It is not a cliché, but for the Caracas singer and songwriter Vanesa Gouveia, life and music are the same thing. This, not only because she is the female voice of Famasloop, a Venezuelan band twice nominated for a Latin Grammy, but because from a very young age she has been surrounded by songs.
“My mother was a singer, songwriter and actress in a children’s theater. Since I was little I had an approach to the arts between corridors and dressing rooms of theaters such as those of the Celarg hall, the Aula Magna, the Athenaeum Concert Hall and the Sacred Museum. We lived between rehearsals for all my mom’s projects. The music was always there, in the family dynamics. Always surrounded by instruments and musicians of all kinds, ”recalls the artist from Panama, a country to which she traveled in 2016 with her partner, with whom she regularly travels from one place to another. “My house is a boat and a creative studio at the same time,” he says.
At the age of twelve he studied music theory. At fifteen, he moved to Mérida, and during the year he was in that Andean city, he auditioned for Voces Blancas de Mérida, “more to socialize because he did not know anyone”, says Gouveia, who at that time discovered the power of the voice and met Héctor Molina, from C4 Trío and the choir director Alberto Torres. With them he went to compete in a choral festival in Europe in which 72 groups from different countries participated and they gave recitals in embassies, theaters and even in St. Peter’s Square and in the Vatican, in Rome.
Upon his return to Caracas, he finished high school and then continued his training at the School of Arts of the Central University of Venezuela, but during the second semester he applied for the “Armando Reverón” University Institute of Higher Studies of Plastic Arts. Vanesa Gouveia is also a visual artist, as well as a creative in Sound Design and a voice for various brands.
With his most recent project, Infinita, he has released the self-titled EP and the single Delirium.
– Vanesa Gouveia: “Famasloop is a path of constant exploration” (COURTESY) -It is devoted, fundamentally, to two musical proposals: Famasloop and Infinita Music. What do each of them represent for you? What place do they occupy in your life? How do they complement each other?
-Famasloop is a path of constant exploration. It is the result of the passionate work of creative people who love to make music, it is a sound that is the product of a collective that is joined by artists who connect with the world of Famasloop. Infinita, for its part, is an audiovisual duo where I have been exploring my voice. It is the mix between David Marcano’s musical search and mine. We make our visuals, we like to explore that cinematic curiosity. It is a laboratory that allows us to create and produce our ideas, it is just beginning and exciting things are coming very soon.
And he continues: “Both proposals are very special and important because they have allowed me to develop my musicality. In them I have my own songs and songs that I produce ”.
-Some members of Famasloop are in Mexico; you in Panama, how do you organize to work?
-For many years we have been working remotely. Rafa (Rafael Urbina) was the first to leave and shortly before that we started writing some songs remotely. Those of us who stayed in Caracas continued working in the studio with the concept of The ashes And when we had to move out of the country, that concept changed because we began to experience different things and that led us to the idea of the current name of the album. The safest thing is that who knowsBecause if you want to make God laugh, tell him about each of your plans, right? We are a team with different styles, tastes and experiences. That has always fueled the creative source in the band.
-What is the music that Vanesa Gouveia wants to make? What inspires her? What does she want to convey to people when she composes?
-The music I like to make is intuitive music, which never tires of exploring. Most of the time I compose with the voice and the guitar, emulating instruments, playing with the metrics and harmonies, embroidering the sounds. I’m a music lover, I listen to music all the time and I have a song for everything. I am inspired by emotions, images and nature. I make music for myself and for the people I know, hoping others will like it too.
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– “Art in general is like a ray of light that we need for gloomy days,” says the singer-songwriter (COURTESY)
-In these difficult times, what role do you think music has played?
-Music will always be a genuine means of communication that can move us inside and out. In these times of forced isolation it is essential because it allows us to connect with others. Art in general is like a ray of light that we need for dark days. It is that invisible thread that ties us to life to celebrate, live or simply contemplate it.
-He is also a plastic artist. Does the development of your visual work and your music go in parallel? Do they feed back?
-Music and visual arts have always been present in all stages and they do feed back. I discovered a connector while studying arts with a subject called Radio Arte, dictated at that time by Jorge Gómez. That is why I leaned towards mixed media because a song can be born from a drawing or vice versa. Music generates colors, images and emotions. So I think they always go together.
More than music
Recently, Vanesa Gouveia composed the music for the story The small house, by the independent children’s publishing house Utopía Portátil, written from a song by Cybele Peña, his pianist partner in the Casa de Árbol project, created to give recitals at the JM de los Ríos Hospital to children and adolescents in treatment.
In this regard, the artist comments: “Music and art in general are powerful tools that raise awareness. With Tree House we experience its healing and transforming power. It is like a bridge of service that invites the viewer into a world of games and complicity. This project is very important for us, because it connects us with our childhood, and since it was very fulfilling, we would like to be able to share it with other people. Tree House was born from that need to show those worlds. Cybele Peña (corals) and I created it to do music therapy with the children of the JM de Los Ríos Hospital and later in other spaces. It is a beautiful project that continues to grow and feed with other creators, other formats ”.
While Vanesa Gouveia continues to explore reality and the soundscapes that always accompany it – dream pop, soul, contemporary R&B – her creative source intensifies over time. He loves each and every one of the projects he undertakes. “Little by little I want to take out the suitcase of hidden repertoires that I have and concentrate them on an album, but I always like to work with other artists,” he concludes.
@juanchi62
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