The discreet triumph of Valeria Castro, the Canarian singer-songwriter nominated for a Latin Grammy who plays on El 47

A year ago, Valeria Castro (La Palma, 1999) embarked on the tour of her first album, With love and carewhich started in a little boat in the Caves of San José de Castellón and concluded last Sunday in his town, Aridane Plains. There, in the Plaza de España, a crowd chanted The rootthe song that the Canarian artist dedicated to the victims of the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcanowhich in 2021 buried his grandmother’s house under tons of lava. “He managed to save himself, which is the important thing, but he didn’t have time to take his family albums and memories with him,” laments the singer and songwriter. “Was a life lesson that taught me to turn the page and to continue writing my own story.

Of course, she has good reasons to look to the future with optimism: for the second consecutive year she has been nominated for the Latin Grammy for the song The ashwhich he performs alongside the musician and producer, also from the Canary Islands, Ale Acosta. «I started to compose songs to heal and take care of myselfand this type of recognition makes me very happy because it shows that all the effort has been worth it,” reflects the artist, who at 25 years old has established himself as one of the indisputable figures of Latin music with his very particular voice and a sensitivity that caught the attention of Alejandro Sanzwho shared his version of Broken heart when no one knew her.

“That helped, of course, and I will always be grateful, but I don’t like to think that what I have achieved through effort “It was due to the work and grace of social networks,” says Castro. «I think that my stories have reached people little by little, by word of mouth, which is the best way to process feelings and emotions that I try to convey with my songs. In 2021, during the days of confinement in a residence hall in Madrid, where he studied Biotechnologyreleased his first EP, Chiquitaunder the Warner label, which served as a letter of introduction to a style, now unmistakable, that redefines the limits of folklore to talk about the fear of growing up in a world, perhaps, too hostile.

CINEMA AS AN ALLY

Shortly after his first Latin Grammy nomination (for The root), the Film Academy nominated her for the Goya, along with VEtusta Morlafor the original song by Andrea’s loveof Manuel Martin Cuenca. “Music should tell powerful stories and, in that sense, cinema has become a great ally and also a source of inspiration,” says the singer, who has just published The edge of the worldwhich serves as a soundtrack to The 47directed by Marcel Barrera. “There are proposals to which you simply cannot say no,” he continues. «And this film, which immerses us in the life of Andalusian and Extremaduran immigrants from the Barcelona neighborhood of Baró Tower In the 60s, it was one of them.

With good reason, many have compared his way of saying, telling and combining traditions of different origins with Silvia Perez Cruzwith whom he has already shared the stage. «I identify a lot with that way of understanding music and working on emotion that Silvia has, [Natalia] Lafourcade, [Jorge] Drexler…». He has also collaborated with others “related to the cause”, such as Ivan Ferreiro, Pedro Guerra o tanjugueiras. «Sometimes they call you, other times you agree somewhere or you propose yourself, but, as they say, dancing is always a matter of two and it is important to understand each other well, speak the same language and be able to contribute something that makes both parties grow.» .

He’s still adjusting to his new life in Madrid. “I want to preserve my identity, but without closing myself, of course, to other types of influences,” confesses the singer, whose voice acquires in The ash a completely different texture to the contact of electronic music by Acosta, former producer of Enrique Morente and founder of Mojo Project. «It was quite a challenge, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could find my place in other styles», says the artist, recently arrived from a compositional retreat in Mexico to bring forward the issues of his second albumwhich will be published in the spring. «I needed to get a little perspective on things and reconnect with a culture and people who do me good.