|
Kevin Johansen's bio (at least one version).
Kevin Johansen
The story of an American Latino Kevin was born in Alaska (in Fairbanks to be exact), but grew up in Argentina since the age of 12. Born of Argentine mother and American father, Kevin became part of the local rock scene with his argentine band “Instrucción Civica” (“Obediencia Debida”, recorded in 1985, won gold album in Peru). On October 12, 1990, he left to “rediscover” the North America of his childhood. Kevin felt right at home in the big apple, where he settled for almost ten years, with its mixture of cultures and cosmopolitan flair. As he often likes to say, “New York is not the United States”. Shortly after his arrival, he met Hilly Krystol, owner of CBGB’s, who invited him to participate in his future record label. During the ´90s he recorded and played at CBGB’s as a house band, performing every Saturday night. He also played in the Knitting Factory and the Mercury Lounge, among others. In 2000, Kevin decided to return to Buenos Aires, where he settled once again.
“The Nada” is the name of the band founded by Kevin Johansen in New York, where he recorded his first record, also called “The Nada”. This record was later released in Argentina by “Los Años Luz”, and by “K Industrias” in Spain. The album explores various rhythms and elements of the Americas, from cumbias to milongas, and Cuban sounds, all handled with an “almost” pop sound. “Mixture is the future” is the record’s mantra. The Nada surprises constantly due to its eclecticism, bilingual lyrics and the subtleness of its songs. Slowly but surely the record began to conquer critics and audiences, becoming a clear representative of the Buenos Aires alternative music circuit. This record also attracted interest in Spain, resulting in the release by K Industrias. In September 2002, Kevin participated in the Vic Music Market, and offered many concerts in Barcelona and Madrid.
In late 2002, he went back to the studios and recorded “Sur o no Sur”, which was also released by Los Años Luz in Argentina, and by Sony Music for the remaining Spanish speaking countries. What makes this album so special is the permanent surprise. Sur o no Sur, confirms Kevin as extremely ingenious, not only as a songwriter, but also for the way he mixes styles and languages. His privileged voice, ranging from deep Barry White style, to high-pitched Hindu, invades every song and manages to mesmerize from the first track. “Cumbias flamencas, Celtic Sambarera, Hip pop, are just a few of the names with which Kevin himself defines the style of his songs. Because he cannot be defined into one specific style, he often likes to define himself as “de-genreate”, (or lack of specific genre).
2003 is the year Kevin Johansen takes off. The soundtrack of a successful Argentinean TV show with his songs, brings him closer to a broader audience. Tours around Argentina, Uruguay, the U.S., and Spain confirm this great moment. The peak arrived in June 2003, when he performed at the Gran Rex theatre, the largest concert theatre in Buenos Aires, for thousands of fans. In July he arrived in Spain once again with concerts in Madrid, Barcelona and a performance at the Pirineos Sur Festival, where he received raving reviews, and quadrupled his audience from the year before. In October, Kevin traveled to the U.S., where he performed at the Latin MTV awards, and toured Miami, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, to promote the release of his album Sur o no Sur. Finally, Kevin rounded up the year with another successful performance at the Gran Rex in Buenos Aires on December 12.
In 2004, the album Sur o no Sur, was released in México, Spain and Chile, so February and March found Kevin promoting his new production. In Spain he offered full house concerts in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia that had great repercussion among the press.
Between July and August Kevin continued his “Tour o no Tour” for “Sur o no Sur”, in Spain (La Mar de Musicas, Madrid, Barcelona 2004 Forum, Gijón, and Zaragoza), Belgium (Sfinks Festival), and the United States (LAMC and Joe’s Pub in NYC). In October, Kevin and his band The Nada, visited Chile for the first time, where they played at the Theatre “Oriente”, packed with new fans.
The final surprise, or the icing on the cake, for the album Sur o no Sur, was its nomination for three Latin Grammys in essential categories, such as “Album of the Year”, “Song of the Year”, and “Best Video”.
During these trips, Kevin began working on his third album, which he later named “City Zen”. As he says, “it’s about putting up with the chaos of the city, where the music is always present”. Music works as Zen for the city, and the album reflects the urban spirit of the many cities Kevin has lived in throughout his life. The album was presented with great success during two days in December 2004, at the Opera Theatre in Buenos Aires.
Fun, deep, playful, smart, thoughtful, are just a few of the adjectives we could use to define his lyrics. Kevin Johansen deliberately plays with his bilingualism and forces us into his own private world. Let’s enjoy this breeze of fresh air made music.
|
Another version... Kevin Johansen
Chronicle of an uprooting Let’s see, how should I begin to explain this...???
It’s kind of funny because I’ve only known a bit about Kevin Johansen for less than a year now.
I met an Argentinean named Javier Tenenbaum at the Vic International Music Festival (North of Barcelona), last year -September 2001-. He gave me a sampler of his label that he directs along with Nani Monner Sans in Buenos Aires, a label called “Los Años Luz” and a few days later I found myself hooked on the compilation, that included works by Axel Krygier (the only musician I knew beforehand, having been edited in Spain by HiTop). Besides names like Fernando Samalea, Neli Saporiti and Liliana Felipe...there was this guy with something like a Scandinavian name, KEVIN JOHANSEN, whose song “GUACAMOLE” immediately became one of my favorites and, as I soon discovered, also created addiction among friends and colleagues.
One of these days we’ll talk about Los Años Luz, it’s well worth mentioning; a label with such good taste is not (let’s say) that common. But it’s time to talk about Kevin Johansen and I do this only having heard his latest recording (“THE NADA”, 2001)
The papers passed on to me say that Kevin was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, of Northamerican father and Argentinean mother. He has lived for various reasons in San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and New York. Therefore it is not surprising that he presents a ‘diagnosis’ of acute musical uprooting in which the main symptoms are a conscientious bilingualism and a stylistic nomadism of prolonged cosmopolitan effect.
Back in the 80’s he formed part of a band called Instruccion Civica (they edited two records: “Obediencia Debida” in 1985 and “Instruccion Civica” in 1987- for CBS International at the time- in which both Fernando Samalea and Axel Krygier participated (see Los Años Luz catalogue).
Well, on October 12th of 1990, after years of ‘Porteño’ wandering between Montevideo and Buenos Aires, our friend moves to New York. There, he truly develops as a songwriter and performer, playing downtown venues such as the Knitting Factory, Mercury Lounge and the legendary CBGB’s. At CBGB’s, he is ‘discovered’ by its owner, Hilly Krystal who became his mentor and records four albums, last of which is precisely, “The Nada”.
And he moves on, our friend returns to Buenos Aires (beginning of 2000) shortly before the great economic crisis of the land of populist peronism and the dreaded ‘corralito’ take over. I suppose it has something to do with his recurrent uprooting and nomadism.
But hard times demand quick and efficient solutions and “The Nada” arrives in Spain, and from pocket to pocket, word of mouth has it that his record is good, very good. K-Industria Cultural, the independent label from Barcelona, takes note and decides to publish “The Nada”. A great decision that will be thanked by music lovers everywhere, who love leaning out of windows or hanging over balconies with wide open views.
The album fascinates immediately due to Johansen’s personality. He is not a musician that you can make quick and easy comparisons with (that which we musical journalists so much love to do).We’re screwed. Johansen sings in Spanish and there aren’t many comparisons you can make, when he does it in English, likewise.
As he himself says, he does ‘cumbia tanguera’, habaneras in English, reggae porteño, little ballads a la Leonard Cohen...Or like the Argentine press describes: “he’s a New Yorker in Buenos Aires and a cosmopolitan Argentinean in New York, out of place in Montevideo as much as in Alaska”
And if you allow me, my intuition tells me that Johansen is something of a Gato Perez, a lucid and travelled ‘porteño’, with enough detachment to illuminate neighbouring countries, called to blend in (‘mestizarse’) in the near future and to mesh with strange accents and colors.
Johansen is an illustrated musician, charged with genuine cosmopolitism and with enough music to twist our gut, with his contained rock, his clear lined pop and his unique traveller’s sixth sense.
Kevin Johansen is a new visitor to whom we should open the door and give him the best of welcomes: WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR HIM, OUR MUSIC WILL BE GRATEFUL.
“Mixture is the future”
Kevin Johansen
| | Jordi Turtós
Music Journalist
Barcelona
|
|
