Gian Marco returns to the stage in search of feeling alive

Miami singer and songwriter Gian Marcowho has not been immune to the omicron, unsheaths his guitar to embark on a tour of the United States, Mexico and, finally, Peru, the land where he was born and where he will close his journey with a concert at the Nacional de Lima where , as he said yesterday in an interview, the message “Let’s feel alive again” will resonate.

The Peruvian refines the last touches before touring the United States starting on April 7, when the “Acoustic Quartet” starts in Atlanta (Georgia), a tour in an intimate format based on drums, bass, piano and him with his guitar and infallible charango.

After the stop in Georgia, Gian Marco, whose last tour of the United States. was in the year 2019, he will continue his route through San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Tampa, Miami and, finally, on April 24, in Orlando.

The winner of three Latin Grammy awards will perform songs from his latest album, “Mandarina” (2021), cooked during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19as well as classics from his repertoire either as a singer or composer, among them “Sentirme vivo”, the song he composed for the Mexican Emmanuel and his first international hit.

“The songs I wrote for many artists gave me the opportunity to expose my music,” recalls the Peruvian, author of compositions such as “Sing heart”, performed by Alejandro Fernández, or the song “Hoy”, in the voice of Gloria Estefan, in addition to a long etcetera for artists such as Marc Anthony, Diego Torres, Manuel Mijares and Fonseca.

The debt with the Mexican public, where his career began to take off beyond Peru, will be repaid with the recital that the interpreter of “Te mentiría” will give, this time with his entire band, at the Pepsi Center auditorium in Mexico City next June 9.

If Mexico was the first place of his internationalization, the city of Miami, in South Florida, meant the next step in his ascending career and his consecration, especially after publishing his sixth studio album, “A tiempo” with Sony Music. (2003), from which hits such as “Se me olvidado” came off.

The album earned him his first Latin Grammy Award nominations and allowed his work as a songwriter and singer to be amplified, although the Peruvian believes that leaving Sony to become an independent artist in 2006 was one of the most important decisions of his career. .”I did not stop recording albums, we won two more Grammys”, he pointed out. He considers that “the mission of a musician is to reinvent himself, not to stay in the same place”, a premise that does not mean becoming “something that you are not”, as for example an interpreter of the current almighty urban music.”I try to make the music that comes from my heart. I’ve sat in the studio trying something like that (urban music), but it’s not me. It’s like putting on a wig,” he laughs, alluding to his characteristic baldness.

Let’s feel alive again

A resident of Los Angeles for several years, Gian Marco never fails to keep in mind his land, a country that is currently, as he said, in political and social terms going through a “disastrous, terrible” period, as well as ” All of Latin America is going through very critical times.”

“I feel that something good has to happen at some point,” said the Peruvian optimistically, who remembers the car bombs and blackouts during the 1980s and 1990s, the years of terrorist violence in his country.

Always hopeful, and victorious before the COVID-19 that he contracted last month, Gian Marco does not hide his joy at the massive concert that, after a series of postponements due to the pandemic, he will finally be able to offer his compatriots on July 16, the month of the homeland in Peru, in the National Stadium of the capital.

His thirty-year career was going to be celebrated in style in 2020, with more than 30,000 tickets sold in the first two weeks, until COVID-19 temporarily dampened his plans. He promises that the recital next July will be a long celebration of more than four hours, with guest artists yet to be announced, a race that began in the small bars of Lima and now celebrates life itself.

“At the end of the day, you, I and so many more are survivors of a pandemic and feeling alive is a great action,” he asserted.