Stories from Asturian mythology, traditions and legends told by the oldest of that distant region, are reinterpreted by the singer Rodrigo Cuevas as part of the essence that gives rise to each of the letters that compose.
One of these stories is that of a deer turned into a man who is chased by his hunter in the middle of the forest, unable to avoid his fatal destiny. However, through the lens of his weapon, the hunter analyzes this strange being and is stunned by its beauty, falling completely in love with it. At that moment his impression reaches the most extreme level without him being able to avoid pulling the trigger, deflecting the shot towards a stone, but the bullet rebounds and finally hits the deer-man’s heart, causing his death.
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The above is recreated by the performer in the video of the song Casares, which is part of his most recent musical production, Pilgrimage Manual.
“The character of the deer turned into a man is known in Asturian mythology as busgosu, is a protector of the forest; He is the one who takes care of the plants and the trees, he is the enemy of the woodcutters and the hunters. Then mythology tells that the busgosu “She can kill the hunter with a kiss and that is why that love story is created,” explains Rodrigo in an exclusive interview.
The singer-songwriter performed in the past Cervantino Festival of Guanajuato as part of his international tour The Pilgrimage which included several cities in our country and then returned to Spain.
“The concert is a show in which I perform many songs that have to do with recreating aspects related to popular lyrics and there is always a lot of humor on stage, I really like to play around, there is a lot of playing around,” says the singer.
He describes his artistic concept as “a part of traditional Asturian imagery, and I base it on that, on the music of that region and in the traditional stories that the older people there tell me.
“Pilgrimage Manual is made up of ten topics, plus four interludes. My favorite song is “Valse”, I wrote it and it talks about the place where I live in Asturias, Spain, which is a village. I really liked how the album turned out, especially the way I managed to describe and narrate the place where I live, and I am very proud of it. It is a place where both the landscape and the characters make me feel very good, I found my place there.”
The theme of nature has been present as part of his constant inspiration and through the music It sends an important message to value and appreciate it again as your ancestors did.
“For me the issue of nature is very important, in the end we are all nature and we must follow the example of the people of ancient times who had greater respect for it; I think we should go back to that. “I talk about this in each of my creations.”
The artist confesses that he never imagined getting to where he currently is professionally, since his philosophy goes beyond the classic idea of fighting for a dream or achieving future plans.
“I was creating my own path. I was searching and trying to do what I wanted and look for honesty in the discourse, because I do not believe anything in that American thought of fighting for dreams and making them come true, that generates more frustration than anything else, you simply have to be yourself and “Not having many expectations in life and thus one can be very happy.”
His music has rhythms electronic which he mixes with a sense of humor and which, in turn, manages to integrate the heritage of the uses and customs of his place of origin. But as part of this context, he wants to clarify something very important: “Flamenco is not in my music, in Asturias there is no Flemish.
“I carry the asturian music on another level thinking about my roots, just as the people interpreted it in the past asturians, with the means they had. Those from before used to take a spoon or any type of tool to make music without any type of complex and I think that if I had an item like that on hand I would also use it to make music but now I use the instruments what do I have to do traditional music”.
Although Rodrigo agrees that his songs sound different and could be included within a concept indiedoes not leave aside the idea that they carry with them something of the urban genre that is currently heard around the world.
“The traditional music It also has to do with the urban, with the hip hopbut in terms of the improvisation of the lettersthe tinkering, the challenging of what many people think.”
Your allies
Cuevas has faced criticism on many occasions from those who still remain closed to inclusion.
“I have been attacked a lot on social media, but I don’t care, there are always homophobic people who have to express their hatred in some way.
“I try to surround myself with people who also understand things the same way I do to bring them to different disciplines. He art of the disk It is Javier Ruiz an Andalusian artist that I admire a lot. I don’t understand much about graphic art, and I try to look for artists that I like and who know how to interpret what I want to interpret through their eyes.”
For this creative, The three wise men Yes, they exist and they have been their best allies for a long time, “I believe in them and I always ask them to work with the producers I have always wanted and they have fulfilled it for me. I asked Eduardo Cabra and it was granted, he interested me a lot from the work he did with 13TH Street and with Rita Indiana or what he achieved with Trending Topic“I found it interesting to work with him because of his quality of interpretations that he achieves with Asturian popular music and well it worked very well.”
Invites you to live without fear
Currently Rodrigo says he is in love, and says he is happy about the openness that exists today for the community LGBTQ+.
“I am very in love with my partner. It is wonderful that societies open up and live in freedom where other people are included.”
Defending your identity at all costs is the message you send to the new generations. “I tell them not to abandon their identity, to go deeper into it, to search for it, to love it, to expand it… to make it grow. Through tradition you can grow your identity and you can have a lot of fun, since you can generate something transformative because you provoke collective self-esteem and it is possible that you change the future of an entire people.
“Pessimism is very bad and makes people immobilize, on the other hand, optimism is a very powerful and transformative force.”
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The musician has been awarded the Rainbow Prize of the Ministry of Equality, the RNE Critical Eye Prize for the Modern Music, MIN Award for New Artist and to Best Fusion Album and world music, Premium Camaretto the greatest to sing for his composition Rambalin.
He has academic musical training in Conservatory of Oviedo and Sonology in Barcelona; before to The Pilgrimage did the tour Tropic of Covadongawith which he toured various cities in Europe, with almost 20 performances in France, in addition to visiting America and the Middle East with sold out seats in most of its presentations.