This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Transcript:
[music: Gian Carlo Buscaglia performing “El Cumbanchero” by Rafael Hernández]
Mareva Lindo: Gian Carlo Buscaglia has something he wants to clear up.
Gian Carlo Buscaglia: My very Italian name, Gian Carlo Buscaglia – I’m from Puerto Rico, from the future republic of Puerto Rico. I am not from Rome, or Venezia, but I’m from Puerto Rico. And I’m a singer, I’m a composer and a little bit of a clown.
Lindo: His songs, which are all in Spanish, span the breadth of the Latin American diaspora, from Puerto Rico to Argentina, and they range from songs of romance to the social justice songs of the Nueva Canción or New Song Movement that started in South America in the 1950s.
Buscaglia: This is from the 50s, beginning in the late 50s, early 60s, very similar to what was going on around the world as far as the Vietnam War, the more progressive lyrics, with more of a social content, having to do a bit less with romance. And romance of course is there, and poetry, but having to do with the social issues that were going on around that time.
Lindo: He said the music he plays reflects what he grew up listening to with his family in Puerto Rico. But Buscaglia didn’t start performing until he came to the U.S.
Buscaglia: I came to the States in ‘79 when I was 12, and by the time I got to high school – I was in the suburbs of Massachusetts and I graduated from Bedford High School in ‘84 – at that time I was playing a little, I had two or three chords. I got accepted to BU, but at the same time that I was at Boston University for animation, not necessarily music, but in the still in the creative world, I started playing in the streets of Harvard Square. I was 18, 19 around that time, and I dropped out of BU because I saw “well maybe this reaches my heart,” you know, even though I was not by far professional, or I had a few chords and that was it. But the Muses were there, the inspiration was there. So since ‘84, ‘85, around that early age, I started playing music in Harvard Square.
Lindo: You were a troubadour.
Buscaglia: A troubadour for sure. And those times were beautiful in Harvard Square, very bohemian, a lot of jugglers, clowns, different musicians, Tracy Chapman. Tracy Chapman, as you know, was around that time playing in the streets of Harvard Square. So it was a very magical time.
[music: Gian Carlo Buscaglia performing “Madrigal”]
Lindo: Forty years later, and now in Rhode Island, Buscaglia plays a lot of gigs at restaurants and weddings. Every Thursday through Sunday he can be found serenading patrons at Los Andes restaurant in Providence. But in the summer, Buscaglia likes to get back to his roots. He said playing along the city’s pedestrian bridge reminds him of his early years busking in Harvard Square.
Buscaglia: Because there’s enough people walking around. There’s enough people who appreciate the music and a lovely afternoon. And it reminds me of those times that – if I go to Harvard Square and play in Harvard Square these days, it wouldn’t come close to what I have found, luckily enough, at the pedestrian bridge. It’s just very nice. … It’s a beautiful place to play, a lot of traffic of people, people drop by from all cultures, and it’s a lot of dogs. I know most of the names of most of the dogs, as well. … It lends itself to play the romantic boleros that I play as the sun is coming down on the bridge. It’s just beautiful.
[music: Gian Carlo Buscaglia performing “Verde Luz” by Antonio Cabán Vale aka El Topo]
