Feature.

From the ed 1%

Manuel —
Ort [211 ae

Latin fame begins in Canada

 

With his new album currently
in production, Manuel Cuevas
shares his double-life as a Latin
pop star and student in the
Bachelor of Performing Arts
program offered at Douglas
College.

 

By Bryce Tarling,
Contributor

hen Manuel Cuevas—
better known as the

recording artist, MANN—
steps onstage at the Black
Room in Central Mexico,
it’s already too late. His
pop-rock image—short hait,
jeans, and an electric pink
shirt that reads, “Drink, pee,
repeat’”—clashes with the
painted black walls adorned
with images of dark angels
and monsters. He looks at
the crowd wearing black
emo-style clothes, eye
shadow, and lipstick.

Only one thought enters
his mind: “Oh. Shit.”

Cuevas sings the first
12

song, an earthy nylon-
stringed melody from his
first album, Real. The song is
in English—not Spanish—
and the petulant emo
crowd screams for heavy
distortion. Then, someone
from the crowd shouts,
“Sing in Spanish you traitor
of our nation!” The boos
and the jeers drown out

the strumming. When the

66

peanut shells clatter across
the stage, Cuevas knows
this is one crowd he’s not
going to win over.

For Cuevas, currently
enrolled in the fourth year
of the new Bachelor of
Performing Arts degree
program offered at Douglas
College, the Black Room
wasn’t the only stage where

Cuevas felt out of place.
Cuevas was born and
raised in Mexico City
where, during a school
project, he learned about
a place called Vancouver.
He decided this was the
city where he wanted to
start his life as an adult,
living off of doing what he
loves most: music, art, and
film. Now, having lived

in the Lower Mainland

for six years, and despite
his success as a privileged
indie rock star in Mexico,
Cuevas finds himself still
navigating many challenges
as a foreigner.

When he first
immigrated to Canada,
Cuevas’ vision of living
in an urban downtown

Vancouver was quickly
replaced by the reality of a
small house in the suburb
of Coquitlam. And despite
graduating high school in
Mexico, he was forced to
attend another year at Dr.
Charles Best Secondary to
learn English, where he and
his brother, Esteban, were
the only Latino students.
“It was hard to move

The song talks about starting over and taking what you
learn from the past and becoming a better version of
yourself ’—something Cuevas knows all too well.

from one country to
another,” says Cuevas. “It
was like starting all over
again.”

Isolated and frustrated,
Cuevas felt he was moving
backwards. To get his life
moving again, he eventually
ditched the last two months
of high school to study
film at the Art Institute of

Vancouver. But only three
months into the program,
Cuevas was offered a
contract with the indie-
label, Aedon Records in
Mexico City.

It was a challenge
working for the record label
and studying at the Art
Institute, but Cuevas looks
back on the time as a period
of growth for himself, both
as a musician and as an
artist.

Cuevas’s first tour with
Aedon featured one of his
biggest shows at the World
Trade Center Mexico City,
where he played in front of
more than 1,000 screaming
fans. Aedon invested
money in an elaborate stage
production and designed
posters and water bottles
featuring the MANN logo.
“Seeing people walking
away with them gave me a
really weird feeling,” says
Cuevas who wasn’t used to
seeing his face carried in the