After all these years singing about social injustice, Colombian superstar Juanes, in an interview with Nuria Net for the New York Daily News, says he doesn’t believe music can change the world.
One of music’s biggest Latin pop superstars comes to New York Friday for another of his sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. He has performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo and has organized and hosted “Peace Without Borders” concerts in Colombia and Cuba.
Still, he says, “I don’t know if music can change the world, I really don’t. But at least music is a way of expression, and of healing the wounds of the soul.”
That music, in the hands of someone who has been on the world stage since his breakout solo album 10 years ago, reflects a generally positive view of life. Juanes sings about the hardships and elation of love, but also asks his audiences to consider humanitarian crises such as the earthquake in Haiti and the 1988 massacre of 43 people in Segovia during the drug wars that still ravage Colombia.
The introspective yet hopeful side of Juanes is at the center of his fifth and latest album, “P.A.R.C.E.,” which is named after the Colombian slang word for buddy.
Colombia is never far from his thoughts. In 2008, when the governments of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador were going through tense diplomatic relations, Juanes led a cohort of international stars such as Alejandro Sanz, Miguel Bosé, Juan Luis Guerra and Carlos Vives for a concert on the Venezuelan-Colombian border and broadcast throughout Latin America.

It was a historic moment, a concert of Live Aid proportions. But instead of having Bono and Bob Geldof wanting to help less fortunate countries, Juanes and his colleagues were Latinos determined to help their own nations rise above violence and indifference.
Through all this — and given his acute sense of social responsibility — Juanes maintains a cool, modest demeanor. He says he doesn’t see himself as a challenger to the status quo or on a crusade to save the world.
The situations that informed his latest songwriting, he says, reflect “a time of looking inwards, of transition … I can’t quite explain it with words, but it’s something like that.” He does, of course, sing about the anguish of solitude (“La Soledad”) and the joy of falling back in love (“El Amor Lo Cura Todo”), the hopelessness at facing tragedy (“Quimera”) and hope in friendship
(“Amigos”).
As has been his style, he combines Colombian folk styles (such as guasca in “Regalito,” the album’s best song) with rock ‘n’ roll. His electric guitar solos are powerful as are his voice and lyrics.
Juanes’ frank nature has made him extremely popular, and he likes to show his love back. The “P.A.R.C.E.” cover shows his face composed from thousands of fan photos sent through Twitter and other social media.
On his Twitter account — he manages it himself — he shares with more than 2 million followers his life in Miami, where he lives with his wife, Karen Martínez, and their three young children.
Juanes has been open with fans about his brief separation in 2007 from Martínez, his infidelity and their eventual reconciliation. But, he says, he has learned to tone down how much he shares.

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