were Playing More For Ourselves Than For Them " Explains Ayala. It Was Then That Juana Fe Decided To Move Closer To Cumbia.
The Knowledge Of Groups Like The Cuequeros Los Trukeros Or The Chilean-Colombian Combo Sindicato Sonoro Led Them To Coin A New Concept To Define Their Music Afro Rumba Chilenera Which Was The Name Of Their Second Album And The Reason For An Unexpected Massiveness The Song "Callejero" - The Affectionate Portrait Of A Street Vendor Included In That Album - Became A Popular Hit Even Reaching The Stage Of The Viña Festival. A Small Performance In Any Case Eight Minutes Given By Giolito Y Su Combo During Their Performance In 2008. The Unstoppable Little Machine
That Brief Appearance Allowed Them To Increase Their Live Schedule Throughout Chile On A Path That Later Multiplied With Trips Abroad. Since August 2008 When They Left Chile For The First Time To Perform In Buenos Aires They Have Been To Europe Cuba Mexico With An Average Of More Than Ten Shows A Month Combining Free And Paid Shows. "We Are The Band That Performs The Most For Free In Chile" Says Juan Ayala. During The Second Half Of 2009 They Recorded Their Third Album La Makinita Where They Expanded Their Sounds Cumbias But Also Salsa Some Hip Hop Guerrillero Oculto Participates In One Track Latin Sounds And A Lot Of Social Criticism "Vamos Con Fuerza Pa' La Calle / Fuego En La Barricada / Y Que El Bombo No Pare" They Say In "Bombo Y Guitarra". "They Come With Good Intentions / They Talk About Democracy / With Bullets And Cannons" They Declaim In "Yankee Man". "Who Threw The Bullet For Víctor Jara / Nobody Saw His Face / The One Who Fired It / And The One Who Gave The Orders" They Ask In "La Bala". A Poem By Mauricio Redolés And A Saucy And Notable Cover Of Violeta Parra's "La Jardinera" Are The Other Ingredients Of The Band's Third Album Which Has Received A Lot Of Radio Airplay And Is Already Considered One Of The Great Chilean Music Groups Of The New Millennium. Their Intense Live Activity In Chile And Abroad Is Precisely The Confirmation Of This Status. In 2014 However Juana Fe Faced A Significant Change When Singer Juan Ayala Began A Solo Career And As He Said "passed To The Bench" Of Juana Fe. His Departure Meant A Process Of Reflection In The Band And The Incorporation Of A New Singer Pablo Moraga From The Bolero Group La Flor Del Recuerdo Who Made His Debut In December 2014 On The Album Parilladas Vargas. That Album Was Defined By Them As "experimental" And Is The Record Of A Concert In The Courtyard Of Their Label La Makinita With Two Ambient Microphones And A Latin American Repertoire More Relaxed Than The Rhythms That Distinguish The Band. At The End Of 2015 They Took A New Step They Brought Their Fourth Album Forward With The Joyful Merengue "La Carretera" Which Showed That The Group's Creative Activity Was On The Move Again. Two New Singles Anticipated The Release Of The Album Maleducao Which Did Not Include "La Carretera" And Which They Began To Show Live In November 2016. The Story Of Juana Fe Is Still Being Written.

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