Today I was talking with Adriana Calviño, born in Caracas – Venezuela on November 27, 1985, still resides in Caracas.She is the leader and voice of the musical project ‘Adriana Sola’, today she tells us about her life as a singer and a little more about this band.
Astrid: Since when have you sung professionally?
Adriana: This first question is a bit difficult to answer because I never studied music, that is, I am an empirical singer and I started singing with my partner in the Metro cars; Let’s say that along the way one is professionalizing the thing more but it is more or less about 12 years singing.
Astrid: How do you discover that you are good at this and what prompted you to keep doing it?
Adriana: More than discovering how good for this, is that I do what I like and then doing what I like makes me feel good about myself and that is transmitted to the people who listen to me and with applause, smiles, with words, hugs, ratify that it is sounding cool.
Astrid: What was your first time singing in public?
Adriana: My first time singing in public as I told you was 12 years ago in a Metro car and then well we traveled through different incredible spaces the room ‘Ríos Reina’ of the Teresa Carreño Theater was one of the most brutal experiences that we lived, we have played in the Plaza Diego Ibarra, in Plaza Venezuela before more than 15 thousand people, In buses, in squares, in ceremonies, let’s say that we almost always have many first times.
Astrid: Have you performed outside Caracas? Name the places
Adriana: Well If we have had the opportunity to participate in several festivals and musical meetings in the State of Cojedes, Falcón State, in the city of Maracay – Aragua State, we would like to be able to travel now Latin America to be able to take our music to other countries even outside the South, that is one of our closest objectives; Let’s hope that this pandemic allows us to do so.
Astrid: How do you do your job here in Venezuela?
Adriana: Being independent has its costs, especially here in Venezuela that we do not have an industry, it is not a secret to anyone that the artist in Venezuela has it more difficult because we do not have a music industry that recognizes our talent and supports our work, in addition to those factors there is the issue of a digital blockade, where if we artists want to exhibit on different platforms our work is super cumbersome but how here in Venezuela we invent them all, there is always one or another thing we can do, but it is very difficult; Let’s say that to sustain the music I do it with my other work performance or my other branch of art that is audiovisual production and good making videos, documentaries, photo shoots, so we sustain the music until it pays for itself.
Astrid: Do you belong to any group or are you merely independent?
Adriana: Well this is my personal project, it is called ‘Adriana Sola’ and it has looked, in principle it was ‘Poesia, cinnamon and honey’ we were a fairly large group we became up to 11 people on stage then it mutated to ‘Adriana Poesía’ simplifying a little what was the previous project that never stopped being different, it has always been the same project but it has changed its name looking for that comfort and I have found that Adriana Solá is the project, we are also a group that presents itself as a band and we have a more intimate format called ‘Trio del despecho’ where we are three musicians remembering old songs, almost all are Boleros and we brought it to the present in a new format called Bolero Glam.
Astrid: What other jobs do you have outside of being a singer?
Apart from being a singer, I am a producer and audiovisual creator, I am also an actress (I have only worked in the theater) and I am also a producer of one of the most underground bars in Caracas (Rajatabla) most of the bands in the country parade there and it is a wonderful job because I find the panas who do the same as me.
Astrid: Do you have any characters that inspire you to sing?
Adriana: Yes of course, there are always many people who inspire me to sing, I could tell you that my main muse is called La Lupe, there is Celia Cruz, Carmen Delia Depiní, of the most recent is Ilé, more that inspire me is that they evoke me through their femininity to connect with them and be a woman song. And of course from here in Venezuela, she is not necessarily a woman, she inspires me a lot for the song, her love, her rebellion Maestro Ali Primera.
Astrid: Do you think your work will have an impact on society?
Adriana: My work as a human will always cause an impact on society because the great advantage of the artist is that we almost always do not live, that is, our pockets are not filled (unfortunately) but if we have a soul that is vibrating and full of colors, and that is what our society lacks, Because we live in it and it is manipulated to cover standards, prototypes and be all robots, instead musicians live it differently and that is why every time I get on stage, every time I give an interview, every time I appear on a screen, I feel that through my words, of my songs, of my poems (which I also perform, I always say that I am self-proclaimed poet of El Valle de Caracas) and I believe that through each composition, everything I do, we will always make an impact on society.
Astrid: What is the genre that defines your style?
Adriana: The genre that defines me is something like ‘Degenerate Music’ because we have allowed ourselves to walk through the different alternative genres such as Rock, Reggae, Ska, Bossanova, Soul, world music we could say it, however our project is directed between all that fusion to Bolero Glam that as I said before is a new way of listening and singing, and dancing the bolero, is a modern adaptation of what were the boleros of before.
Thank you for the interview.
If you want to know more about ‘Adriana Sola’ I invite you to follow them on their social networks.
Social media:Instagram: @adrianasola
YouTube:
adrianasola