Venezuela is not only a country with a power-hungry dictator, inflation through the roof and food shortages. It’s also the birth home to a beautiful person called Cheky Bertho who goes by the stage name Algodón Egipcio,—egyptian cotton, due, I guess to his fluffy afro and the music that seems to have 1000 threads per each unit, so complicated it is. At the first listen to someone who is not fluent in Spanish, La Confianza Ciega is an album of subtle, thoughtful, cerebral, yet bubbly lo-fi pop music. But the lyrics, once you understand them, add another layer: incredibly deep, dealing with otherness, loss of faith and inversion of dreams, they are truly a narrative of the times, no matter in which country, but made specifically poignant by the Venezuela connection, even though Cheky himself now lives in Mexico.
The more times I listen to this album, the more I discover. The music implants itself deeper and deeper into my tissues, and reverberates with a fresh meaning each time. A quiet treasure that keeps on giving.
Also check out the music video for “El Ciclo del Agua”: a perfect study of male adolescence and homoeroticism (aka my two main favorite subjects) and look for Cheky Bertho’s articles for Remezcla: he’s good at everything he does.
Director: Jean Rouch
Original title: Les maîtres fous
Language: Greek
Genre: Documentary
