Pablo Sanchez

A Whole New World Interview with Pablo Sanchez – band 'Tierra Nueva' “You cannot enclose the concept of music and dance just under one name. The music is earlier than the countries themselves. It was a way to communicate before language existed.” It was part way through my interview with Pablo Sanchez (Director and vocalist of Tierra Nueva here in Australia) that he spoke these words and they rang like a thousand bells in my head. Growing up in Cuba, Pablo experienced first hand the control the Government held over its people. “At schools in Cuba they study classical music and the only time you hear what is considered real Cuban music is in the streets” said Pablo. Tierra Nueva was one of a number of bands and artists to evolve out of the 'Nueva Trova' movement in Cuba. The Nueva Trova movement itself began in 1967/68 post the Cuban revolution of 1959 but was disbanded by the Government in the 1980s. Pablo Milanes, Silvio Rodrigues and others were the founders of this movement, but later they lost the critical spirit of their songs and started to conform to the Government line; receiving benefits from the Government. In Pablo’s words; that was the beginning of the end. Despite the Nueva Trova movement being officially disbanded, many artists continued to keep alive the need to express the reality of what was going on and expose the issues of the System. This was the origin of the Tierra Nueva movement in 1991 and many other underground movements on the island that were collectively named ‘The Beavers’. In 2007, while in Spain, Pablo created the Tierra Nueva band (mainly with Cuban musicians) and used this name in memory of the artistic movement from 1991. He also met an Aussie girl (now his wife) and after much consideration decided to settle here, leaving behind his family and friends, and to start anew. So now in 2010, Pablo resides in Melbourne and has again reformed Tierra Nueva to continue the long battle that was started in 1991. The decision to do this was not a difficult one after meeting musicians and music lovers here. Pablo wanted to connect Australia with his country through music, to share his passion for music. He does what he loves and loves what he does, but he is not here to try and convince you to change your ideals and values, he is just here to make you aware and open your eyes to what is going on in the world around you. The Spanish words Tierra Nueva translate to ‘New World’ and each incarnation of this band brings a new depth and mix to all the music it offers. Pablo says “You know what you like and what you don’t like. It’s about making the right blend, the right package so that people will enjoy it”. Tierra Nueva aim to provide the right package for music lovers here in Australia. The repertoire includes covers of many bands that were part of The Beavers movement, as well as Pablo’s own compositions, and the lyrics continue to address the same social topics. The band line-up is filled with a great blend of talented people and musicians from various backgrounds and with different personalities. The band itself sits in the middle of genres – not strictly a Timba band, not strictly a rock band - but what they do offer is a mix of musical elements (covers and original songs) that will appeal to Australian audiences to give them a whole new world to discover and explore. See Tierra Nueva Return to Interviews | Return to Homepage Interview by Susan Hill Interview Date Upload. 01.12.10