By José Gandue @Gandour
From the moment we learned about the project, we at Zonagirante.com wanted to get involved to give it the exposure it deserved. It's about combining music with architecture and to achieve live sessions of prominent Chilean bands in spaces designed by prominent urban planners, highlighting the design of his works and respect for the landscape where they are located. The project is called Distinguished Sessions And starting in August, six episodes will be broadcast featuring the following guest stars: Nano Stern, Camila Moreno, Niño Cohete, We Are The Grand and Prefiero Fernández, presented their songs in spaces built by Mathias Klotz, Felipe Assadi, Juan Pablo Corvalán, Elton & Leniz, Nicolás del Río and Juan Luis Martinez. Each month, Zonagirante.com, as well as other affiliated media outlets throughout Latin America, will have the privilege of making this incredible material available to its readers. We have therefore taken this opportunity to premiere the project's introductory teaser., to interview Ignacio Ramírez, one of the people responsible for this idea:
Where did the idea for the Distinguished Sessions come from?
My whole life I've dedicated myself to creating independent projects. I've had bands since I was 16 (Eimy (2003), Prefiero Fernández (2006) and Mecanico (2010)). In these bands I played bass/guitar, but I also served as manager and co-producer of our own recordings. He also worked independently composing music for audiovisuals or producing albums for other artists.
In 2014, we disbanded along with my last project, Mecanico, and I decided to create my own projects, but not directly as a musician. Among so many ideas for festivals, audiovisual projects, and so on, I developed an idea for a project of live sessions in public places in Santiago, Chile. Unfortunately, because I was working alone and lacked government support, the project wasn't possible. Being a non-profit, it didn't have a large budget, and when the municipalities of Santiago saw the project and I approached them to ask for permission to use public spaces for filming, The first thing they did was ask me for money and they tried to profit from this, So they put up a barrier that wasn't easy to overcome. I gave up on the proposal. At that moment, I received a call from a former schoolmate, Maximiliano Aguayo, And he asked to meet with me to present an idea. It turned out he wanted to do a project of live sessions in architect's works/housesYes, and he wanted us to join forces to develop it, which just fit in with what I had already made progress on. This is where Insigne Sessions was born. We spent a year developing and "refining the idea" of how we could complement different disciplines. From this concern, our interdisciplinary studio was born.«Distinguished Studies«", in which we began to generate interdisciplinary cultural projects, including, as a presentation proposal, Insigne Sessions, The first web series of live sessions that unites music, architecture and landscape.
In short, why does the project develop in the relationship between music and architecture?
Because we believe it is fundamental generating and complementing interdisciplinary relationships to create and develop innovative proposals that can showcase art and culture in a less elitist way. And here, in this case, music, being a very popular art form, helps to showcase and make architecture more accessible to people, from an artistic perspective.
How were the artists selected?
The first thing is that they were independent artists who represent the current and cutting-edge market in Chile, and that it had an adult audience. Curated by a team of 3 people who were able to evaluate it from every possible point of view to select the most suitable ones. As it was a new project, some artists did not want to participate.
Architects and their works They had to represent what makes Chilean architecture stand out in the world.; The ability to create and develop architecture with low costs and excellent results across all relevant areas. All this with the understanding that this first season is in Chile, but We hope to expand this project to other countries.
What technical details of the production would you highlight?
We have a great team working in all areas. We are a team of more than 15 people on set and 7 in post-production. Film cameras, drones, and professional multi-track audio recording with a mobile studio—all this with the aim of proposing a project where both visual and sonic aesthetics are paramount. that is the most important thing, nothing left in the air
When does the series premiere and what will the update schedule be?
Next August The first episode will premiere with Camila Moreno Filming took place at Casa Shaw, designed by architects Elton & Leniz, located in Maitencillo, Valparaíso Region, in central Chile. Then, the first week of each month, we will release one of the six chapters, continuing until January. Additionally, the week after each premiere, we will release a behind-the-scenes video. where you can see everything behind the scenes and listen to the opinions of each participating architect and musician.
