Bluesy rocker makes a comeback with new pop-rock songs
Rocker Naranjo with his bluesy and gritty voice recently revisited his career of 29 years and launched his new album, ‘Love and Liberty’ in Pretoria.
Popular Pretoria North rock-artist and songwriter Michael Naranjo sang songs from his from his new album, Love and Liberty, as well as some of his older songs on October 11 at Cafe Barcelona in Pretoria.
According to the artist, the theme of the album is “the acts of kindness and forgiveness that we all know throughout life will hopefully result in spreading love and make us free from the things that have hurt us in the past”.
He related stories about some of the songs he sang in his gritty and bluesy style.
Some 15 new songs make up the album.
The revisited songs on the album were written during the 29 years that he has been in the industry.
He also did all the arrangements and multi-instrumentation himself.
“My songs are written with a singer-that-is-also-a-songwriter approach,” said Naranjo.
He explained that he tried to make his new music more palatable for a wider audience. His new songs fall under the pop rock genre.
Naranjo has not been so visible on the singing and recording circuit in recent times, as he threw himself into developing the careers of the artists with whom he was working at a previous label he founded.
After spending so many years investing in the development of other artists’ lives and careers, he decided to invest that time and energy into his own music again that he felt he had neglected for so long.
“When the opportunity for reinvention arose, I grabbed it with both hands. So thank you to Paul De Klerk, Rob O’Brien and the NMG Digital Team at Next Music for helping me, so to speak, get back on track,” said Naranjo.
He said a handful of people motivate him to carry on.
“Many of them prefer to remain anonymous as they are merely supporting an artist in whom they believe, so out of respect I won’t mention names, but I know and God knows and they know who they are. I do want to thank Groot FM 90.5 and their entire team for their unwaivering love and support!” he said.
The music of Gian Groen, Steve Hofmeyr, Joe Black, Pedro Barbosa and PJ Powers inspires him.
One of the powerful songs Naranjo played on 11 October was “Glorious”.
“This song was written in the time that I was mourning my father’s passing in Uruguay. It was not a good time. Having a moment of clarity, the melodies and words came in a flood. It is a song of gratitude, self-acceptance and the joy of being alive,” he said.
Another song he told the story of was “Mr Wilson”.
This song was written in a fictional novel style and is a themed song written in the same vein as Richard Marx’s “Hazard”, a murder mystery themed song.
“‘Mr Wilson’ was based on an actual event to which I bore witness of the aftermath. Mr Wilson is a real character, a real person that inflicted harm on his partner. She was stabbed multiple times in their driveway but survived the attack. The perpetrator was sentenced to life in prison. It was strange to see the events of the day you witnessed being broadcast on the news that evening. The young witness that was with me encouraged me to write a song about the event as a way to help us deal with what we witnessed,” he explained.
Naranjo would also be releasing a collection of works from his former band of the early 2000s, One Day Remains, some of which were never previously released.
One Day Remains will be making their official comeback with the release of their planned album named Return of the Lion. Naranjo was the lead singer of the band who shot to fame in 2008 with their hit “Never Say Die”.
– Listen to Naranjo here:
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