|
|
|
|
Donato & Estefano
As a duet or as individual composers, Donato and Estefano have turned themselves into the tip of the spear of Latin pop. Only few times will history register the case of two personalities whose working chemistry complements itself in, such an amazing manner as in the case of these two geniuses, still in development and who, despite their achievements to date, continue to look forward to their best years.
From the moment of their encounter, Donato and Estefano didn't have to think twice to realize their respective musical ideas complemented themselves in a way that would enable them to start composing together immediately. The results have never ceased to amaze the public. Their first album, "Mar Adentro" (Offshore) (1995) was a surprise which revealed not only two first class composers and interpreters, but also a new way of understanding and developing music as innovative and as expressive of the culture it represents. "Sin Tí" (Without You), "Naturaleza" (Nature), "Y Bailo" (And I Dance), "Mar Adentro" (Offshore), "Toma Tu Tiempo y Sueña" (Take Your Time and Dream), "Estoy Enamorado" (I'm In Love), etc., are some of the jewels which have retained their brilliance and value despite the passage of time.
Donato and Estefano are two genuine creators, two artists who, since childhood were totally absorbed and consumed by the sources of their culture and their music. All of their compositions are, even without pretending it, impregnated with such a profound Latin character that it becomes impossible to disconnect them from the whole of a musical tradition unfolded through centuries of cross breeding, evolution and the establishment of the bases which conform the Latin spirit; a spirit whose energy, vitality and humanism are, in our days, envied by other cultures.
On their second album, "Entre la Línea del Bien y el Mal" (Between the Line of Good and Evil) (1997) Donato and Estefano went deep into grounds closer to international pop, as if trying to look for new sounds in which to clothe the apparent innocence of Latin pop. "My Dios y Mi Cruz" (My God and My Cross), "Ya te perdoné" (I Already Forgave You) or the song that gave the album its title, were deeply felt themes, inspired on the most authentic of Latin American traditions. Airs of boleros, montunos, cumbias and ballenatos beats sprinkle the album among synthesized sounds and electronic beats. This is pure Donato and Estefano, served though in a different container which confused many and fascinated others. One way or another, the duet's second album contains some of the best songs written by Donato and Estefano throughout their career. It also displays an obvious eagerness to evolve and step above frontiers - less and less visible now - which stood in the way of understanding and producing music in both Spanish and English.
That one was, without a doubt, an album of transition and experimentation, but time will give it the musical value it doubtlessly has.
The amazing simplicity and ease which pervades the songs by Donato and Estefano are the product of their authenticity, of their creative spontaneity and of their remarkable capacity to translate the daily experiences of the individual into feelings and emotions, expressing them in rhythms which appeal directly to the public's collective subconscious. Together with their stories, imagery and words, their originality and quality, they are in the category of authentic literary poetry.
In Donato and Estefano are found all the elements inherent in the artist as well as in the genius: intuition, devotion, illusion, creativity and, of course, passion. A passion for life, for the world that surrounds them, for all that existence has to offer them, as well as an irrepressible urgency to tell - or sing - all about it. To turn all of it into an art which explains it to anyone who cares to listen or contemplate it. Such a confabulation, more than from themselves, appears to emerge from the music itself trying to manifest through two perfect channels who bring it to the public through their interpretations or in their compositions for well-known international interpreters such as Julio Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Chayanne, and José Luis Rodríguez, plus a long list of other prominent names.
DONATO
Born in Santiago de Cuba, Donato moved with his family to Havana at the age of two. The social reality of the island with its limitations and its isolation, had a double effect on the child who was beginning to discover the facts of life: on the one hand, his lack of understanding of what was happening around him and, on the other, the absence of minimal means of subsistence, elicited in Donato an ambiguous feeling about his country which persists until this day. His nearest way out was through music, at the age of eight he played guitar and sang in spite of the opposition of a father who considered the artistic world not an honest or virile way of earning one's living. But Donato persevered and, thanks to his extraordinary musical gifts, the state guaranteed him entrance into the national conservatory of music. His father, however, decided to register him in a military academy in order to give him a formation more in line with his own ideas.
At the military academy, Donato formed his own rock n' roll band, listening to the music from American radio stations from Miami who were heard on the island. Donato confesses that in those days he hated Cuban music, particularly that of Orquesta Aragon, a very popular group then. He found it repetitive, dated and boring. His thing was rock n' roll.
But it wasn't rock n' roll that brought him to tour the world and allowed him to eventually leave Cuba with permission of the authorities. In fact, it was Cuban music itself, specifically the New Trova Cubana which in those days was quite successfully being introduced to the world. His presence in a popular music festival in Havana, incorporated him in the movement, allowing him to travel to Spain, Belgium and Mexico as ambassador of the new Cuban music, with a professional title issued him by the corresponding government Ministry. Meanwhile, he finished his pedagogy studies and gave the diploma to his mother. In Havana he surrounds himself with artists, musicians, poets and other visionaries who gradually opened his eyes to Art, with capital letters. He also started to discover and listen to traditional Cuban music in a different way, slowly starting to identify with it. The reading of American poet Walt Whitman's opus represented for a while his spiritual and poetic guidance as well as his initiation into poetry and composition. "Yesterday", the popular Beatles' standard, and its author, Paul McCartney, became the paradigm of what he hoped some day to become.
|
|
|
|
