(News Toronto) - "On a blistery cold winter's day, Eliana Cuevas approached the corner of Dundas and University streets and once again encountered the same homeless man who always sat on this block, wearing a smile on his face.

She gazed into his eyes and wondered what it would be like for him to spend another night on the street, in frigidity.

Another Night in 20 Degrees, loosely translated in Spanish as Otra Noche de 20 Grados, tells this story. Such moments of human frailty, emotional angst and interactions are what inspire this Latin singer-songwriter's compositions.

While it would be easy to simply cover standards and music from other artists, Cuevas, 28, insists on writing her own material. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, she started writing music since she was eight-years-old... a talent she carried with her when she immigrated to Canada in her teens. 'To me what is most important is to sing words that I mean. I love for my musicians to give my music a bit of who they are, their souls and personality coming through my music,' she said in a phone interview.

At a performance at Nathan Phillips Square, crowds of music enthusiasts gathered to hear this soulful Latin singer and her quintet chisel a mature sensibility that is often lost in today's mass-marketed music. One of the other noteworthy songs - Un Nuevo Idioma (A New Language) - was a poem her father wrote to her mother, much before Cuevas was born. 'My mother showed it to me long after he passed away, and so I decided to write music for it,' she said.

Growing up, her father, who played the piano and cuatro... a Venezuelan four-string guitar... was a huge musical influence in her life.

'I used to sing with my father when I was little.he meant the world to me and still feel he is by my side all the time,' said Cuevas. 'He had a lot of do with my love for music.' On her first album, Cohesion, released in 2002, she dedicated the song, Homero to her father. The beginning of the track includes a voice clip of Cuevas as a child, with her father, Homero, which was recorded in Caracas on Aug. 13, 1978.

Cuevas' other musical influences include the popular Venezuelan band, Guaco, well-known Brazilian singer, Elis Regina, flamenco vocalist, Remeiros Amaya, Simon Diaz, a singer and composer in Venezuela, and Aretha Franklin.

She attended the music conservatory in Venezuela and took courses at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. Cuevas also studied Ibero-American history at the University of Toronto and graduated with a BA in 2002. But, what she really wanted to do was sing. After arriving in Canada, Cuevas was still under-age and was not able to get into jazz clubs. But, with her affinity for salsa dancing, she managed to get a fake ID and weaseled her away into a popular Latin club, called Berlin. A salsa band was playing and boldly asked them if they needed a singer. They did.

Soon, she began to accompany various ensembles, such as pop artist, Joe, Latin-jazz group, Cruzao, Latin-folk band Cassava, salsa heavyweight Marron Matizado, flamenco guitarist Jorge Miguel and the Brazilian band, Pedras da Ruapop. When she started to work with the Brazilian band, Cuevas was nervous because she didn't speak Portuguese, but soon, a passion for this music emerged. 'The music we were doing was so wonderful, it was very fulfilling,' she said. However, when the band stopped performing, 'it left an emptiness' in her.

But, with original material on hand, she decided it was time to make her first CD, which was produced by Canadian jazz trumpeter, Nick 'Brownman' Ali. Cuevas has worked with many influential musicians, including Ali and bassist, George Koller, who played on her follow-up record, Ventura, released in 2004. 'I love working with people that make music they love; when they are making music, they really put their heart into it,' she said.

The Venezuelan, Cuban, Brazilian, Peruvian and jazz overtones in her second CD, Ventura, steer away from the typical salsa sound, which most people misconstrue as Latin music. 'It opened a lot of doors for me (because) the music could not be found anywhere else,' she reflected.

Cuevas has taken her true interpretation of Latin music across Canada and to the international stage, including her first performance in Venezuela at the Hatillo Jazz Festival, near Caracas, in 2006. Last year, she recorded a live performance at the Mod Club Theatre in Toronto, which was broadcasted nationally on CBC Radio. Cuevas is also popular on JazzFM91's playlist, heard on Amanda Martinez's Cafe Latino show.

But, there is more to come from Cuevas ... she is currently working on a new CD due out later this summer, with a coveted gig with her quintet at the Courthouse on September 21.

Meanwhile, you can catch Cuevas performing with flamenco guitarist Jorge Miguel at various shows across Canada during July to August".

Link: www.elianacuevas.com