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the thing about Juanes

He’s a Colombian Rocker with a dark streak,
a heart of gold and an unwavering style. But how did Juanes get so big?

By Daniel Eilemberg

Esteban Aristizábal is an hour and a half late when he walks into the Hit Factory studios in Miami. Politely introducing himself, in a whisper, and simply as Juanes, he apologizes for his tardiness. He sounds sincere, and is visibly uncomfortable with the attention cast upon him.
He’s not particularly tall, or physically imposing. Clad in jeans and a red, loose-fitting University of Hawaii T-shirt—a place I know he didn’t attend—and with his measured, thick paisa accent, characteristic of his native Medellín, Colombia, he comes across as surprisingly low-key and down to earth for a rock star.
Looking at him, it’s hard to tell if the modesty he projects stems from hardships in his personal life. This past spring, People en Español reported his separation from wife, actress and model Karen Martínez. Later reports suggested the couple was back together.
Or perhaps Juanes has yet to realize how far he’s come since his days as front man of Ekhymosis, the rock band he formed in his native Medellín and later disbanded to start his solo career. The band helped garner him national recognition in Colombia, if little beyond its borders.
Or maybe he realizes his fame and just doesn’t care. At least not the way other celebrities care.
Most likely, though, Juanes knows—and cares—but simply refuses to change. And it is perhaps this stubbornness, or authenticity, that has helped make the Colombian singer a sensation world-over.
His previous album, Mi Sangre (My Blood), released in September 2004, sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. It topped radio and sales charts in 41 countries—a feat accomplished only by a select few Latin American-born artists.
Juanes plays his own brand of Latin rock, and sometimes pop. And while authentic, his music is also commercial at heart. Yet the thing about Juanes is that his lyrics, exclusively in Spanish, are intimately personal and interwoven with social commentary that is often impassionedly nationalistic. These are all qualities that most cross-over artists have learned to do without.
His composing style is just as unique, devoid of the kind of processing and packaging that other artists are often subject to.
“My composing is rather disorganized and improvised,” says the 35-year-old singer. “I start with the melodies using an acoustic guitar and my voice. Later, the lyrics come from ideas that attract me or things I’ve collected around—images, thoughts.
“But in the end,” he continues, “ it all starts with a feeling, whether that is love or the loss of it, fear, frustration, hope.”
His latest album is no different. And neither is Juanes.

Life Is...
“Life, for me, is a road you travel,” he says, leaning on the technician’s console in the recording studio as he discusses the title of his new album, La vida...es un ratico (Life is ... just a moment.)
“You stop along the way, you pick people up, and drop them off. And the same happens with moments and experiences; you pick them up as you go along. So this album is a compilation of those moments and instances of life,” he says before previewing his latest album for Hispanic.
Juanes relaxes as the beats begin filtering through the studio. More in his element showcasing his music than speaking to journalists, he allows himself to sway to the rhythms, bobbing his head, relishing in the outcome of months of hard work.
The beats are a return to basics, with simpler rock instrumentation mixed with traditional Latin rhythms and clearly discernible Colombian influences. Me Enamore, the first single to be released, features a funky ‘70s beat, Caribbean rhythms and a wonderful guitar solo, all perfectly blended with intimately personal lyrics.
“In doing this record I faced reality face to face. I faced my fears and who I am as a human being,” Juanes says.
Three songs in particular comprise the core of the album’s socially charged themes, two of them collaborations with international artists. Bandera de Manos (Flag of Hands) is a partnership with Campino (Andreas Frege), the front man of German punk outfit Die Toten Hosen. Minas Piedras (Mines Stones), a song about the use of antipersonnel mines in Colombia, is a duet with Argentine rocker Andrés Calamaro.
It is also his fourth collaboration with two-time Oscar-winning composer and producer Gustavo Santaolalla, with whom Juanes has worked throughout his solo career, and who deserves at least part of the credit for the rocker’s global success.
“We’ve worked together for seven years and four albums,” Juanes says. “Besides being a great friend, I’ve learned a lot from Gustavo.”
These collaborations are not premeditated marketing strategies, as they have become for so many artists looking to expand into new markets. For one thing, Santaolalla has always been Juanes’ producer. Meanwhile, Campino may be well known in Germany, but Juanes was already a household name there since his 2004 release of his single La Camisa Negra. Finally, Calamaro has a long musical history throughout Latin America, where Juanes is already a high-profile performer. In the end, None of the collaborations will translate to playtime for the album in the U.S. Instead, they lend credibility to the advancement of Juanes’ social causes. And that is as much a part of Juanes’ act as anything else.
Good Work
About a year and a half ago Juanes focused his efforts in what would become the Fundación Mi Sangre, which, translated into English, means the My Blood Foundation, named after his most successful album to date. The foundation’s primary goal is to help rehabilitate land-mine victims in Colombia, a cause that has inspired Juanes’ work since his first solo album, Fijate Bien, which loosely translates to Take a Good Look. Land mines are a favored tool of guerrila factions who used the weapons to prevent government-led armed forces and paramilitaries from infiltrating their grounds.
Primarily, the foundation helps victims through a process of psychological rehabilitation, followed by education and labor training to allow them to re-integrate as productive members of society.
“Colombia is the country with the highest number of landmine victims in the world,” Juanes says. “They claim three victims per day, many of them children and most of them civilians.”
While Colombia has seen major security improvements during the administration of President Alvaro Uribe, whose re-election campaign Juanes ardently supported, Colombia still tops countries like Afghanistan and Cambodia in landmine victims.
“Antipersonnel landmines are easy to manufacture from cheap, readily available materials,” reads a report issued by Human Rights Watch on July 25. “When [a victim] suffers a landmine injury, [their] whole lives are seriously affected. The incident not only causes physical effects, but also often impacts their mental health, their ability to support themselves and their families.”
It’s a complicated situation, but one Juanes feels strongly about. “The most important thing right now is to keep educating and capacitating victims,” he says. “We also have a great educational program through music, for children under 5 years old. The only solution [to Colombia’s armed unrest] is to invest in the seeds, so years later when those children grow up and become men they won’t take up arms.”
It’s a noble scheme, even more so when conveyed with such wishful enthusiasm. And it’s a start. So far, Juanes has been able to raise funds for the foundation, but most importantly he’s been able to leverage his recognition for a greater cause. For that he was named by TIME as one of the 100 most influential people in the World in 2005, and in 2006 he was awarded the L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, (Knight in the order of Arts and Letters), the highest cultural honor given by France.
While the recogniton is nice, it is not the reason he continues to fight. “The most important thing is to sensitize people and educate them about the problem,” a job Juanes has taken into his own hands. “And if they want to help then [they can] get involved, as citizens, politically and socially. Of course, like any cause, it also needs funding, so that’s another way of lending a hand. There are many ways in which people can help.”
Surprisingly, the United States continues to ignore the cause. Unlike Canada, Australia and every country in Europe, Central and South America, the U.S. has refused to join the some 157 countries in signing the Ottawa Treaty—also known as the Mine Ban Treaty—which effectively prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of all Antipersonnel mines.
“For a country like the United States to continue to fabricate these arms is truly discomforting,” Juanes says.

Different, but the same
La vida ... es un ratico is really about a moment in life—specifically, a moment in the life of Juan Esteban Aristizábal, or Juanes. It encompasses all that he is today: his personal hardships and his public plight, his hopes and his fears. It’s a return to a younger, hard-rocking Juanes, yet infinitely more mature, grounded, and less naïve in its outlook. It’s an improved version of the previous records, but uncompromisingly authentic to its roots.
“It’s a place where my music had never been before,” says Juanes, “and where it would never have arrived had it not been for the previous albums.”
And tonight, as he walks into the studio, you can almost hear the lyrics just by looking at him.

Juanes’ Most Recent Musical Buys
Andrés Calamaro
Soda Stéreo
Caetano Veloso
Silvio Rodríguez
Café Tacuba
Miguel Bosé

LifeLine

August 9, 1972
Juan Esteban Aristizabal is born in Medellín, Colombia

1988
Starts the metal band
Ekhymosis.

1998
Disbands the group to pursue a solo career.

October 2000
Releases his solo debut Fijate Bien (Take a Good Look), his first collaboration with producer Gustavo Santaolalla. The album earned him three Latin Grammys, and Juanes performed at the award show.

October 2001
Wins three Latin Grammys for Best New Artist, Best Rock Solo Vocal Album and Best Rock Song.

February 2002
Earns international recognition when A Dios le Pido (I Ask God), the first single from his second album Un Dia Normal (A Normal Day) debuts in radio airwaves. The song becomes an instant hit, topping charts in twelve countries in three continents. The album spent 92 weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, set a new record and spent a total of two years on the chart.

October 2003
This time Juanes takes home five Latin Grammy Awards including ones for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year.

Septmeber 2004
Releases Mi Sangre (My Blood). It debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums and produces three consecutive No. 1 singles, which held the top chart position for a combined six months.

2005
Fundacion Mi Sangre is born. Juanes is named one of TIME’s 100 most influential in the world.

October 2005
Adds three more Latin Grammy Awards to his collection, bringing his career total to nine.

December 9, 2005
Performs La Camisa Negra during the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final Draw evening.

2006
Records
The Shadows of Your Smile with Tony Bennett for Bennett’s album Duets: An American Classic.

July 19, 2006
Awarded L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France.

April 19, 2006
Performs before the European Parliament to raise awareness against the use of land mines.

May 2007
Releases his latest album La Vida es un Ratico.