Knowing Russia: The story of a football fan who became an artist

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In 2018, Mateo Sujatovich made the decision to start a musical project called Knowing Russia and released a self-titled album that showed a different side of the boy who played ball in the middle of a family of musicians.

Grandson of “Pichona”, the piano teacher of Charlie Garcia and more Argentine stars, and son of the Argentine musician and keyboardist of the band Spinetta Jade, Leo Sujatovich. The “musical pressure” was always there, but when he started his teenage years he understood his destiny. In the following interview, the musician will tell little-known details of his life and his greatest passion.

In many interviews you point out that you were not attracted to music when you were a child, how did that romance with the guitar start?

I always felt seduced by music, but I couldn’t find a way to get into it. I saw all my cousins, my sister. I also took piano lessons with my grandmother, then I switched to drums and I liked it, but nothing happened. Until at 15 I tried the guitar and that’s when I went crazy. I never left her. I consider myself more a guitarist than anything else, singing was not in my plans yet.

How was the process of being a musician before “Knowing Russia”?

I gave guitar lessons, I had a band where I played and someone else sang, then I left that band and started producing. I started making music for audiovisual media. To sing in some things that he did for the cinema, he sang in demos so that another artist would interpret it later. That’s when I realized that my voice wasn’t that bad. I began to write my songs little by little and “Knowing Russia” was the first thing that was born as a singer.

At what point did you say: “Yes, I can compose”?

I think I had been trying, but I was embarrassed, a little afraid and insecure, but one day I lost that and said ‘nothing matters anymore’. It’s time to do the things I want.

In many notes they say that your inspiration is based on The Beatles and it can be felt in the harmonies, do you consider it that way?

I think so, it’s not that I’m looking for it all the time, but I have it so internalized to the Beatles that always appear.

What other genres inspire you?

all the argentine rock, I think I like all music. Sometimes a version of ‘Cabildo y Juramento’ can appear in Bossa Nova and I really like that genre. I love rock in English and jazz, in harmonies.

What do you think is the most marked difference between your three albums?

I think there are three albums in three very different moments of mine. “Knowing Russia” It is an album completely about overcoming fears, my first songs, my first recordings. “Council and Oath” it is much more settled, with more participation in the industry and I think that knowing myself a little more when it comes to composing. “The direction” It is an album that is formed in a pandemic, that is written at home as a means to survive a bit of the unbearable confinement.

How did you take the news of the quarantine when you were in this project?

Unbearable, kind of awful, but I think it taught me patience. You have to turn things around because plans can change. I think it’s a great teaching, although it was very boring.

About the van tour, how was this decision made?

That was in the middle of the pandemic, when they loosened the restrictions a bit. I said ‘we have two months to go on tour. Let’s go!’. However, in between there were streaming concerts (online).

Of your streaming presentations, which one do you remember the most?

We did a world tour through streaming, we were doing selected shows for different parts of the world, one for Europe, another for the United States, one for Latin America. That was very good.

Football and music are the great passions of your life, how do you connect them?

I think football, music and food are the three things I like the most in life. Sport and music complement each other. Sometimes I go on tour with a tennis racket.

Apart from soccer, what other sports do you like?

Tennis, paddle surfing, ping pong… I really like racket sports.

What stadiums would you like to fill?

Everyone! The candy boxbeing a fan of Boca JuniorsI would love to, but nothing is planned yet.

Did you play for Real Madrid?

When I was a boy we went to live in Spain with my parents and I went to try the Real Madrid. It was from 12 to 13 or 13 to 14. I don’t remember very well.

What should your fans expect from the show this Thursday, April 21?

A beautiful show, let’s have a good time. It is a review of the three albums, it is a meeting long awaited by the band and by the Peruvian public.