##Based in Valencia, Sole Giménez is one of the most recognized and successful voices in Spanish music of the last 40 years. Born in Paris (France), raised in Yecla (Murcia) and settled in Valencia (Spain), she has spent more than thirty years of her career in which she has not stopped evolving and growing as an artist…
She was the lead singer of the successful group ‘Presuntos Implicados’ for more than two decades, a band which sold three million albums, and has now been on her own for more than a decade. Her continuous support for social causes is well known. Some of her projects and merits in this field are the book album for Oxfam Intermón “Avanzadoras” and the Red Cross Gold Medal for her work in favour of the rights for women.
Sole Giménez is the author and composer of more than a hundred songs, with a fair number of hits in Spanish music; she has given thousands of concerts; she has collaborated with great artists; and she has an impressive international fan base supported by the public of different countries including from Latin America.
An admirer of singers such as Ella Fiztgerald, Edit Piaf or Omara Portuondo, whose voices are above any musical style or fashion, this Paris-born Spaniard is seen by some as an heir of sorts, regarding their impressive legacy…
In 2006, Sole Giménez decided to continue her musical career as a soloist, consolidating her style and personality in each of the ten albums she has released to date. Her unmistakable brand has established her as a performer and author with a loyal public, both in Spain and Latin America…
Sole has shared the stage and recordings with artists such as Joan Manuel Serrat, Herbie Hancock, Randy Crawford, Ana Belén, Víctor Manuel, Dani Martín, Mikel Erentxun, David de María, Pedro Guerra, Carlos Goñi, Teo Cardalda, Milton Nascimento, María Dolores Pradera, Alejandro Sanz, Miguel Ríos and musicians of the stature of Paco de Lucía, Jaques Morelembaum, Chano Domínguez, Toquinho, Jorge Pardo, Antonio Serrano and a very long etc. In addition, all of her solo albums are under the musical direction of the talented Cuban pianist Iván Melón Lewis.
24/7 VALENCIA: COULD YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR ALBUM,‘MUJERES DE MÚSICA’?
SOLE GIMÉNEZ: “It is for the women who preceded us on a difficult path of music… those who left their mark via those songs, those who broke with tradition and prejudice and began to sing, write and compose, making their music as a banner with which to wave and display their courage, freedom and emotions out to the world. Because they, despite having been invisible to everyone, have left a legacy of sound, rich and lush, full of deep and beautiful nuances, which displays their sensitivity. Neither better nor worse, simply different… women!
Women structured by music, balanced by rhythm, dreaming of melodies with lyrics, creating their own universes of sound with soul and a voice. For all of them today I interpret their lyrics to bring them to light, to sing their songs and to give new life to their works. This is the commitment behind this project that is more than just an album or a concert project.
It is a claim, a purpose, a goal: to do justice, to name them, the authors and composers behind so many songs so well known, so admired and enjoyed. I am doing it to seek the balance that we have been denied, to balance the music this time in favour of women and above all because they are also creators, they make music!
Chabuca, Rosana, Ivone, Mari Trini, Eladia, Natalia, Totó, María, Violeta, Isolina, Consuelo… they are some of the Latin singers & composers we visit on this album or in the concerts that will follow it, but there are more, many more, they are Women of Music!”
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR VERY LATEST RELEASE ‘MUJERES DE MÚSICA’ VOL. 2?
“With this new release, I continue to try to vindicate the role of women creators, so little valued in the world of music. I puts the same effort into the idea of balancing the gender of talents and doing justice to those who are being forgotten. But this new album also has the exceptional challenge of being recorded absolutely live, in a single take, image and sound, capturing the genuine instant in which the magic happens.
For this new volume, the tenth of my solo career, I invited other female voices to pay tribute to great masters. Together with María Rozalén, I perform a hymn written by the Argentinian author Eladia Blázquez “Honrar la Vida” and with Bely Basarte interprets the Mexican author María Grever in “Te quiero, dijiste” (Muñequita Linda).
The album also features the recording debut of a new voice: Alba Engel, Sole’s “little treasure”, with whom I perform the song “Volver” by Carolina de Juan (Morgan) as a duet.
The album is adorned with huge songs by Consuelo Velázquez (Mexico), María Teresa Vera (Cuba) and Adriana Calcanhotto (Brazil), as well as two songs by myself and with poems by Gabriela Mistral and Miguel Hernández, the only gender exception on the album.
For the women who paved the way and for those who have followed in their footsteps, I try to remember them, name them, brings them back to light to give them visibility, sing their songs and give new life to their work…”
Report by 24/7 Valencia team
More info: https://www.facebook.com/SoleGimenez.uno
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