Not every day does one find a talent like Kany García’s, of whom it can be said that dedication, integrity, and passion go beyond being mere adjectives. Because, if there is something that this Puerto Rican singer / songwriter is passionate about, it is her music. Music that is intelligent, melodic, daring at the same time, subtle and exquisitely wrought too.
This will become evident to everyone with the May 29 release of Kany’s debut album, “Cualquier Día” (Any Day). Of the 11 songs written by the artist, ‘Hoy ya me voy,’ the story of an unrequited love, has been chosen as the first single. “My music is totally original,” says the 25-year-old artist, who is from the town of Toa Baja in Puerto Rico. “If there’s something that I want my music to be known for, it’s for the quality of the lyrics. And, within that quality, for the easy way in which stories are told, without too many fancy words.”
The daughter of a Spaniard, Antonio, who gave up the priesthood when he met Shela, a Puerto Rican woman, Encarnita García de Jesús, or Kany, grew up in a house where music was not only played, but also lived. The youngest of three children (Marishela and José Antonio, who is a lead cello player at the Sinfónica de Puerto Rico), Kany started learning classical music when she was just a child, studying cello, theory, solfeggio and chorus. At 13, she went to the Escuela Libre de Música, where the guitar would win her heart.
This was followed by studies at Puerto Rico’s Conservatorio de Música. “When I was little, I thought of staying with classical music, but once I hit my teens, I was set on singing,” remembers Kany. “I never considered being a lyrical singer. If anything, I would’ve continued playing the cello.”
The roads soon to be traveled, however, would be very different: she auditioned for a popular reality TV show in Puerto Rico, “Objetivo Fama,” but destiny had something else in store. Something catastrophically unexpected happened. The same night that she was chosen to join the new talents program, an exhausted Kany had a terrible car accident, which nearly ended her life. “I fell asleep, and I hit an electric light post,” she says. “It was a very serious accident.” With fractures in her pelvis, clavicle, and 40 stitches on her face, Kany spent six weeks of intense recuperation. Her goals though, never changed: to recover and to return to music. “A few times I thought about whether or not I should’ve gone to that TV show,” she says. “But there was never any question that I would return to singing”
Kany’s music reached SONY BMG in February of last year, and the label immediately recognized her potential as an emerging star. She was invited to join one of the greatest Latin American singers and composers, Venezuelan Franco de Vita, at a concert in Puerto Rico. “When I sang with Franco, I still hadn’t signed on with SONY,” explains Kany. “But when SONY saw the reception I had from the audience that night, the evening’s only standing ovation, which sealed the deal.”
Nothing could stop Kany now. The next step was México, where she would work with renowned producer Memo Gil (who has collaborated with artists such as Maná, Pedro Fernández and Thalía, among others.) From a selection of more than 20 songs that she had written, Kany came ready with some 12 to share with Gil. And so, “Cualquier Día” was recorded between México and Puerto Rico. The music in this album is eclectic and intelligent, nourished by influences such as flamenco, which Kany used to listen to with her father when she was small, and, rock in Spanish and the “nueva trova,” or socially conscious songs from Cuba and other parts of Latin America, which she heard as a teenager. “Life’s experiences are what make up my music. But not only my experiences. My songs are stories, not fantasies, but stories with which one can identify.” That’s why, any lover of sensitive and thoughtful music will identify with Kany García and her “Cualquier Día.”
Source: http://artists.letssingit.com/kany-garcia-g6kzf/biography
