This rock star "Dreams" of peace

By Andrew Selsky
The Associated Press

ZOE SELSKY / AP Colombian rock star Juanes sings a song from his latest CD during an anti-land mine ceremony in Bogotá.

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BOGOTÁ, Colombia — For a musician with nine Latin Grammies and a new single topping the charts, Juanes is a laid-back guy, with none of a rock star's brashness.

But underneath that mellow exterior is a man on a mission — just listen to his new album. "Mi Sangre" (Spanish for "My Blood"), which comes out tomorrow, confronts the suffering and bloodshed in Colombia's protracted guerrilla war.

Juanes said his nation's dark side must be explored: "Colombia is a country which is suffering, and we must move ahead," the lanky, long-haired singer said. "To make a flowery record would not be telling the truth."

An endless conflict

While conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan grab headlines, Colombia's war kills 3,500 people — mostly civilians — every year. Another 3,000 Colombians are kidnapped each year. And the conflict is seemingly endless: two Marxist rebel groups, funded by drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping, have been battling a succession of elected governments for 40 years.

Juanes, a 32-year-old Miami resident, has found a huge international audience with his heartfelt lyrics mixed with flowing guitar riffs. On his previous two albums, he sang often of love and betrayal, and a little about the Colombian conflict. Now that ratio has been reversed on his new album, as he hopes for better days for his South American homeland.

"I dream that all the hostages who are held today in the middle of the jungle are free," Juanes sings in "Sueños" ("Dreams"). "I dream that my bleeding people live in peace and this senseless war is over."

Before the album's release, Juanes performed for wounded Colombian soldiers at a Bogotá military hospital. One soldier, who lost an arm in combat, presented Juanes with a clay cup made at the hospital's occupational training program.

"It was a very emotional encounter for me," Juanes said. "I respect and admire them."
 
Some of his new songs were inspired by tales of soldiers separated from their loved ones while pulling one- or two-year tours of duty from the cold of the Andes Mountains to Colombia's steamy jungles.

"When they're in the field, what keeps them going is their desire to return to their families," Juanes said.

The single, "Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor" ("I'm Worthless Without Your Love"), which was released weeks ahead of the album and is now the most-played Latin song in the United States, poignantly addresses the theme: "I want to take back all the nights I've lost, to beat back this overpowering fear of death, to be eternal with you."

Juanes, whose given name is Juan Esteban Aristizabal, has come a long way since he fronted a heavy-metal band called Ekhymosis in his hometown of Medellin in the 1990s.

He's his own man

"I wanted to be the James Hetfield of Medellin," Juanes recalled with a laugh, referring to the lead singer of Metallica, a band he still admires. "But I realized that wasn't me and that I wouldn't get far."

Juanes, who began learning guitar at 5, said he decided when he left Ekhymosis and moved to the United States that he didn't want to copy other bands, no matter how cool they were, but instead to find his own voice.

Unlike fellow Colombian superstar musician Shakira, whose album "Laundry Service" is mostly in English, Juanes said he will stick to Spanish — even if many fans don't always understand the words.

"In London, when I sang 'A Dios Le Pido' ['I Ask God'], some people thought I was saying 'Adios Lepido' ['Goodbye Lepido']," Juanes said with a grin. "But it doesn't matter — even if people don't understand 100 percent of the words, the music still connects."