NEW YORK (KPRENSA) – Ely Guerra, the Mexican singer-songwriter, just completed a solo tour in the United States. Appearing with only her guitar, Guerra’s performance personified all the strength, passion, pain, and hope of the women of the Americas, north, south, and central.

In 2005, her latest CD, Sweet & Sour, Hot and Spicy, was nominated for a Latin Grammy. That success was gained after many years of struggle and hard work. Ely Guerra recently sat down in New York to discuss her career in music, her CDs and the difficult decisions required to remain true to her vision.

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Ely Guerra was born in the city of Monterrey, Mexico but her family soon emigrated to Guadalajara. Music was her passion at a very early age. “I have been writing songs since I was nine years old” she says.

Her songs show the influence of her parents tastes integrating the Brazilian sounds of the bossa nova and samba, and music from Cuba. She studied in the United States in the school of arts at Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington where she heard American bands like Nirvana. There were also other modern influences such as the band Depeche Mode.

In 1992, she recorded her first CD, called simply “Ely Guerra.” The album didn’t get much of a response. Her second album “Pa’ Morirse de Amor” wasn’t released until 1997. However, this second disk was well received and included the hit songs “Angel del Fuego” and “Peligro”.

Because of the success of the second disk, Ely was given the opportunity to participate in a tour dubiously promoted as “The Diva Voice”. The tour included Guerra along with other Mexican women rockers Julieta Venegas and the band Aurora and The Academy. “The record company gave the tour its name but I didn’t like it.” Guerra says “What we were doing had nothing to do with being a diva, we only wanted to be known for the music.”

In 1999, Guerra released her third and most mature album “Lotofire”. It was recorded in New York, working along side producer Andrés Levin for six months. The majority of the compositions showed a mixture of Ely’s Mexican roots with hints of her childhood influences of Cuban and the Brazilian music. The songs are punctuated with extremely direct vocals and lyrics that, among others things, express the strength of character of women.

The executives of her record company, EMI, didn’t understand the message of the album and didn’t want to release it. They asked Guerra to abandon the disk and begin again. “I just couldn’t renounce my own voice” Guerra says. The CD was finally released but without any sales or marketing support from EMI.

For the next five years, Guerra traveled throughout Mexico and promoted Lotofire on her own. It was three years before the disk was released in the United States.

The hard work paid off. The album was hailed as a critical success and eventually became a commercial one as well.

With the strong support of a new management team at EMI Mexico, Guerra was able to release her latest studio album, “Sweet & Sour, Hot and Spicy”, in 2004 and to experiment with a new musical direction. The disk’s title is intended to reflect every element of Ely’s emotions: on one side the sweet and sour of melancholy, tenderness and sensuality, and, on the other side, the hot and spicy, that expresses her seductive side.

The disk also includes contributions from many musicians that have been admirers of Ely’s talents: Toy Hernández, Sacha Triujeque, Daniel Goldaracena, Thom Russo and Emmanuel de la Real. They team with Ely’s long time band, which she lovingly calls “The Elyguerras”, they are Hernán Hecht (drums), Ezequiel Jaime Netri (bass), Nicolas Santella (keyboards) and Pancho de Larrea (guitar).

Presenting the music in a recent concert, Ely relayed a story from a trip to Ecuador. On a boat and presented with the opportunity to swim with sharks, Ely initially declined out of fear. She then realized that not every woman has the choice to face her fear and move forward. “I entered the water as an act of the solidarity and an expression of the power of women everywhere” Guerra concluded.

Ely Guerra’ s voice, her music, and her career suggest that women couldn’t have a better champion.

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