If you are of those persons that enjoy listening to old music with your grandparents or even with your parents, like Los Panchos, Los dandy’s or songs like “Rayito de luna”, “Gema”, “Contigo”, you’re gonna love Tres souls, a modern romantic trio made up of Jesús Martínez (requinto), Rocio Mendoza (lead vocals) and Roberto Carlos (Rhythm guitar). They have just released their new album Boletos made in LA and their first single “La luna eres tú” and we talked with Roberto Carlos about this new material, why did they decide to sing boleros, influences and more.
And if you would like to see them live, keep reading to the end of this interview because they are gonna have a concert next week in LA.
MWN:Tell me how did you meet and when did you decide to create Tres souls?
Roberto Carlos: We met in 2011, at that time my brother, who is part of La Santa Cecilia, started his project and I started looking for a requintist, so I met Jesus through his sister who introduced us and I met Rocío because my brother was also looking for a singer and he heard her then he introduced her to me.
MWN:Why did you choose bolero and trio music?
Roberto Carlos: We wanted to start something in LA to preserve bolero music, so romantic trio was that came up in my family and my parents wanted us to play that kind of music, also since I was 10 years old my dad was someone who listened to that in house and he inculcated it to us.
MWN:What do you think characterize Tres souls?
Roberto Carlos: What characterizes Tres souls is the way of preserving the genre respecting the traditional style but adding a fresher sound to the new generation and I believe that having a unique and powerful voice like Rocío’s is what makes us different.
MWN:When you started with this project, what expectations did you have?
Roberto Carlos: When we started the project we basically saw it more as a way to sing at parties, festivals but we never expect to have the reaction we have had with the people who follow us. On our part, what we have always wanted is to create a bolero music institution here in Los Angeles, to be the romantic trio that represents LA.
MWN:Now you’re promoting your firts single “La luna eres tú” of your album Boleros Made in La, What can you tell us about this song, what it represents for you?
Roberto Carlos: “La luna eres tú” is the promotional cut of this album that we recorded this year and we were working on this for a year, we wrote songs and we made different arrangements to our style for all the other songs that are included in the album and “La luna eres tú” is an original composition and is our cover letter for what we want to propose to young people who are listening to bolero music because we add electric guitars, percussions, keyboards so we give a unique style to the new bolero.
MWN:What elements are essential for you when composing?
Roberto Carlos: I think the elements would be all in sync, be relaxed, the guitar and the requinto, always, to start with the traditional sound of bolero music
MWN:What do you think is the biggest moment you have experieenced in your career?
Roberto Carlos: I think the biggest thing has been, from what I remember recently, is playing at the Music Center here in downtown Los Angeles, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, which is a historic place in the city and we play for the Holiday celebration for Christmas, was a representation of all the music of Los Angeles and I think it was very important because they gave us the segment of Latin American music in Los Angeles, so represent bolero music through that platform was very important.
MWN:An artist which would you like to collaborate with?
Roberto Carlos: Yes, we would like to sing with Concha Buika, a Spanish singer, we admire her work very much, what she has done with the bolero fusing sounds and I think that listening to her voice with Rocio’s voice in the same night would be something special.
MWN:Tell me a festival in which you would like to play in?
Roberto Carlos: We would like to play at a festival that takes place every year in Guanajuato, Mexico, called Cervantino, because it goes a lot with the type of music that we play.
MWN:A band, song or album that has marked you as a musician?
Roberto Carlos: I think the albums by Julio Jaramillo, the emotion so clear, the feelings so genuine of Julio Jaramillo is something that we have always wanted to transmit or do with our music.
MWN:Well, finally, tell us what’s coming for Tres souls, upcoming shows and a message for the people who will read this interview?
Roberto Carlos: The next show we have is on April 5, a series of concerts called Boleros de noche, in the center of Los Angeles at the Plaza de Cultura y Artes, we will be showing with Martha González of the band Quetzal and with Margarita Luna, a local artist, we wait for you there and we want to thank people for being romantic, wanting bolero music and especially thanks for the support of Tres souls.
If you want a romantic and magic night with excellent music, don’t miss this show next week. Ticket prices start at $27 and $35 at the door. Click here to be redirected to the site where you can purchase tickets!
Doors open at 6: 00 pm and show start at 7:15 until 10:00 pm. If you still without your ticket go buy it now, you’ll not regret it.
Interview by: Berenice Yines | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not!