La Vida Cosmopolita © 2020

Press Release

Russian musician Leonid Agutin released his first album in Spanish, "La Vida Cosmopolita"

“La Vida Cosmopolita” was launched on March 27th, 2020, and included collaborations with Latin artists Diego Torres, Jon Secada, Amaury Gutiérrez, and the American guitarist Al Di Meola.

Quédate, a duet with Diego Torres, was the first single of the album.

Russian musician Leonid Agutin released La Vida Cosmopolita, his first album in Spanish, available from March 27, 2020 on all digital platforms.
La Vida Cosmopolita includes 11 tracks, 9 of them in Spanish, showing Agutin's long-time admiration of Latin music and culture. The album also includes two tracks in English, a token of his appreciation of American pop music, too.
Selling more than 10 millon albums in Russia, Europe and the US throughout his successful career, Agutin embraced the challenging project of creating La Vida Cosmopolita, a concept based in an exhilarating fusion of genres that takes the listener across a trip from Russia to the US, touching Cuba, Santo Domingo, Colombia, Brazil and Spain. This eclectic production showcases a rich pop-based sound revealing clearly its roots from funk, rock and Latin rhythms, such as salsa, merengue, vallenato, samba, danzón, cha-cha-cha, and flamenco.
To embark on this ambitious adventure, Agutin surrounded himself with top talent with international prestige, and awards like GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY under their belts. Besides Diego Torres, the album also includes collaborations with Jon Secada, Amaury Gutiérrez, and the legendary American guitarist Al Di Meola.
This carefully crafted production is Agutin's first formal approach into the Latin audience, after 28 years of successful career and having received 10 Golden Gramophones, Russian equivalent to the GRAMMY award. He wanted to be the first Russian artist to sing in Spanish.
"I have always felt close to the Latin people and wanted to offer them some of my music reflecting those deep roots that have always influenced my work, those Latin genres I understand and feel like no other Russian, since I was born", Agutin explained.
"This is the first time in my career that I get involved only in the music composition and singing. The lyrics in Spanish were developed with the help of true professionals, like Carlos Oliva, and the featuring artists that kindly collaborated with me. I always knew what I was singing, thanks to my team that was directing me along the way. I'm very proud of this album, and I hope people like it", Agutin commented.
Aside from the above mentioned collaborations, La Vida Cosmopolita includes other top credits: the Production by Richard Bravo, four times Latin GRAMMY winner (drums and percussion), and Camilo Valencia (sax and musical arrangements), as well as other great musicians, such as Doctor and GRAMMY winner Ed Calle (sax), Latin GRAMMY winner Milton Salcedo (keyboard), and the legendary three times GRAMMY winner Dan Warner (guitar), in his last studio recording before he passed away in September 2019.
The adventure of “La Vida Cosmopolita” in Spanish
The idea of singing in Spanish started when Agutin and his co-writer and producer, Alex Sino, discussed with the producer Richard Bravo and the musical director Camilo Valencia an idea to take Agutin's long-time love affair with Latin music to the next level by singing in Spanish.
In the search of the best lyrics to match with the sounds and arrangements that they had in mind, the producers of the album approached Carlos Oliva, a legendary Latin musician, composer and lyricist, and Cuban singer/songwriter Amaury Gutierrez, whose music Agutin has respected for many years. Together, they wrote and recorded the song Enamorado. Amaury also helped Agutin with the Spanish lyrics and vocal work for some other pieces on the record. “I'm deeply grateful with Amaury for his help. He's not only a great musician but a great and kind person. Working with him was a delight", Agutin said.
“It was a true honor meet and work with Agutin. Sing a song like Enamorado in Spanish and Russian was a challenge, but it was also an unforgettable experience helping him to perform through his vocals his emotions and feelings as composer and songwriter, and to transmit his love to the Latin people and their culture through these songs", Amaury Gutiérrez added.
Second collaboration was with Jon Secada, artist that Agutin considers a legend and that has admired for a long time. The album producers knew Secada and introduced him to Agutin. They recorded together Ella, Spanish version of one of Agutin's Russian hits.
“I was very happy that Jon accepted my invitation to participate in the album, and that he also collaborated with the translation of Ella, which took a completely new life with the sounds and arrangements we created", Agutin proudly commented.
“As soon as I listened to Leonid's music, I knew I wanted to be part of this project. Ella inspired me deeply since the first time I heard it. I never do literal translations, for this song, I believe that the adaptation of the lyrics helped to bring afloat the true meaning and feelings of the original song, it transcended from one language to the other", Secada explained.
The collaboration with Al Di Meola has a long history. The American guitarist and Agutin had recorded and performed together in the past, in the critically acclaimed record "Cosmopolitan Life" (2005). They toured together and performed in Montreux Jazz Festival, Stuttgart Jazz Festival, in Rome for RUI television, in Moscow at Kremlin. For the album, Agutin wrote a special song for the duet with Al DI Meola, writing a special bridge and complicated harmony for Al Di Meola's guitar. That's how the song Just a Rainy Day was born. The lyrics for the song were written by "Cosmopolitan Life" lyricist and co-producer of La Vida Cosmpolita, Alex Sino. Eventually, Agutin felt that the melody and lyrics were ideal for a song in English, so he decided to keep it that way. Agutin explains: "This is the best song we have done together. I consider Al as my teacher in many musical areas, so find out that he liked the song I composed especially for him to perform his guitar solo, meant a lot to me".
The admiration was mutual, and Al Di Meola has also expressed the respect he feels for Leonid: "He has raised the bar and surprised his Russian peers with this album. Just a Rainy Day drove me to create an inspired guitar performance, it is one of the best songs I have heard in a long time".
The collaboration with Diego Torres was a fantastic coincidence for Leonid. Not only Diego was known to Agutin as very successful artist, Agutin was familiar with the legacy of his mother -Lolita Torres- who was very popular in Russia for almost 40 years. The creative team of La Vida Cosmopolita came up with the idea to create a song dedicated to Lolita Torres. When Agutin met with Diego, they had a great connection not just musically but also at a personal level. Quédate was written with love, creation and mutual respect. The single was released last February 28th, along with a great video that features previously unreleased footage from Lolita Torres, from the Russian TV archives.
"This is a nice coincidence because my mom has a lovely link with Russia, a country in where she was embraced and recognized as an actress and a singer. And today I have the chance to present Leonid to the Latin audiences with this song Quédate, which we built together as a deep memory of the legacy of our loved ones, even though they are no longer with us. I am very happy of participating in this adventure between Russia and Argentina", commented Torres.
With the release of Quédate in February and today with the launch of La Vida Cosmopolita, Leonid Agutin was formally introduced to the Latin market, which he considers only a first step.
He is planning to release more videos and music in Spanish, as part of his commitment of keep nurturing his relationship with the Latin audience.
“I am very happy with this album. Despite the luck it gets along the way or the level or popularity it reaches, I have a deep satisfaction, it's a great accomplishment in my life. I consider this as one of the most rounded and strong albums I've made musically speaking, because I was supported by a winner team to make it happen", Agutin proudly affirms.