Autonomous Animal

“Like many immigrants, I’m constantly traveling and telling stories about what I see, and that ends up creating liaisons everywhere I go — it can be Bogota, Miami, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, or Santiago,” says busy Argentine rocker Fito Páez, explaining how comfortable he feels about his fifth visit to Miami. A successful stint at a packed Billboardlive in April 2002 (only Juanes lured as many fans) was one of the 130 gigs the multitalented musician managed to play last year without the support of a major label for the first time in his nineteen-year career.

Since he parted ways with Warner, which released seven of his thirteen albums between 1990 and 2000, Páez has survived the difficult experience of directing and funding his own major movie debut. In order to finance Vidas Privadas, a tale recounting the consequences of the Argentine military dictatorship of the 1970s, he mortgaged his top-of-the-line recording studio. Shortly thereafter he divorced his wife of ten years, Argentine actress Cecilia Roth, who is also director Pedro Almodovar’s muse and Vidas Privadas‘s star.

Now, though, Páez is back with a vengeance. His recording studio is free of debt, and he is clear of record-industry constraints. As an indie artist, he just refreshed his musical career with the very well-received Naturaleza Sangre. The album includes guests like legendary Brazilian singer Rita Lee, and Argentine rockers Luis Alberto Spinetta and Charly Garcia, two pioneers who have heavily influenced him. Páez describes the recording sessions with Garcia and Spinetta as “marvelous.”

His Miami show will be part of a tour that includes stops in New York, California, and Puerto Rico. Later in the year, he’ll venture to the rest of Latin America and Spain. At 40, Páez feels as confident as ever: “As the years went by, I came to the conclusion that I’m a stage animal, that I have to be onstage to be happy.”