The story is explained very well by José María de Páiz, journalist, writer and musician, on social networks: «One day Tony, Potage’s classmate in high school, tells him that he plays the guitar and that he has his own songs. The veteran rabbit musician, always eager for discoveries, Potage (with a g), sees that there is good material there that just needs to be polished. Many years pass, some musicians pass, until three huge guys like Ane Fernandez, Abel or Maurizio join the cause. This marvel of old rock is recorded at Néptar Studios, seasoned with pop and progressive flashes. The texts are fragments by Charles Bukowski and the design is by Betty Romero who plays with the colors and drawings of Fernando Larraz. The result was released last summer on vinyl titled Tonalities.
We explain, Toni is José Antonio del Pino, voice, guitar, harmonicas and composer of the pieces. Potage is Sergio de Páiz, drums and backing vocals. In a first version of Freewomen, the group formed as a trio in 2016 with the addition of Abel Herrera on bass and backing vocals. In 2021, the legendary Ane Fernández, responsible for Néptar studios and behind great rock projects, joins the guitar. LanzaroteWow, because all this happens in Lanzarote. The group is completed in 2022 with keyboards by Maurizio Boti.
An even more detailed explanation by Freewomen: «At the beginning of 2016 we had some compositions that we felt that if we were able to define, they could become songs. We are admirers of Charles Bukowski and it occurred to us to be inspired by his poetic work to create the lyrics. The next step was to form the band. We started as a trio, after several attempts, in 2018 we started rehearsing regularly and in 2019 we gave our first concert in Lanzarote. In 2020 we recorded the album and the band grew during the recording and now we are five members.
I call this, with great affection, “purerrock”: there are many projects today by already seasoned musicians from the Canarian scene who continue to give their all and release albums and live shows. It shows in the sound and in the experience, references from the 60s and 70s of the last century, beautiful guitars with a wooden sound, measured distortion, breadth of vision, seasoned classicism.
The name comes as: “a form of protest against the lack of equality and violence against women,” they point out. They release on vinyl. Rock band, that’s it. Of course, they pay for the vinyl and continue with the dynamics of a small scene like the Canary Islands, now looking for live shows like breaths of oxygen to increase their desire.
There is a space of Canarian music that was left in digital limbo and without the coverage of previous vinyl. They were the projects between the nineties and the two thousand, when the CD was king and uploading songs to the internet sounded like a crime. That is why many big names did not have a presence on platforms. The legacy of Primitive Sound System is finally almost complete and available to everyone. Their superb albums A Post Grunge Experience, A Nu-Experience and Just Jazz show the fabulous rarity they were, the number of magical moments they left behind and the great milestone for island music that they represented.
The Buchanans take advantage of the When Hell Freezes Over compilation to release an unreleased album. This album, available on Bandcamp, brings together international carota surf bands thanks to the Moscow label Black Kingdom Records. The Gran Canaria group includes here a song that was left hanging from the recordings of their previous EP. It’s a cut that’s more garage than surf, the only one where voices appear, hence the rarity. The Buchanans are working on the mixes of an LP that they hope to have on the streets before the summer while they fight in a scene that no longer looks fondly on bands with attitude and original songs.
‘Go diyei’
But who is Renzzo?
In massive viral times, Tenerife is experiencing an absolutely local DJ phenomenon
The question in the headline can be asked by any teenager from Valladolid, Lugo or, if you hurry me, Lanzarote. But not the pibada of Tenerife. Who is Renzzo The Selector? Renzzo is a local viral phenomenon in times where the global prevails. Renzzo goes to any party and rocks it. Renzzo distributes and receives love on social networks. Renzzo generates criticism and envy. Renzzo has been surfing the crest of the wave for years. What’s happening here?
In the absence of a definitive studio, Tenerife is one of the places with the highest density of DJs, I have doubts that Ibiza will surpass us. There are many, and by force of quantity, many very good, including several (Héctor Couto, Pablo Fierro, Castion) of international impact. And then we have Renzzo, who is neither the best technically nor has productions of global impact or anything like that. He only does what people like. It is something that is so new and strange. Many DJs are suffering from the meisanic effect: they think they have a mission, which is to culturalize and indoctrinate, they believe they know what the public wants more than the public itself. They are the DJs who DON’T. They DO NOT play hits. They DO NOT play reggaeton. They DO NOT accept requests. Then, of course, NO one calls them.
Then there is another dynamic. A clarification, the world of DJs is wide and it’s great that there are people who move and don’t leave the underground, who focus their style more on discovery than on complacency. But those DJs are neither better nor worse than those who work every weekend to entertain people with the hits that people know. The problem comes when those DJs, who believe they have been chosen by destiny, criticize the professional DJ (who, curiously, plays four times as much as they do). Well, with Renzzo it actually happens that for a long time almost the entire union criticized him. Because? First for the Spanish maxim: he highlights that they will give you. Secondly because he always gave him a tremendous nose and like Puchito, without mixing or escrachear, he made all of Tenerife adore him.
The wave does not go down. The renzzomania (that’s what he calls it) continues. I’m going to tell you a secret. One afternoon I walked with him from one session to the next and I was surprised by his professionalism, what gringos call work ethic. I know many who criticize him, I know his bungles, his delays and his rude appearances at what is his work booth. I don’t doubt it: more Renzzos and this DJ world would do much better.
