Atenea Carter: The artist who is worthwhile is the one who serves

"I come from a family of women artists. My mother and my two aunts were dancers at the Teatro Argentino and even performed at El Molino. Since mine was a single-parent family, during my childhood I spent a lot of time with my grandmother and, even then, she would make me sing a repertoire that went from Whitney Houston to Rocío Jurado!"

As she shares this memory, Atenea Carter laughs with a contagious breadth, after her entrance into the Bar, to the syncopated rhythm of Tom Misch's It runs through me, accompanied by her dog, Aretha, who is now sniffing around the bar area to see if anything falls to appease her endless canine appetite.

"I am a Jazz singer and vocal coach ---continues the patron, savoring a black vermouth---. Until now, I have lent my voice to several musical projects here in Barcelona, but none of those projects were entirely mine... Until now."

--- This sounds like a big step about to be taken...

--- Yes, I feel it's time to do my own things, something of my own. In fact, I just put together my band, we are eight musicians, all friends, and the songs are mine.

An adventure that is close to materializing in the incipient recording of an album, "with Renato Paolo producing," and that responds to the need to "do something calmer, more soulful, a more intimate repertoire, because something I really like in this life is intimacy."

It has been a long and winding road, from those afternoons when, as a child, her grandmother would dress up Atenea to sing. And there are roots that cannot be ignored and that end up defining the person and her art: "My family has a lot to do with my notion that, when I go on stage, I am at the service of the public. My grandmother used to tell me that, whatever you express, you have the responsibility to owe yourself to the public. Her phrase was that the artist who is worthwhile is the one who serves." And, clearly, it did not fall on deaf ears.

What is learned on stage

It may have been beneficial for the singer to have trained herself in the craft of acting on stage in a self-taught manner. "What I have learned about jazz, I have learned in jam sessions and by rehearsing and listening. I have not been able to afford to attend schools like ESMUC". And perhaps that has influenced a way of approaching singing that is technical, yet utterly free, free from constraints, where the essence comes to the surface and true soulfulness, true intensity, is released into the atmosphere.

"For nine years I was in a duo, Another Way, with which we performed a pop soul repertoire and with which I learned a lot. But one day that ended, which forced me to do things by myself. That's when I realized that I was much more capable than I thought. I did many concerts alone, with voice and keyboard" and that, of course, toughened her up to the point that the musician from Girona, Ireneu Grosset, known for his career with The Pepper Pots, noticed her to take on the role of frontwoman in his project The Mighty Might, with whom she even recorded an album.

"I am very proud to have been able to adapt to what has come my way and that has taught me a lot," concludes the parishioner, who combines her new band and repertoire with candlelit concert sessions, Candelight Sessions ---where she measures herself against the repertoire and soul of the gigantic Nina Simone--- and with "vocal coaching classes that, I hope, I will soon be able to expand into an online vocal technique school that I am setting up".

The balsamic effect of the Jamboree

"My relationship with Barcelona is one of a very beautiful childhood and a lot of music, especially regarding the Jamboree. And, although I have lived in Terrassa for eleven years and I adore it, my idea is to return to the city someday, because having such a large cultural offer so close at hand can nourish me a lot as an artist."

Atenea Carter's gaze turns somewhat pensive, then, stumbling upon an emotionally delicate memory: "Last year I went through depressive states as several griefs and personal problems came together. Well, if anything contributed to me feeling better it was the jams at Jamboree, where I met people who ended up being concert companions. Those sessions gave me a lot of light in the midst of that darkness." An eloquent episode, when it comes to defining the artist's link with an urban musical cartography of which, however, it pains her "to still see so few Afro-descendant people at concerts, especially in venues of a certain standing. A symptom of a great social and economic gap and a certain classism that saddens me greatly."

An aspect to which the scarce sense of security is added. "Unlike Terrassa, as a woman I don't feel safe on the streets of Barcelona. For example, every time I go to a gig or a jam session, I have to devise a strategy to avoid walking alone much. And even more so at certain hours," she concludes, finishing her vermouth.

--- The truth is that, faced with certain problems, it's very hard not to get upset.

--- Hey, since you're talking about blood, can I make a claim, right here at the bar?

--- Of course, the bar is yours and the locals are listening.

--Well, look, to say that I have sickle cell anemia, a chronic and minority disease that derives from a genetic mutation of African-origin blood. So I encourage everyone to donate blood!

And Aretha emphasizes this last point with a bark, also so that people don't forget her appetite, which is still there.