Musician spreads wings and message with new project
JOCELYN MURPHY
jmurphy@nwadg.com
“No matter what you’re going through, I wanted people to just have a song they could listen to and feel like they can keep going and keep moving and just not give up hope on themselves.”
That was Christian Serrano’s goal when he set out to write his first orginal song just under a year ago. The classically trained cellist and native Puerto Rican was moved to put a little hope into the world following the devastation of Hurricane Maria and considering the experience of his family members still in the country. Less than a year later, the musician proudly released his debut music video — for his song “Everywhere” — as a reflection and celebration of the awesome power of Mother Nature, but also an uplifting call to seek goodness and love in the world to help you through your trials.
“There’s no words to it; it’s just instrumental. But we wanted to instill that kind of feeling to people. So when you watch, you get a lot of feelings and emotions from it — hopefully for the better. I’m trying to instill hope in people in and make them not forget, ‘You’re still alive. Don’t give up. Just keep moving forward. It’s going to be OK. Find it within yourself to keep walking,’” Serrano shares.
The video, now steadily gaining views on YouTube (444) and Facebook (16,000) since its Aug. 1 release, was brought to life by a team of other Northwest Arkansas creatives and just happened to fall into place, Serrano says…in Iceland.
“The photographer, Yiaz Yang, was already going to be doing a shoot in Iceland,” Serrano explains. “She already had a cabin and, last minute, she decided to shoot the video. She hadn’t shot video in years, since she was in high school, so this was kind of her debut to coming back and doing videography. It was just a really cool project. We got to go to Iceland and explore, my first time outside the country. (I was born in Puerto Rico, but I don’t count that.) It was just an amazing experience.”
In fact, Serrano muses, much of his life seems to just fall into place. Four years ago, his move to Arkansas happened on a complete whim after arriving to visit his mother with the intent of staying only two weeks. Before that, his relationship with the cello — the instrument around which his professional life has been defined — was also birthed from happenstance.
“My first year in Georgia, I didn’t speak English and the kid that was helping me in school, he joined the orchestra club, so I just joined out of necessity,” Serrano recalls. “I was like, ‘Well, I have to join it because he’s helping me. Otherwise I’m not going to get around school!’ And so I joined out of necessity. There was a flyer that said, ‘This size hands means you play this size instrument.’ So I looked and was like, ‘I guess I have cello hands.’ Played cello, ended up loving it.”
Northwest Arkansas, to Serrano’s delight, has been loving his cello, too. Better known for his work with popular local duo Rozenbridge, around the time he was writing “Everywhere,” Serrano launched his solo project Serrano-Torres. In exploring his individual artistry, and following the excitment of collaborating with other creatives who believed in his project, Serrano is ready to share his full passion for classical music with the world.
“The fact that I’m at a point where I can have a team that combine all [these other artistic] elements, it just makes me feel like I’m now ready to actually show myself to the world. Because for the longest time, I play lots of shows and lots of cool events, but I’ve never really put myself out there,” he reveals. “I was just trying to wait for the perfect moment. And I think this is it, man. This makes me feel a lot more confident and accomplished as a musician and like I’m doing the right thing.”
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FAQ
Christian Serrano of Serrano-Torres
WHEN & WHERE —
• 7 p.m. Aug. 31, Rozenbridge EP release at Bike Rack Brewing in Bentonville $10.
• Sept. 1, Java Dudes Coffee House grand opening in Bella Vista
• 8 p.m. Sept. 27, comedy collaboration show at Crystal Bridges in Bentonville. $15.
• 6 p.m. Sept. 28, live painting event with artist Amanda Wathen at JD Design and Antiques in West Fork.
INFO — serranotorres.com
FYI — You can view Serrano’s music video for “Everywhere” at facebook.com/serranotorres.cellist or his YouTube channel.
