Discography
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Gardens of GuadalupeSamples are full length CD quality YouTube clips.
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 La Colegiala
Tú Me Dijiste Adios
Moliendo Café
Ven a Bailar Conmigo Mi Amor
Oye Como Va
En Mi Mundo
Llegó La Banda
Amargo Amor
El Bardo
El Último Beso
Guajira |
By the time my first electric guitar arrived in my hands, Gardens of Guadalupe had become one of the most vibrant and colorful neighborhoods in all San Salvador. This was an era of a lot of excitement in the air due to all the coming and going that was stemming from North America. Lots of ex-pats were coming to visit, bringing goods and pictures that showed us what the pinnacle of the world looked like. They also brought along with them a certain kind of happiness. A gleeful feeling that wasn't only the joy of revisiting roots, but the warm comfort of knowing that, once their stay concluded, they would head back north again. Gardens of Guadalupe, scented of fireworks' smoke, was full of these folks and their mood was contagious. Especially among young people who were about to leave the country. Once again, denial got the best of me.
Although my Canadian visa hadn't been fully confirmed yet, departure was imminent. At a young age, I was going to leave behind a whole music world (and a beautiful girl, too). In fact, I had everything going for myself to become a young music artist. I'm not sure how long that would have lasted but it was there for me to take, like strawberry flan served on a silver platter. Emigration was going to kill this. I was going to miss forever my music group and had the irreparable and bitter realization that once aboard the plane there would be no home left for me in San Salvador. Still in denial, I started deliriously absorbing all the music that the city could offer, as if I had just arrived to conquer. Guanaco music artists became my idols and I started to follow their footsteps religiously. Suddenly, wonderful music opportunities surfaced for me. I wouldn't say success snuck up behind me like a windshield on a bug, but I was already becoming, in a poetic and romanticized way and like the song says, "a Beatle or a Rolling Stone". Suddenly time was up. At once I was ripped away from El Salvador and awkwardly dumped and let loose in Canada. Both one single action.
Once I landed, I was left in an agonizing state of confusion and severe loneliness in the midst of Canuck land. My dreams had been completely shattered and right at the time of breakthrough. It was utter tragedy. I had lost my world, missed my golden shot at the big time and was so down in the gutter I apathetically settled for the slaughterhouse. The same as alcohol, time heals wounds. After much needed seclusion and many tears shed, completely by instinct, I restrung my electric guitar again. I cocooned. I sank into deep thought to such degree that it was hard to tell if what I heard was the mellifluous chilly breeze of autumn or the rumor of my tormented thoughts running through my head in search of an answer. Finally I came up with a decision. I was going to straighten things up. The same fate that destroyed my life was going to rebuild it with equal zeal. I gave up all dreams, focused on reality, and decided to put into effect a backup plan I always had in mind. I was going to enroll in university and become a hard working professional. That is, a hard working professional musician.
Twenty four years separate this episode with "Gardens of Guadalupe". The album came about as serendipity. Thanks to my stints in pop music, I was asked to front my own Latin dance music act for a New Year's Eve party. It was a brilliant opportunity that allowed no delay in motion. A new plan was born. I was going to need a new guitar (Sandra), new bed tracks and consequently a demo CD. It seemed like a good point of departure to arrange some oldies and rework them as dance tunes. It was a heartening find. Ever since "Morning in Eden" took flight, I haven't known which direction to follow from there. So I booked studio time again. The recording was facile, simple and joyful. I made several copies for club owners to assess and played the new demo for some of my closest friends. Although there was disappointment that it was simply a promotion copy, they all loved it. Comments were particularly directed to its sonic persona: Positive and upbeat. Encouraged by their feedback I went ahead and pressed. To my surprise and amusement, what they heard in my arrangements is the sound that nurtured the music dreams of my youth.
This is Guanaco sound. This is the sound of the place where I was born and raised. This is the sound that led my first music steps into my first bitter defeats and first taste of success. This is the sound that filled my heart and at the same time left me wanting more. Without realizing it, after almost a quarter of a century later, I finally made full circle to where everything in my music started. Back to when I was a young guitar player, back when all of us were singing, back when we did it alright, back when we all sang about a friendly hand, a trip to the sky, a lady of a name and a day gone by. This is the sound that existed among and within us, there and then, recorded now and forever in our "Gardens of Guadalupe".