Sílvia Pérez Cruz

$30.00 at Doors

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Sílvia Pérez Cruz (Palafrugell, Girona, 1983) is one of the most striking voices of recent times; in the words of Jorge Drexler, “a voice that marks a generation”. She is a composer as well as a singer, and has spoken the language of music for as long as she can remember. Exposed to popular Spanish and Latin songs from an early age, she studied classical music and jazz, and was later bewitched by flamenco, to which she has an almost supernatural connection. Her voice is unique and electrifying. 

It’s impossible to pigeonhole Slivia Pérez Cruz into a single style. She is versatile but always unique, two qualities that rarely coexist in one person, yet they define her. She is faithful to every style she tackles without ever ceasing to be herself.

Between the ages of four and twenty-three, she studied a wide range of musical disciplines, including music theory, harmony, improvisation, composition, arrangement, classical piano and saxophone, the cajón, jazz saxophone, and jazz and flamenco singing. She holds a degree in jazz singing from the Catalonia College of Music (ESMUC) 

She has collaborated on numerous albums and projects, working with artists such as Gino Paoli, Stefano Bollani, Lluís Homar, Rocío Molina, Pepe Habichuela , Jorge Drexler, Hamilton de Holanda, Toquinho, Natalia Lafourcade, Lila Downs, Liniker, Joan Manuel Serrat, and Lluís Llach, among others. She has also sung with the Spanish National Orchestra, conducted by Josep Pons. Alongside the double bassist Javier Colina, she resuscitated Cuban filin for the project En la imaginación (2011), was co-founder and singer of the group Las Migas (2004-2010), and has formed an occasional duo with the guitarist Toti Soler. She made her debut as a composer and solo performer with 11 de noviembre (Universal, 2012), which was acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, and earned her a Gold album. In 2014, she received another Gold album for Granada (Universal, 2014), a joint project with Raül Fernandez (Refree), who had also co-produced her previous album.

Throughout her career, íilvia has participated in various theatre productions, working with the directors Joan Ollé and Julio Manrique. She also lent her voice to Pablo Berger’s film Blancanieves (2012), winner of 10 Goya Awards in 2013, including that for Best Original Song.

In 2015, she composed and recorded the soundtrack to Cerca de tu casa, a film by Eduard Cortés about forced evictions, in which she also starred. That experience and those songs formed the basis of her album Domus (Universal Music, 2016), which won the Biznaga de Plata Award for Best Original Music at the Malaga Film Festival (2016), the award for Best Original Music at PÖFF (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2016), the Gaudí Award for Best Original Music (2017), and the Goya Award for Best Original Song (2017) for Ai, ai, ai. She was also nominated for the Goya Award for Best New Actress. This album contains the song No hay tanto pan, which has become a kind of anthem, and is still one of the most requested songs at her concerts, along with her versions of Pequeño vals vienés and Gallo rojo, gallo negro.

Vestida de nit (Universal Music, 2017) – named after the song of the same name by her parents Glòria Cruz (lyrics) and Càstor Pérez (music) – is an album that came about after more than five years on tour with a string quintet. It is the synthesis of a deep exploration of sound, the dynamics between the instruments, the freedom felt when a group of classically trained musicians dispense with the score, and the possibilities of improvisation. Combining classics from her repertoire and previously unreleased songs, the album features her own arrangements as well as those of close collaborators, such as Antoni Pich, Javier Galiana de la Rosa, and Carlos Montfort. 

In July 2018 in Avingon Festival she premiered Grito Pelao (Max Award 2019 for Best Musical Composition [Silvia] and Best Dance Show) with dancer and choreographer Rocío Molina, a work based on Rocío’s desire to become a single mother, and the result of a joint investigation into the emotion behind the form, a shared emotion, preceding song and dance, and common to them both. September 2018 saw the release of La noche de doce años (in English, A Twelve-Year Night), a film by Uruguayan director Álvaro Brechner, starring the Spanish actor Antonio de la Torre. Silvia contributed two cover versions and two of her own compositions, and also played a small role in the film. Also in 2018 she collaborated again with actor Lluís Homar at Cyrano play (Edmond Rostand), composing original music for the project.

In 2019, she went on tour with the Menorcan pianist Marco Mezquida, their final show at the Blue Note Tokyo being recorded for a live album called MA. Live in Tokyo. 

In autumn 2020, Sílvia released a new album, Farsa (género imposible), a project that reflects her attitude towards the duality of our inside and outside parts, our fragility in a time when superficiality is so overwhelming, when things that can seem astonishing outside can be empty inside. Lies, emptiness. She created three different line-ups for presenting the album live, the Farsa Circus Band (six musicians on stage), a solo output and a celebrated hybrid and celebrated version that included scenic, dance, poetry and video elements: under the name of Género imposible (Impossible Gender) she co-wrote a full new show together with Pablo Messiez (poet, dramaturg) and Elena Córdoba (dancer, choreographer), amongst others.

The album includes thirteen original songs and some borrowed poems, born from a dialogue with other artistic disciplines such as theatre, cinema, dance and poetry, in an attempt to widen and recreate life. More than 80 Farsa concerts have taken place between 2020 and 2022.

Sílvia wrote the soundtrack for the animated film Josep, by French illustrator and director Aurel. She lends her voice to two of the film characters and we can also see her face in one of them. This film was awarded in France’s prestigious Prix Lumière (by international specialised press) as best animation film of the year and best original soundtrack.

In 2022 she received the prestigious National Contemporary Music Award (given by the Spanish Government Ministry of Culture) and the Pop-Eye to the “Duende”, both as recognition to her trajectory; she also was awarded with the Pávez to the Best Original Soundtrack for her work at the short film Maruja (Berta García-Lacht, 2021). 2022 also saw Sílvia as part of the live project Territorios together with Liliana Herrero (Argentina) and Maria Gadú (Brazil).

On April 21^st 2023 Sílvia released her new album, Toda la vida, un día (Sony Music). An original compositions album that puts in value every age in one person’s life, looks at the nature’s cycles, puts the focus on the good quality friendship, the slowness and the collective chant. Salvador Sobral, Liliana Herrero, Juan Quintero, Pepe Habichuela, Carmen Linares or Natalia Lafourcade amongst others feature in Sílvia’s most ambitious and International release to date.

2023 has been a happily busy year for Sílvia so far. Besides touring extensively her new album, she has also toured for more than 20 dates as a special guest in Damien’s Rice European tour. Besides that, three important Territorios dates happened in Barcelona, Madrid and Cartagena during the summertime. 

Silvia has toured extensively throughout Spain, has sung in Cuba, the United States, Estonia, Bulgaria, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Algeria, Tunisia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia, Hong Kong, Venezuela and England, and has paid several visits to France, Portugal, Norway, Italy, Turkey, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil and Japan, thus consolidating her ever growing international career.