Singer sees difference in world since 9/11

Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2006 | 12:34 p.m.

Juanes, perhaps the biggest-selling Spanish-only singer in U.S. history, had just made an unexpected connection between the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and his own career.

"In a funny way, it's made things easier for me," he said. "Before, people here felt they were invulnerable - now, they understand a little what reality is (in other places)."

"This," he said with the argot of Medellin, Colombia's barrios, his hometown, "helps with my message."

His message, which he brings to Las Vegas today, mixes a desire for peace in Colombia mixed with rhythms from his own country and a pop beat.

At 33, he has built a resume that includes 12 Grammys, a place on the list of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World," and performances attached to the Nobel prizes and the World Cup. He has also drawn comparisons to U2's Bono.

His message also includes the love songs with catchy choruses one might expect from a black-haired hunk who could easily adorn posters in the bedrooms of teenage girls everywhere.

But Juanes - short for Juan Esteban - was referring to his heartfelt hopes of seeing the end of bloodshed in his native country, after more than four decades of civil war.

Both love and war "have to do with reality," he said - and unlike his compatriot Shakira, he has chosen to write about both in his native language, saying only that he's not interested in English as a means to express his thoughts and feelings.

But between love and war, it is the situation in Colombia that he feels a sense of urgency about, and so he not only writes about it in his songs, but also gives his time and money to a Washington-based foundation called United for Colombia, which works to get rid of landmines, found in every corner of the South American country.

"It's important for the world to understand what's happening in Colombia," he said, the cell phone crackling as he rode Sunday afternoon from a concert in Berkeley, Calif., to one in Fresno, two days before his concert tonight at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

"It's not that far away ... and music is one way of telling the story of a people."

His own story includes being touched by Colombia's conflict, which revolves around the Western Hemisphere's oldest guerrilla army and its enemies, the state and a paramilitary army. Money from worldwide sales of cocaine and heroin fuels all three, in varying ways.

Kidnapping also funds the guerrillas and common criminals. Juanes had a cousin who was kidnapped about six years ago and killed eight months later, even after a ransom was paid.

"I'd rather not say much about that," he said, with the discretion Colombians have about their labyrinthine violence, even when they live elsewhere in the world, as Juanes does. He lives in Miami with his wife and two young daughters.

"Having someone take away your liberty is one of the most difficult things that can happen," he added.

But apart from making the day-to-day reality of his country's struggle come alive in his songs, Juanes wants people around the world to know how Colombians "love life in spite of the violence - maybe because we see so much death."

He said his song "A Dios le Pido" - "I Ask God" - communicates that lust for life.

The title is also the chorus. One line says, "For my people to stop spilling so much blood, and to stand up tall."

"A Dios le Pido" was on Juanes' second album, "Un Dia Normal" - "A Normal Day" - released in 2002. His third, "Mi Sangre" - literally, my blood, but more like "My Roots" - has sold at least 2.3 million worldwide since its 2004 release.

It also gave the name to his current tour, a 42-date run through the United States and Europe that ends April 2 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Heading down California's highways on Sunday afternoon, when asked about his concert the night before, Juanes revealed that not all is heavy - it's also about the rock 'n' roll.

Asked if he was aware of Berkeley's place in U.S. history - given the city's place in the anti-war movement of decades past - he said, "Yeah, it was really cool."

"I played in the same theater as Jimi Hendrix."

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or at timothy@lasvegassun.com.