Storytime: Geisha casi se queda en La Voz México y no estaba preparada
Geisha almost stayed at The Voice Mexico and was not prepared
What's up, fellas? Today I am going to bring you a very strange story for me, since I have never had constant training in singing and what happened to me on that occasion was very shocking for me.
Let's travel to the past, when Geisha was twelve years old. At that time I consider that I was not the most beloved sheep in God's flock because my teeth were bad, my adolescence was early and I had acne. So with a strange pronunciation for me with a marked S I was not very confident. And having such a high-pitched voice didn't please me, my voice is too youthful and high-pitched with a slight nasal tone because I have a deviated septum.
At that time a Mexican reality show called La Academia was in vogue, a kind of singing contest where they prepared the contestants weekly for a performance every Sunday where they eliminated one of them.
Honestly I never saw it, I wasn't interested in that show but I started as a good girl to get interested in music and many times I played my recorder with some headphones to sing alone. On one of my family visits, I was with a younger cousin, spending time away from the adults. Her parents had bought her a kind of pedestal with a microphone and a mini toy speaker, she was very obsessed with that program mentioned before and she let out what for me was the worst insult: you sing very beautifully, you should get into La Academia.
No es la presentación horrible pero es un ejemplo.
It's not the horrible presentation but it's an example.
I had heard at that time a very off-key Carlos Rivera, and other participants with horrible presentations. Hearing that comment traumatized me.
So from that day on I decided not to sing.
La versión más popular con Luis Miguel.
The most popular version with Luis Miguel.
I entered the famous Catholic school (it was a secondary school and high school), and as an obligation we were all tested to enter the school choir. But since I didn't like the idea of joining the choir and singing at mass, I did my test wrong on purpose, I still remember how I intentionally mistook "La Bikina".
And I was happy in other kinds of workshops, the one on folk dance, theatre and music. Ironically, I learned the basics of piano.
Clase con Fernando Pichardo en 2010
Class with Fernando Pichardo in 2010
But life would confront me with that dilemma again when I passed high school. Again we were given a compulsory test and there I found the one who is the best singing teacher I have ever had, Fernando Pichardo. That man realized that I was doing things wrong on purpose and started singing again.
As the choir club was the least popular, they practically forced the students to join two if they saw us with potential... and that was my case. I was in the drama workshop and the choir workshop at the same time.
In the end I couldn't participate in the chorus with everyone because the Christmas play gave me the role that made me realize I wanted to be an actress and formed the person I am today. But it was a good experience while it lasted, I discovered that singing was very embarrassing for me as opposed to acting.
Grabación de celular de 2009
Cell phone recording from 2009
Time passed and I entered the university in the communication science career. And a classmate joined me to do plays with him, but again my Achilles' heel appeared: it was musical theatre.
There goes his friend Geisha, who arrived saying that she didn't sing with an amateur theatre group to do RENT, with an important role for which I was remembered. And well, as in every story, I met a guy who became my boyfriend, and he came over just because he heard me.
I won't go into the details of the sick relationship we had, but I will go into the fact that this ex-boyfriend is a singer. And he started giving me a little bit of a teaching. If I didn't want to be heard, I got a lot of power in my voice, a little more confidence but I still dreaded singing with new people.
He took me to sing with him in a coffee shop, he encouraged me. He told me that because of my voice I should venture into many genres... sometimes I think he saw me as a gold mine instead of a girlfriend.
And then came the lucky break in The Voice.
The day before, taking the generation photo.
I was in the last quarters of university and the casting for the first season in Mexico came up. No one knew anything about the show, or what it was about, and my ex-boyfriend was very eager to go. He was five years older than me, and he was always repeating the story that his singing life was coming to an end. So he asked me to go to casting with him. I wanted to support him and I agreed, but he told me to take the opportunity to audition. That I was not losing anything.
At that time I had the silly thought that to act I didn't need to sing, so I went but with no intention of staying.
We had to get up early, leave my city at three in the morning, sleep in his mother's car until seven, and then go into formation inside the television station at nine. And that's where the story begins.
We were passed in front of a series of people who asked us a series of questions, about our history, where we came from, a shocking fact that marked us and I naively without thinking that it was a show, I said a real fact, the death of my grandmother.
Ana Torroja era la vocalista del ya desaparecido grupo, mi abuelo decía que mi voz era como la de ella.
Ana Torroja was the lead singer of the now defunct group, my grandfather used to say that my voice was like hers.
After that in groups of ten they made us wait in a corridor and passed us to the dressing rooms for the first filter. I was more annoyed than anything, so I sang a Mecano song called "Naturaleza Muerta". I didn't see much interest from the girl in the production who heard me so I thought "they're going to send me home". Not friends! She goes out and brings a second person, they ask me to sing again, they go out again and call a third person.
And I was "what the fuck is going on?" until one of the people talked to me, talked about my mistakes, my notorious nerves and gave me an unnecessary explanation that it is not a preparation program, making an obvious allusion to La Academia and encouraged me to continue preparing.
I went out thinking that I knew I wouldn't stay when I saw my block outside waiting for me. Which was strange, I was the third one to pass by. I said nothing and waited with them to get us out.
They began to wonder what they had told us. The most repeated and sharp phrases were "Thank you but you're not The Voice... Mexico", or "You sing very well but it's not what we're looking for". Practically everyone was allowed to sing one verse and the chorus was stronger.
Geisha inside: Hello God, it's me again.
Block girl: Geisha, what did they say to you?
My reaction was to tell them that they only explained to me roughly what kind of program it was and that they were looking for people to go directly to sing every weekend.
There was a general silence. Including my ex, who was the fourth to pass.
On the way to his mother's car, already outside the facility, he gave me a tremendous scolding:
Ex-boyfriend: Geisha, I understand the kind of program you're looking for, you want to take out a young pop singer, just because you don't want to prepare yourself but you fit the model, you're thin, you fit the model, if only you'd start studying more...
And from that day on, that ex held a grudge against me because he kept reproaching me for not wanting to sing.
In the long run, I discovered that because of his constant unpleasant comments, I liked singing less.
Some time later, through friends who went to subsequent auditions, I knew that what I had experienced was passing two filters.
Now, a little older I have been preparing myself and facing my fears.
But that's another story.
If you want to know the teacher who helped me and is now quite well known, click here:
My teacher contratenor
If you got this far, thanks for reading a little bit about what I am.
PD: Acabo de recibir la publicidad de los monólogos que haré vía Zoom. Horario de México Centro.
PS: I just got the publicity for the monologues I'm doing via Zoom. Mexico City time.
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Paz y bien, hasta la próxima. / Peace and good, until next time.