LOCAL SOUNDTRACK 13: CAROLINA FUGUET and her cello
By: Fernanda Morales
San Miguel de Allende is inspiration and home to artists from all over the world. What makes the city beautiful is that it always keeps its doors open to anyone who wants to share their music, and in Local Soundtrack we tell the story of each artist.
Today we have Carolina Fuguet, a talented young woman from Venezuela who left her country in pursuit of her dreams, and San Miguel de Allende has had a place in her story for almost two years.
Carolina and her cello have been one and the same since she was 11 years old; the story began at the Santana de Coro Conservatory of Music in Venezuela.
Her love for the cello was born because its sound was very different; it wasn’t common, much softer than the violin, since she wasn’t a fan of high-pitched sounds.
The cello is my unconditional companion; it goes with me wherever I go
It is worth noting that Carolina comes from a family of musicians, where her greatest inspiration was her maternal grandfather, who was a singer-songwriter and created Venezuelan folk music. Music runs in the blood of the Fuguet family; Carolina remembers that at family gatherings everyone would bring out their instruments and a bohemian jam session would begin.
When she entered the Conservatory of Music, she was able to channel and professionalize everything she had seen in her family’s history. After showing her great talent for several years, she became a professor at the conservatory at the age of 17.
At 23, she left the conservatory as well as her country, traveling to Peru where she continued teaching music classes, and finally arrived in Mexico looking for an orchestra to further develop in her field.
Then the pandemic arrived, and as a plan B she traveled to San Miguel de Allende, where she began teaching, managed to connect with local musicians, and met promoter Shago Fraga, who opened the doors for her to perform at different events as well as in restaurants around the city.
“The cello is pigeonholed as being only for classical music, so I want to break out of that mold and show a different concept—popular music like pop rock, even Mexican music. There are always covers on guitar, saxophone, violin, and the cello is very underestimated. So I take advantage of the gift my family gave me and try to modernize the melodies that come from my cello.”
If you want to delight in the melodies of Carolina and her cello, she currently performs every Saturday at Hotel Sierra Nevada alongside a fellow musician. From 10 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon, they fill the venue with Mexican music, ballads, rock, and more.
It is always important to promote the artists who are in San Miguel, for all of us to support one another, because there are many talented people.
We thank Carolina Fuguet for this wonderful interview and for coming to San Miguel to make the city resonate with her beloved cello. We also thank you very much for reading us. Follow Carolina on all her social media so you don’t lose track of her. Until next time!
