COLOMBIA Rocker sings about violent homeland in album

War in Colombia kills 3,500 people every year.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- For a musician with nine Latin Grammies and a new single topping the charts, Juanes is a laid-back guy, with none of a rock star's brashness.
But underneath that mellow exterior is a man on a mission -- just listen to his new album. "Mi Sangre" (Spanish for "My Blood"), which came out Tuesday, confronts the suffering and bloodshed in Colombia's protracted guerrilla war.
During a conversation in a Bogota hotel, Juanes said his nation's dark side must be explored: "Colombia is a country which is suffering, and we must move ahead," the lanky, long-haired singer said. "To make a flowery record would not be telling the truth."
Bloody conflict
While conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan grab headlines, Colombia's war kills 3,500 people -- mostly civilians -- every year. Another 3,000 Colombians are kidnapped each year. And the conflict is seemingly endless: two Marxist rebel groups, funded by drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping, have been battling a succession of elected governments for 40 years.
Juanes, a 32-year-old Miami resident, has found a huge international audience with his heartfelt lyrics mixed with flowing guitar riffs. On his previous two albums, he sang often of love and betrayal, and a little about the Colombian conflict. Now that ratio has been reversed on his new album, as he hopes for better days for his South American homeland.
"I dream that all the hostages who are held today in the middle of the jungle are free," Juanes sings in "Suenos" ("Dreams"). "I dream that my bleeding people live in peace and this senseless war is over."
Some of his new songs were inspired by tales of soldiers separated from their loved ones while pulling one- or two-year tours of duty from the cold of the Andes Mountains to Colombia's steamy jungles.
"When they're in the field, what keeps them going is their desire to return to their families," Juanes said.
The single "Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor" ("I'm Worthless Without Your Love"), which was released weeks ahead of the album and is now the most-played Latin song in the United States, poignantly addresses the theme: "I want to take back all the nights I've lost, to beat back this overpowering fear of death, to be eternal with you."