Sometimes Berita misses those days when everything was simpler: arrive in a club or G street, take his guitar and get to "play", without any other concern than feeling good, vent out his sorrows, sing what he thinks of life, love, the world … Share his songs and sing other’s, sometimes with a harmonica, without further payment than the applause, a drink, a kiss …
Now Adrian Berazaín is one of the most publicized and sought troubadours of the moment, is responsible for a band, with full administrative responsibility that it entails: it is strenuous, but his colleagues taught him that "the master’s eye fattens the horse”. He is a busy artist, but with good memory. In fact, he remembered me a decade after the we met at the Atrapando Espacios club, when I aspired to be a journalist, and he dreamed of becoming like his idols…
Have you always liked music?
When I was in high school, playing guitar and singing was of nerds. I did some humor, but the music did not interest me. My father (the comedian Antonio Berazaín) tried to teach me to play guitar, but I did not pay much attention. But as a teenager I was kind of a geek, had long hair and wore sandals and shorts. Trova, none. I liked the Charanga, the El Medico de la Salsa, Paulo FG … At that time I also liked the style of Gianluca Grignani,and look, I recently played with him in the Yara theater.
So you went to the Lenin Vocational …
There I became interested in the guitar. It was 1998, and seeing others my age were playing in public motivated me, because well, so I didn’t have to go to the lines. In the first pass, I asked my dad to teach me some chords. Soon I started to play in the events, almost always accompanied, I didn’t use to sing. I started singing in the Military. But from my times in high school I started composing.
How did you start playing the harmonica?
I had a very old guitar in the Lenin school, and no case. I used to wrap it in a sack and tied with a belt. But it was an ordeal to come to school and then leave with that package, plus clothes and food, so I left it at home, and to maintain my status as a musician, I began to carry an harmonica stored in a pocket. I still have my first harmonica, one that I spoiled as a child, because I put it in the bathtub with water and soap. I practiced a lot, heard old recordings, I discovered that there was a world of harmony, and are as different as a tres or a bass guitar. Nearly all have flat harmonica, typical amateur. I use the 10 holes one, of blues, as Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Santiago Feliu do. I also play the chromatic one, in the Broken Hearts Club, and in Si te hago canción, the theme for the movie Fable. When I finished Lenin school, my first jobs were as a professional harmonica player. I played it for Liuba María Hevia in the telenovela El Balcón de los Helechos. And I fulfilled my dream of playing it to Frank Delgado on Cuando se vaya la luz mi negra…
Why trova?
I guess that was what I listened to the most. They say that whether you take the path of José José, or Silvio Rodriguez. I chose Silvio’s, perhaps because I wanted to be different in a time when everyone was jumping with Backstreetboys. I’m not as radical to pop anymore, because for many pop is somewhat simplistic, but remember that the music of great ones like Michael Jackson and Sting is pop rock. And I want to do something that serious, relatively speaking.
When did you start making music "seriously"?
Since the time I was at Lenin School I became interested to enter the Hermano Sainz Association. In their presentations I met troubadours as Fernando Becquer, Diego Cano and Samuel Aguila, they introduced me to the Centro Pablo. I said, "Well, if I can write songs now, when I would be their age I have to be good." All were older than me, Bécquer is 13 years my older, Samuel 10. Then I met others my age who also wrote songs. When I was in the military I founded “La Séptima Cuerda “ (the seventh string), a club I used to do with Mauricio Figueral, Juan Carlos Suárez, Liliana Hector …we used to invite over lesser-known singers, but they wrote too good songs.
How do you get to Frank Delgado?
Through the harmonica. We were at a party and he saw me. I heard a lot of his Trovatur album. The first time we played together Cuando se vaya la luz… was at the newly remodeled Amadeo Roldán … I learned a lot in the three years I worked with him. For me, Frank is the troubadour of his generation who has captured the best our Creole roots. He and Bécquer have been my mentors, I have always asked them for advice when I have doubts. I have also learned from David Blanco and people of Buena Fe Everyone has something to teach, and most of them, they have a position for their talent.
What do you prefer, guitar or harmonica?
I don’t prefer one over the other. Lately I worry about singing better.
There is another place in addition to Lenin school that inspires you…
Yes, the G Street. At least once a month I try to go to rave there. Before I did it every day but ever since work prevents me from doing it. If I have a presentation I can’t be in G till dawn because I would lose my voice. I’ve always loved the atmosphere of the underground, but I try to be normal …
In addition to the disk (Como los locos), people start to know you for your videos …
I studied graphic design, and I have connections that facilitate my making of audiovisual products. In fact, my first video clip (Poor heart) I filmed it on the roof of ISDI, with a camera borrowed from a student friend of mine. It was directed by another student, and then he worked in postproduction with Birko Cuervo. It didn’t achieve much relevance, but it was the first. I showed it to Carlos Varela, and he asked me, surprised, when I had released that record. It was nice, because still without a disc, and I already had a video. Year or so after, we filmed the Broken Hearts Club, with Claudia Corrales, and with a bigger budget, but still with a lot of confidence and friendships. That year it won the Lucas Trova, and the song echoed. Then came the blockbuster with Ismar Rodriguez, la Estacion. I wanted to make a video with lots of special effects, and that year it won the Lucas in that category. In 2012 I released two videos, Se enamora and Si te hago canción.
When will you have the second album?
Making a record in Cuba is very difficult, because there are many musicians and few labels. There is an independent production, but it is still expensive.
Before you were identified by the glasses, the hat now…
I used to have glasses, but I had the eye operation. Now I wear a hat as Jason Mash. The image may change, but not the line of work. The Beatles when they began wore suits and ended with long hairs and hippies.
How do you handle the transition from solo to group leader?
It is quite complicated. Now I am learning what it is to lead a group, pay the musicians, keep respect and harmony. Luckily I have a Marcos Alonso, who besides being one of the best guitarists of Cuba, is a top producer. He asked me to defend my music with a band, by the same trends that I have to rock and roll and pop rock. I entered the music business with a group, and with them I try to make as many performances as possible.
What’s the best part of fame?
It is nice to listen to and watch yourself, or hearing somebody singing a song of yours. Then I remember when I was a kid and sang other people’s songs. And I feel everything makes sense
Author
Charly Morales Valido
