Sonia Álvarez’s harp unites worlds. You can, in one and the same night, let yourself be accompanied by the blues guitar of David Lebón, and at the same time face with talent and detail some classic of vernacular folklore, tell stories “on the harp”, and show that you are also tied to the sources , visiting “Bell Bird”, the gem arpistic by the Paraguayan Félix Pérez Cardozo. Thus will be the sacred coexistence that he will express precisely this Thursday at 8 p.m., at the ND Teatro (Paraguay 918) through a concert that he called “Eternal.” “In addition to being the name of one of the new singles that I will be presenting at the show, I like this idea of an ‘eternal show,’” says Alvarez, who will go on stage accompanied by her stable band: Alejandro Franov, on piano. ; Christine Brebes, on violin; and Camilo Carabajal, on bass drum.
Sonia is a singer, she is an instrumentalist and she is, fundamentally, a composer who plays fearlessly and without fear of breaking with the limits of an instrument usually used as a sound bridge between today and classical Greece, the music of the Renaissance, or her resonant Paraguayan descents. . In fact, given its versatility, it has been summoned at different milestones along its journey by Gustavo Santaolalla, León Gieco, Las Pelotas, Hilda Lizarazu, Lito Vitale – who will also play at Thursday’s show -, Elena Roger, Daniel Melingo, Fernando Kabusacki and Fabiana Cantilo, among others
He also carries in his saddlebags three albums published to date –Landscapes, Time y Sparkles– and a precocious start as a harpist. “I was 7 years old when I played the harp for the first time. It was at the Casa Paraguaya in Buenos Aires, after seeing a girl perform live. That girl would later be my teacher,” says Álvarez, whose references in the field are Luis Bordón, Ismael Ledesma, and Deborah Henson Conant. “And here you see me, well, thirty years old playing the harp. Of course I started playing Paraguayan music, because it is where all the techniques and resources of the instrument are. But then I ventured into Argentine folklore and Latin American music, until at one point I felt the need to start releasing my own songs.”
Their own songs, in general, breathe a mix between light country-coastal airs and thick urban winds. “The truth is that I loved rock since I was little, and I always had a very special attraction for English music. I felt a certain melancholy listening to it, which later led me to turn it to the instrument,” admits the harpist, who opens the range of her influences to Charly García, The Beatles, The Cure and Luis Alberto Spinetta.
-Regarding Spinetta, you recreated “Barro perhaps”. How did you work on the version? why did you get into it?
-Because I love Spinetta, I love folklore and this emblematic song brings together both things. Specifically, one day I felt the need to do it because, as Flaco said, “if I don’t sing what I feel, I’m going to die inside.” It was the need that also led me to compose the song “Piel”.
-Inspired by what?
-Well, “Piel” was born from a small love story, in which I fused the sound of the harp with my voice. When it came time to record it, I decided to have Alejandro Terán arrange it for a string quartet and that is indeed how it sounds along with the electric harp and my voice. In truth, getting into this other field was a great challenge. I love playing, singing and always contributing something new to our society.
The creator and director of the Hypnofón Orchestra also became the link between the young harpist and some of the aforementioned musicians. “Although it was life itself that made me venture into new areas perhaps not so common for the harp, Terán was the one who opened up a range of possibilities for me, introducing me to such important musicians from our country as Santaolalla himself. Since then, I began to travel to new places, and I had the need to, as I always say, break the barriers of the instrument.”
