Our Latin Artist of the Month is critically acclaimed and widely respected Ricardo Arjona. The Guatemalan singer/songwriter is known for infusing art and performance with social conscience and integrity. Arjona expressed interest in music as a child in Antigua, however chose to become a schoolteacher instead. The ever-talented Arjona was also a member of the Guatemalan national basketball team, and only sang and wrote songs in his spare time. Eventually, Arjona came to the realization that music was his true passion, and moved to Mexico City to begin his career. There, he played many student festivals and acquired the reputation of protest singer. Finally. PolyGram offered the bleeding heart a record deal, but he was mislabeled as a Latin-lover and the album inevitably failed, which catapulted the star back into the classroom, only singing and playing his guitar occasionally. Ultimately, Arjona moved to Buenos Aires, where he was able to continue recording his material on his own terms. One such song was entitles "Jesus Verbo No Sustantivo," a controversial song about his experiences at a Catholic school as a child. This song got the attention of Sony, which released many of his most popular albums, including Animal Nocturno. Adentro, released in late 2005, was nominated for a 2006 Grammy in the Latin Pop Album category. Now, we can look forward to seeing Arjona performing at Madison Square Garden on February 9th, a show produced by Ralph Mercado III. |
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