The Madrid composer, author of the music for the play 'El humor de mi vida', which comes to El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera, warns that "it is inevitable not to feel like a participant in a performance like this"
The Madrid musician and composer Juan Fernández de Valderrama (1973) is the author of the music that plays in the theatrical production 'The humor of my life' by the popular comedian and presenter Paz Padilla that is presented this May in El Hierro (12th and 13th), La Palma (19th and 20th) and La Gomera (21st). The member of the trio Materia Prima, which is also made up of his brothers Pedro and Mónica, points out that the libretto of the work in which Padilla stars, in which he participates performing on guitar the songs of this successful stage production directed by Pablo Barrera, “is adapted to the narrative of the script, with music that is some melancholic and others more vitalistic, carefully selected, many of them his own composition composed for this performance and other pre-existing pieces that have formed part of the soundtrack of the life of Paz Padilla.”
The musician and singer won with his group in 2007, representing Spain at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile, the first prize and the highest award of the aforementioned contest in the category of Best International Song with the song 'When you want to return'. Fernández de Valderrama explains that this is the first time he has composed music for theater. “It has been a very intense experience that has given me a unique opportunity after 30 years of artistic profession,” adds the Madrid musician, who has composed, together with his brothers, for more than one hundred groups and artists, among which José Mercé, Estrella Morente, Carmen Linares, Manu Tenorio, Los Panchos, Mónica Molina, Modestia Apart, Josemi Carmona, Tennessee and Guaraná stand out.
He warns that he does not consider himself just another actor in 'The Humor of My Life'. "I don't aspire to that much. I consider myself a musician, composer and singer. I interact in many phases of the work with Paz Padilla because it is inevitable not to feel like a participant in a performance like this."
He doesn't want to opt for a specific scene in this fun show that lasts two hours. "The work is a compendium of sad, melancholic, nostalgic, happy situations on many occasions, even dramatic in some moments, which manage to transport the audience to an absolutely emotional atmosphere." The Madrid native confesses that with the comedian, presenter and actress whom he has known for many years, "it is very easy to work. She is not a typical artist and creates a very relaxing atmosphere with the production team around her."
Since the end of 2008, its production company, Mateprim, has made several live music television programs that are broadcast in early morning slots on TVE, Telemadrid, Canal Sur, Antena 3, IB3, Televisión Autonómica de Extremadura, Canal Nou or Punt 2, among others. With that production company they have also composed and made music for advertising and audiovisuals, highlighting those made for Microsoft, Formula 1, Real Madrid or the Copa América de Vela. With his brothers he has recorded eleven studio albums and is currently immersed in the production of his latest work that will be published after this summer. In total, the group has sold more than 200,000 copies with its own lineup and around 1.2 million albums containing its songs, which have been covered by many Latin artists. The works performed or composed by the members of the group, in turn, have more than 10 million visits on the Internet.
Regarding streaming music platforms, Juan Fernández maintains that "they are a magnificent dissemination resource for artists and a wonderful showcase for promoting their work. If you know how to use this instrument as a creator, it can provide you with a lot of satisfaction, because today, instantaneousness and immediacy are factors that guarantee the dissemination of a song or production by sharing it on social networks. Another very different thing is copyright," concludes the musician.
The montage 'The humor of my life' is a suggestive journey through the life of Paz Padilla, from her own birth into a large family of brothers in her bright native Cádiz, to her meeting in the 'boy scouts' when she was a teenager with Antonio, the great love of her life who forms the backbone of the work. There is no respite in this theatrical work that enjoys moments of intensity and crazy freshness, in which the comedian allows herself to laugh without shame or hesitation even at her own shadow, but at the same time providing the audience with more than healthy impressions about the pain that the death of a loved one always causes us.
Paz Padilla and Juan Fernández are facing a successful tour of the Canary Islands with 'The humor of my life', a play that has sold out all the tickets at the box office of every auditorium and theater in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote that it has visited to date. On May 12 and 13, the production premieres at the Asabanos Cultural Center in El Hierro, and then on May 14 at the Adeje Auditorium in Tenerife. The Palma public will also be able to enjoy 'El humor de mi vida' at the Circo de Marte Theater in Santa Cruz de La Palma on May 19 and 20, to conclude Padilla's Canarian tour at the Insular Auditorium in the capital of La Gomera on the 21st of that month.
