Noel Schajris on Staying in Shape & Balancing His Solo Career With Duo Sin Bandera

Argentine-Mexican singer Noel Schajris debuted a brand new song with country star Jennifer Nettles, “Love’s Still Here”, at the Latin American Music Awards on Thursday night (April 25). In a previously recorded performance, the pair offered a sublime piano version of the bilingual ballad from a rooftop.

“HERE WE ARE Familia!! We’ve been waiting for this moment for years… We’re so happy to share our music 🎶 together!!” they wrote this week in a shared post on Instagram.

Billboard Español’s Sigal Ratner-Arias caught up with Schajris to talk all about his busy schedule and how he gets ready for his constant touring and for a performance like the Latin AMAs. “I’ve been exercising daily for three years and the day I don’t exercise my body feels weird,” he said. “And the diet, that’s vital. And I feel much better now that I’m almost 50 than at 40. I don’t know if you’ve seen me in shows, but I don’t stop jumping and I climb the rafters,” he added, laughing.

In addition to his work as a solo artist and businessman through his own record label, Dynamo Productions, the singer of “Lo Mejor de Mí” and “No Veo La Hora” is still part of the chart-topping duo Sin Bandera with Leonel García (under Sony Music), and talked about how he juggles it all. 

“It’s a challenge. The schedules are crazy. In the middle of a tour with Sin Bandera, which we did 80 shows all over the world, owning my own record label and my own music, releasing a new album, having three children, a family, many artists that we are signing on Dynamo Productions who require my time and I am [also] the A&R of the company, so I am involved in all aspects of all the repertoires of all the albums — it is very demanding,” he acknowledged. “But it’s achieved because of the passion I have for doing all these things.”

As for his own music, which includes his most recent album #SiempreLoSupe and a new version of the title track with Alemor, he says he’s enjoying his freedom as an independent artist.

“As a soloist I give myself the luxury of flying and looking for other textures that are a little more rock, more symphonic, as in the case of ‘Silencio’ with Tony Levin,” Schajris explains. “I allow myself to do things that are a little more alternative. I even sing a cumbia with a band from Peru, Grupo 5.”

“There’s definitely more freedom when I work as a soloist,” he adds, “and it’s a lot of fun.”

The Latin AMAs was aired live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas via Univision, UNIMÁS, Galavisión and ViX. 

Sigal Ratner-Arias

Billboard