In case you haven’t yet heard of him, he was born in Oviedo in 1985 and is a “total artist” who refers to himself as a “folkloric agitator”. This is not so strange, because Rodrigo Cuevas’ concerts are complete shows involving various disciplines, stage productions (Trópico de Covadonga is the third, following on from Electrocuplé and d’El mundo por montera) where music, movement and video are combined into a celebration of folk and electronic music, good humour, a certain touch of erotica, video screenings and choreography.
There is no way to define this unclassifiable artist. You need to see him on stage to appreciate his vision of musical roots from a contemporary standpoint. The show is based on the songs from the Manual de cortejo album, recorded with Raül Refree. It speaks of the same themes covered by lifelong popular songs, such as love and courtship, reflecting the traditional world of Asturias, which is so old that it becomes exotic. Here Rodrigo Cuevas rescues a traditional legacy hitherto kept alive by traditional artists, and brings it to the stage in a production named after an imaginary parallel that passes through the Asturian area of Covadonga but which tours the entire world. The show is a combination of the world of yesterday and today which not only transmits humanistic values but is also committed to sexual freedom, to shared values among generations and, especially, to beauty at its purest. A festival that connects lifelong traditions with the most uncompromising modernity.
Music performed by: Rodrigo Cuevas (vocals, percussion), Mapi Quintana (tambourines, chorus, palmas, vocoder, double bass), Juanjo Díaz (percussion), Rubén Bada (electric guitar, bass, effects, chorus), Tino Cuesta (synthesizers, chorus, programming, accordion) Photography: Ricardo Gaete, @lacostastudio
