Diandra Interviews Cienfue: The Shaman of Tropical- Psychedelia
For Cienfue, music is a trip. For the first time he is releasing music in English, one song a month, and showing how Panama’s tropical roots can expand mindfulness. After all, songs like, “Sunset Sesh” and “Easy On The Eyes” were inspired by life changes and ayahuasca induced revelations. For this singer/ song-writer, your spirit moves your song, and, in our interview, he shows that his soul has made music a shamanic purpose.
Diandra: How do you feel your music pushes a sense of magic and surreality?
Cienfue: That’s an amazing question! Even in the name Cienfue:100 past lives (Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ 100 Years of Solitude). I am really into creating this new role for the artists; to go other realms of the consciousness and share universal truths that maybe people are not inclined to find on their own. The ayahuasca plant is a shamanic sacrament, and, a year ago, I had the opportunity to take it. Its amazing and connects you the earth and everything and everyone. You get all these answers about yourself, and I am trying to tie my creativity with these experiences.
Diandra: Right now, at this moment in your life, what do you think is your universal truth?
Cienfue: Wow! Really deep! Before I would write from a really negative space like I would get really dark and depressed, but, now, I really just want to put light and positivity in the world. My main truth right now is to spread some love. I want people to feel better in the three minutes they spend listening to me.
Diandra: What about your newest song, “Sunset Sesh,” brings out a sense of magical realism?
Cienfue: I have had amazing experiences with sunset sessions. For surfers, we know the magic hour. It is a moment when the sun hits the ocean, and the ocean will turn pink and orange and you are floating in the horizon. When you get to the beach at 3pm, you know you are going to spend the next 3 hours in a sunset sesh. I was trying to pull people into that feeling of connection with nature. I was trying to use positive words that would resonate. I am very careful with the words I use because you are writing stuff that will be on paper forever.
Diandra: How do you feel the creation of a song is similar to surfing?
Cienfue: It’s amazing because when you are surfing a wave, it is unfolding in front of you, and you have to adjust to what it is doing. You have to become one with nature. In a way, I am trying to surf and extract the flow of a creative wave to connect with a listener’s ear.
Diandra: Which of your new songs do you feel pushes people to embrace change?
Cienfue: Easy On The Eyes! It is about letting go of the negative. Letting go of the things in life that seem attractive, but are, actually, really negative.
Diandra: How do you feel Panama has influenced your sound?
Cienfue: I’ve trained in the jungle with an expert from the National Army. We had to stay three days in the jungle and eat bark off of trees and walk through the forested regions to learn about the animals. I am a total environmentalist and animal activist. I put that in my lyrics, and also put the U.S. invasion of 89 and living through a dictatorship.
Diandra: On that note, how do you think human oppressions inspires creative expression?
Cienfue: I was 12, and it was super intense. All the artists that come from dictatorships create impactful stuff. I remember bombs flying like Star Wars. In my case, the U.S. troops were friendly because I knew English. So I would give them intel, and they would let me take pictures with the tanks. For me, I was super grateful for them because my family was on a blacklist and Moreno had signed off to kill us. So if the U.S. had not come when they had come, I would be dead. Now I see the same thing happening in Venezuela. A lot of people are like, “Oh invasions are bad,” but when you see people suffering there is no other way to get those authoritarians out of power. Now, panama is super corrupt because we are living under the legacy of a 30 year dictatorship. There is a national vibe called “Juega Vivo,” which is to break the rules or do whatever you can to get your benefit. It is hard to break that mentality.
Diandra: You have said musicians are like a new breed of shaman, what would be a ritual you would ignite as a shaman?
Cienfue: I really like Ayahuasca. You need like two plants to make it work, and they live a 1000 miles from each other. Nobody knows how our ancestors got the visions to combine the two out of every plant. The Ayahuasca spirit is a green snake, and for the past 20 years, it has been telling shamans to take it to the mainstream and push people to be one with nature. So I would go with that message. We only have one planet.
Diandra: How do you think falling for music is like falling in love?
Cienfue: It’s very sensual. Like love, you can get butterflies in your stomach.
Diandra: You have called your genre “Psicodelia Tropical;” how do you feel such music unites the body, soul, and mind?
Cienfue: We have such a rich, African history. So using our African influences and blending it with rock and tumbao and cumbia and reggae and dancehall. I would have all these influences from my childhood, and, in Panama, the DJ’s had like a music schizophrenia. They would go from El General to a song of the Rolling Stones. I have all theses musics influencing my song. So you have the body that wants to move to it, but then I want the mind and spirit to move, as well. It rarely happens in music that its body, mind, and sou being moved together. Its usually like only for the body or mind, but you have like, Ruben Blades, who makes people move their bodies and sings insane poetry.
I need to say this! Cienfue is one of the sweetest, most positive people I have ever had the pleasure to interview. We all seek to be better, but he truly sees treating others well as holding himself to a godlier regard. This can be reflected in his new music, especially because you feel his purpose was to lighten listeners for a moment. Thus, Click Here, to learn more about Cienfue and get tropically psychedelic.
