Farina: “I apologize for not realizing that years ago I had a vision for urban music” | culture

Nearly two decades ago, before singers like Karol G or Cazzu became the faces of women-led Latin urban music, there was Farina in Colombia, known as “The Pretty Girl”. “When I left, half of the country didn’t quite understand what I wanted to reveal,” she told El PAÍS about the moment she became famous, at age 17, on a reality show called Factor X. It was the time of Ivy Queen in Puerto Rico and Mala Rodriguez in Spain, singers whose South American reggae and rap rhythms Farina tried to imitate, but felt that there was no place in her country for something that wasn’t vallenato or pop music. For Farina (Medelene, 35) recognition was a slow process. Although signed with companies like Sony and produced by rapper Wyclef Jean, at the end of last year she received her first Latin Grammy nomination, in the Best Urban Song category, for her single to shoot fire. She was the only woman nominated in that category.

Maybe that’s why he decided to tell a version of his story now. This year she is the heroine of a new movie, flow street, from production company Caribbean Films, where she plays Yizelle: a girl with few resources, who dreams of being famous, and a musician who doesn’t quite understand what she has to offer. “They know I’m from the neighborhood but I have so much sparkle,” sing for the movie. The film has already been shown for the first time in the Dominican Republic (a country that apparently appreciates Farina’s music: it is easy Congratulations is the most listened to out there on the Spotify platform) and will soon be doing so in the rest of the continent. It starts on Friday too party, partyHis new song with Colombian Ryan Castro And in the video she is arrested in a bar by the police for the only thing she feels guilty about: having an “overflow”.

ask. You are starring in a new movie called flow street. How is the CV?

Answer. It’s a movie you’ll love, full of passion, love, discipline, music and rap, where you’ll be able to see artists like Yandel, Zion, Jay Wheeler and a number of artists who took the movie to another level. It’s a movie about an artist very similar to my life, I would say 90% of the movie is my life, it’s the process that women and many artists have to go through to reach that goal of filling the stages, lots of fans applauding your music. The movie is very similar to my life because of all the processes I had to go through to get to my place. You have achieved very beautiful things that you imagined from a very young age, you also had difficult moments, situations where you knock on doors and they tell you that you are not up to the task, that this is not what they are looking for because you lack a number of phrases that hurt you but make you stronger. What they do to the person is a favor by telling him that it is useless. This is what happened to me: I took all those phrases and instead of dying and grieving. What I did was they comment on myself and say “I’m not good for this? Of course I’m good for this.”

s. You say that it was difficult for you to enter the world of music, but you are from a family of musicians. Does this not allow you to approach the producers?

R was found. Yes, I come from a family of musicians my mother was born into [la ciudad del caribe colombiano] Mombox grew up in Talegua, which is like a small colonial island. I grew up in the middle lamppostsof drums, of millet, of flutes, and of music by Toto La Momposina, my mother’s aunt [y la reconocida como reina de la cumbia en Colombia]. So I grew up in the middle of all this Colombian folklore but I went out making urban music. At a very young age, my mother left for Medellin with her family to look for opportunities but not related to music, it was business opportunities to move forward. My mother didn’t have the economic capacity to take me to the recording studio, and I didn’t know how to go or who to knock on the door. When I Was 17 Years Old Reality Show x factor It was a very special opportunity, when I became known nationally, it was the first time I was able to go to the recording studio.

s. Was it difficult back then to be a freestyle or rap woman?

R was found. One hundred percent, it was very difficult. I remember when I left, half of the country didn’t quite understand what I wanted to make clear. I totally understand. Colombia is a country where you listen to more pop, more vallenato, more ranchera, more folklore, and urban music has never been our forte. The closest we had at that time were Chombo from Panama, Fulanito or Proyecto Uno from the Dominican Republic, Reggaeton from Puerto Rico, hip-hop from the US, all the tunes from Jamaica. I fell in love with listening to these cultures, music from other countries, and dedicated myself to making urban music. But at that time there was no woman besides Ivy Quinn [de Puerto Rico] To represent us around the world. So it was very difficult in the beginning, and people saw me training in front of the whole country.

s. He said in an interview that he keeps a tweet saying that his work has not yet been recognized in Colombia.

R was found. Well, saving a tweet isn’t real. What I said is that I recently read a tweet, or I read many tweets, where many people from my country are apologizing for not realizing that many years ago I had a vision happening today with urban music. Then a lot of people wondered what I was trying to do. Let’s say I appreciate all of that, and I appreciate the lack of support, because that has encouraged me to grow and develop more, and to show people that it’s possible. And I have a lot to be grateful for because I have a lot of fans in my country. Just as there were people who did not approve of what I was doing and did not understand what I was doing, I had a lot of people who continue to accompany me and who are my followers, my army. Suppose I have both sides.

s. Do you consider yourself a pioneer of musical phenomena like Karol G?

R was found. Look, you were the first artist to appear commercially on TV and make urban music. I think there were more girls in the neighborhood, unknown, girls who were trying to knock on the door. But obviously I consider myself to have opened many doors and I feel very proud of that. Open this door patriotically after the Ivy Queen [en Puerto Rico]After Mala Rodriguez [en España], who were our greatest Latin references. Then there was a Colombian woman named Farina who was trying to move that door and knock on it, and from there straight ahead All of these are starting to appear horses which everyone already knows. They are now opening the doors to another generation.

s. What do you think of the fight between Residente and J Balvin over the latter’s commitment to the country’s political reality?

R was found. Do you think we should be very observant? I think every artist decides to commit or not. I think that one’s opinion, one’s attitude, should be respected by people. I know that we are artists and that we owe everyone what we are. Palvin owes a lot to Columbia, who have been supporting him since day one. But I’ve seen that he has spoken many times about what he thinks, and yet I see that there are many people who just don’t feel satisfied with giving an opinion. I saw that he gave so much joy to the country, I saw that he worked with so many people without even saying it, I recognized that as an artist. So not everything is negative. We also have to weigh all the beautiful things J Balvin has given us, all those doors he opened for musicians, and not so much negativity against him.

Obviously as an artist, yes, we have to stick to our country but it’s not something we know much about. We know how to make music. So sometimes I don’t talk much because I say “Wednesday, I don’t know much about politics”. We are committed to our cause, which is to bring love and music, and to give our opinions wherever we can. But do not throw us this force because we are not politicians.