The title had to sound like Pat Metheny, although it could've been Meshell Ndegeocello, Mike Landau, Jamiroquai or many others. Such is the music you hear when you're travelling...
Hello. My name is Andrei Martinez Agras, this is my first blog post.
I used to be a self-taught musician who one day found himself travelling the world and meeting some of the most unsuspected characters in the most incredible places. In future blog posts I surely will tell you all about how I learned to play guitar and some other instruments, how I learned to make and edit music and how I started making records and became a singular video enthusiast; but today I want to talk about travelling...
In December 2005 I auditioned and joined pioneer Ethno-Cuban rock band Sintesis, two months after I had gained a quite few pounds and was flying in a plane to Tabasco Mexico to play in a massive bullring. Luckily by that time I had already gotten used to life changing 180 degrees from time to time so I managed to keep myself together and enjoy the ride while bringing back home a couple of brand new t-shirts!
But Mexico was not the beginning of my life as a traveler. At only 8 years old my parents have to move to Havana while I had to remain at my grandparents until finishing primary school, so I got used to traveling the 240km from Cienfuegos in the back of the trucks that marched empty at dawn to pick up at the bay of Havana; that trip used to cost 10 pesos though it went up to 20 with the years and it was not only super exciting and boring at the same time but also a magnificent opportunity to take 35mm (If you are surprised at a 10 y/o kid with a camera in Cuba as much as I am as I read this then we both know there’s going to be a blog post about it). Sunrise entering Havana Bay is beautiful but I always arrived without any film left.
Obviously my first trip to Mexico was magic. I learned that the energy runs different in Teotihuacán and that you don't get as tired being there,.. though I'm not sure if it was the Gatorade I had just tried for the first time and was kind of hooked up to it. I also got enchilado for the first 200 times... The year was 2006 so I got to meet my old friend YouTube when it wasn’t even a year old.
Two years after, my first European tour started with Vienna, including Stuttgart, Salzburg and Linz where I bought the speakers that I use to this day.
What surprised me more about Europe was that you didn't have to wear a coat in summer; for some reason I was expecting the weather to be super cold all year around, except in Spain. You will have noticed that I did not mention Mexican food above, the best in the world; it is because I never mention it without rivalling it with Valencian food.
Look again at the last picture. Do you notice a little piece of grid floating between the sausages? It is a closed network that contains everything that is not meat in the broth. Once cooked, it is removed so that diners can enjoy the meat. That was a peak moment for me and the reason I will never forget to mention Valencian food.
Barcelona... I automatically identify myself with a city when it’s close to the sea. Notice the same shirt, I still wasn't done with food.
Later, that same year I found myself in Brazil. Nothing less than to perform a master class in Afro-Cuban music fusion and to participate in Percpan - Panorama Percussivo Mundial.
We also met Djavan.
I spent a whole summer in the Black Sea of Romania singing Woman No Cry, jamming to old Cuban tunes and talking to my future wife Lili.
Fast forward a few years I find myself walking in New York and the guajiro that lives in me asks for a picture with the first sign of uniqueness he could find...
Nah, seriously I also recognized this:
The list goes on which is why now I invite you to look forward to the next blog post to hear about the characters I have met and more places I have been. I stay looking forward to see you back around, don't forget to check out my Catalog send me any questions via email and read the terms of service section of my website.
You can listen to my music though the links the top and bottom of this page or by searching “amagrasmusic” in your favorite music place.