Tino Contreras has likely heard the same question over and over again in the most recent years of his life. But how not to do it, since not everyone celebrates reaching the 97 years with their lucidity and energy. Much less dressed as a rocker from the sixties – with a leather beret, a blue long-sleeved shirt and a black vest – and with plans to continue traveling the world, as he did in his younger years.
“I never liked alcohol,” replied the jazz player born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, but who lives in Mexico City, in a recent interview to the question of the secret of his longevity. “I didn’t like the speck either ; once I gave it two or three touches [fumadas] but I didn’t like it. ”
The artist, who four years ago married a woman much younger than him, now is preparing to participate in the event “La Línea: The London Latin Music Festival”, which in 2020 was going to be a face-to-face show but which had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Now it will be held virtually and Tino will perform from Mexico City.
This version of the festival will only include two shows –usually there are a dozen on average–, which will be broadcast globally , Tino’s this weekend, and Mestizo’s, a project made up of artists from London and Bogotá, which will take place on May 2.
“We are hitting with a tube ”, Said the musician in relation to how good he has felt in the rehearsals for this presentation; he and his band will perform “The Night of the Gods” and “Quinto Sol”, two of the most iconic albums of the 59 that he has edited in his long career. “We caught a swing that I felt like it was flying.”
The setting for this show will be the Frida Kahlo Museum, also known as the Blue House, in Mexico City. Tino, who will lead the drums, said that “we have been in a very desperate desperation” to play again.
This concert will celebrate Tino’s birthday, which was the April 3. And he will also celebrate 77 years of professional career, because he emphasizes that he started playing at the age of 8, and that at 18 he already had his own orchestra in Ciudad Juárez, where he was born. His father, uncles, grandfather, and great-grandfather were also musicians, and his father was the first artist to found a jazz band in Chihuahua.
In addition to drums, Tino plays the piano, trumpet and sings. In these days of pandemic, he says that his consolation was the piano, which accompanied him for long nights and in which he composed many new pieces.
However, his wife and also a representative , Mónica Ramírez, intervenes to say that in Mexico it has not been known to recognize the career of Tino Contreras, which is more valued abroad than within his country. This despite the fact that he has composed more than two thousand songs not only of jazz, but of popular music.
The musician, for his part, has no complaint about his life. His career has taken him to stages in various countries around the world – among them the United States, Greece, France, the Dominican Republic, Turkey and Cuba. And now, if it weren’t for the pandemic, I would surely be in London or anywhere else in the world.
“My life is very beautiful,” he said. “I have friends, my son that I adore and a country, what more do I want?
In detail
What: Tino Contreras in La Línea: The London Latin Music Festival
When: on demand only on Saturday and Sunday
How: the event will be on demand and for 24 hours only the Saturday and Sunday 8 pm Los Angeles and New York local time
Tickets: $ 17; reports dice.fm
