2023-05-16 00:20:53
The Cafres stopped their machinery the day the pandemic forced the world to a halt for everyone. At the time of resuming activities, the brake had to be extended for another time due to health problems of the singer Guillermo Bonetto. Approximately, in October 2021, Guillermo presented a facial paralysis that had him extremely worried.
At that time the band handled the issue with secrecy and little was known regarding the singer’s condition. Almost 6 months later, the leader of the Cafres broke the silence on his Instagram and published a text that somehow reassured his followers.
On this issue and in a telephone conversation with VOS –following several technical problems that the singer tolerated without any drama- Guillermo says that he understood that he had to slow down, pay attention to his body and his state of mind. “I am very grateful for the luck that I had that nobody bothered me,” he began.
“These are sensitive issues for one. I never had anything serious, it’s something superficial and I attribute it to stress. I had Bell’s palsy which is not that serious, not dangerous. Your defenses are lowered and a virus can catch you. It grabbed me hard and some sequel was left with that, ”he explained.
And he added: “Now it does not prevent me from working or singing; I can go on with my normal life so nothing happens, it’s more aesthetic than anything else”.
– Do you think that the press or also the followers of Los Cafres at some point demanded an answer from you or that you pronounce yourself on the matter?
-No not at all. First, I think I owe nothing to anyone, no explanation. There was a pause and when I considered it prudent I published the statement. Then the followers or fans of Los Cafres understood the situation perfectly.
After the health problem was overcome, the band prepared their return to activity but “it must have been all little by little”. “It was basically a question of the desire, the urgencies, the duties, the sense of smell. We are musicians, we manage with our sense of smell. We are not certain at all. We are surfers of the uncertain, we have no idea regarding anything, ”he commented.
Bonetto with the tranquility that characterizes him, reflected that life continues to teach you all the time. “There were people who recommended us to go back with everything, ripping off heads, making big places and no, that was out of the question. We had received a couple of imponderables that teach you that things are not necessarily so. It’s good to take it easy.”
How was the return? There was a desire to return with everything or you had to pay attention to how you were feeling…
–We already have 35 years of playing live and not being able to play for three years was quite hard. Luckily it was possible, the meeting was wonderful. A very strong emotion; the comments are very vehement and clear that there is something special in the public of the Cafres. We missed the public and it was mutual, plus there was a lot of people in attendance.
–35 years is not little, how did Los Cafres age?
Hopefully we haven’t aged too much! (laughs). We have evolved a lot. I assume that it goes hand in hand with these hits we’ve been through, three years without playing is a lot. That obviously makes everything reassess. We feel better and better and we believe that we made a great contribution not only to reggae but also to music; Although we do reggae, we cross that barrier and people choose us within popular music.
The postponed tour and the appreciation of current sounds
The band is popularly known not only in Argentina, over the years they took their songs to tour throughout Latin America, the United States and Spain.
The barrier that Bonetto talks regarding is that of a genre that he defined as humble. “We already know how this genre came to the country and the popularity it had a few years ago,” he replied when asked if reggae had already let go of its hand in Argentina.
“I believe that music is waves,” he said. “If you look at the graph there are some lines that go up and others that go down. Today reggae is down but it will gain momentum ”, he explained.
–In the airwaves above we place urban music? The trap for example.
–I heard some unspeakable things and there are others that are very good. There are a lot of things that are great regarding these new guys. They get to many places even with little knowledge of most things. Beyond the wave in which they are riding, you have to bank it. Many are like copies, right? You don’t know who is who. All very atomized or similar. They have a level of exposure that only they can have because we are different generations. But we can learn from them, they have a lot to say. What is good I respect a lot.
Does the return come with new songs?
–As I told you, we went little by little even with the songs. We had everything ready to release another volume of Hoy, a record that we prepared to celebrate our three decades. The first volume came out in 2019 and everything was cut short. Now on the comeback we have loose songs, songs come out all the time. Little by little we will accommodate everything. Meanwhile we focus on fulfilling our commitments live and precisely for Córdoba we prepared something special because the last time we visited them was 5 years ago.
Leo Messi, one more “Cafre”
To close, Bonetto recounted a little pearl referring to Lionel Messi and what it meant for Argentina to win the Qatar 2022 World Cup. He highlighted Messi’s achievement and the joy it is for the band to be among the favorites of the “10”. “La pulga” recounted on several occasions that one of his favorite bands was Los Cafres and that the song Son It meant a lot to him and his family. The singer is sure that his music played a lot in Qatar in Lio’s relaxing moments, if he had any.
“We had the opportunity to meet him with Claudio (Illobre), the one who wrote the lyrics of the song that he likes so much. It was at his Cirque du Soleil in Barcelona. We were a couple of chairs away but we didn’t want to disturb him. He didn’t stop taking pictures with people! I don’t think he even saw the show. We didn’t want to be those who bothered Leo but we had him there. He is a phenomenon and he manages a remarkable humility ”, Bonetto closed.
To see
Los Cafres will perform this Friday, May 19 at 10 p.m. at XL Abasto (Bv. Las Heras 124). The value of the ticket is $7000 and can be purchased at Oktubre Rockería (9 de Julio 138, L.7) or through the xlabasto.com.ar system.
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