CARLOS VIVES

Born: Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo; Santa Marta, Colombia, 7 August 1961

Genre: Latin

Best-selling album since 1990: Clásicos de la Provincia (1993)

Hit songs since 1990: "La Gota Fría," "Fruta Fresca," "Déjame Entrar"

Carlos Vives helped spark a resurgence of the vallenato, a traditional Colombian Atlantic coast rhythm, by fusing it with refreshing strains of rock and reggae. A former Spanish-language soap opera star, he has also won fans with his raspy baritone vocals and movie-star good looks.

Vives began his artistic career as an actor in Puerto Rican and Colombian telenovelas; his music followed the pop/ballad mold. His recording debut was the album Carlos Vives por Fuera por Dentro (1986), which was more rock than anything else. But in 1990 he changed direction when he was selected to play vallenato troubadour Rafael Escalone in the Colombian soap Escalone.

Vives formed his own band, La Provincia, and debuted his vallenato-rock fusion on Clásicos de la Provincia (1993). Highlighted by the Andean-flavored hit single "La Gota Fría," the album proved to be a critical and commercial success, selling 1.5 million units worldwide and putting vallenato on the map all over Latin America. It was a triumph that surprised even Vives, who later said he was only trying to raise awareness of the music within Colombia.

Vives's reinvention of the vallenato has enlivened the genre across Latin America, influencing artists from Gloria Estefan to the countless regional Mexican groups that have put "Colombiano" or "Vallenato" in their names since the mid-1990s. Traditional vallenato—the Colombia folk rhythm with African, indigenous, and European influences—has always featured plaintive vocals; warm, reedy, three-row button accordions; guacharacas (cane scrapers); and cajas vallenatas (bongolike drums) in its basic cumbia repertoire. Vives supplemented the sound with rock instruments like the drum kit and guitar. Despite the departure from the original folksy form, Vives has won over most purists by including top vallenato musicians like the accordionist Egidio Cuadrado and the flutist Mayte Montero in his band. He also gives long-overdue recognition to the composers of classic vallenatos through his well-received cover versions.

Vives has, however, endured his share of criticism—some Colombian intellectuals and folk musicians see him as an opportunist who has made money off his country's Afro-Colombian musical traditions by presenting it with a "marketable" white face. Vives scoffs at such criticism, saying his country's music is for all Colombians, regardless of skin color.

In 1995 Vives returned with La Tierra del Olvido. In 1997 he released Tengo Fe, which yielded the hit "Que Diera" but was his weakest-selling album of the decade. He made a strong comeback with El Amor de Mi Tierra (1999), co-produced with Emilio Estefan. It turned down the accordion a notch, emphasizing a thundering Afro-Latin rhythm section, especially on the hit single "Fruta Fresca." Vives composed nine of the twelve tracks. In a nod to tradition, he updated José Barros's beloved cumbia oldie "La Piragua."

Perhaps finally aware of his impact on Latin music, Vives adopted a broader vision for Déjame Entrar (2001), recorded at Estefan's Miami studios. "Amor Latino," a danceable tune about ethnic pride, adds Latin jazz piano to the mix. The club-dance track "Carito" is a sweet, self-deprecating ode to an American English teacher on whom Vives had a crush as a fifteen-year-old. The title track, a quintessential Vives fusion of vallenato and rock released as the album's first single, won the best tropical performance Grammy in 2002.

Vives's success has done much to legitimize the idea that fusing rock with regional folklore can be commercially and musically relevant; the new Colombian artists Juanes and Cabas are but a few of the rock-en-Español acts who are in his debt.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Clásicos de la Provincia (EMI Latin, 1993); La Tierra del Olvido (EMI Latin, 1995); El Amor de Mi Tierra (EMI Latin, 1999); Déjame Entrar (EMI Latin, 2001).

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