As Alicastro arrives at our interview with his inseparable guitar, you can still see in his eyes the same drive that made him leave a comfortable life in Colombia to follow his dream of becoming a singer. During the promotional tour of his first album, Todo Vale—a mix of rock, folk, cumbia, and tango with a pop flair— in New York City, the setbacks were many. It was pouring in the city, the car he was traveling in got stranded in the rain, the hotel where he was staying was “haunted,” and, on top of everything, his room was on the 13^th floor.  But his sensitivity is such that any moment, place and circumstance is a good excuse for Alicastro to write a song, and he was able to turn life’s little annoyances into a song. So he penned a tune called “Piso 13” on his laptop while stranded in the car.

Of his resilience and positivism he says, “It was hard coming from a country where you are comfortable, where you were in school and had a girl and family—plus I was the only child,” he says. “But I had that idea in mind for a long time and then one day I said, ‘I’m going to El Norte’ Then I gathered my suitcases, one filled with books and music; the other with dreams. I arrived in Miami, started sharpening my songs and found the time to record this album, which I’m very proud of.”

On his album’s cover, Alicastro is holding a heart. “The message is clear,” he says. “This is a struggle and nothing can buy love. This album is an artistic expression of passion. It was made with all my heart.” His lyrics are the backbone of his music, where reality and fantasy converge revealing a new channel of expression.  “In the album I try to talk about things I care about, like freedom. ‘Uno Nunca Sabe’ talks about following your heart, following your dreams.” There are also tracks like “Todo Vale,” that tells the personal story of the Latino and talks about the bombing of the twin towers in NYC from the perspective of a Colombian. For the most part, his songs are born out of the need to say something. 

 As an inquisitive child, he showed interest in several instruments at an early age including piano and guitar. It’s taken him a while to bloom but he’s finally receiving warm response for his music. “As the great maestro [Armando] Manzanero once said, ‘One must learn to chip away at a stone.’ I am here learning to chip away the stones everyday.”