By the Zonagirante.com team @spinning zone
Latin American urban centers possess a unique color, smell, and sound that, while experienced daily, represent a less explored cultural treasure than expected. These distinctive resonances of our large cities deserve to be enjoyed and incorporated into the experiments of local artists, and, in turn, serve as a point of convergence in the dialogues among creators across the continent. That is the point. Remix your city, A virtual residency to explore the sounds of cities in this part of the world and, from there, generate a sound bank for composing musical productions. The second edition of this project (the first experience was in Asunción, Paraguay) will take place between June 28 and August 2 at two points at the same time, Valparaíso (Chile) and Santa Cruz (Bolivia), and applications are open to interested parties until June 6.
Once the 10 participants have been selected (5 per territory), who will be chosen in their localities from among those creators interested in sound, They will work for two months, and with the support of artists and producers, in, as the organizers literally say, «"to identify, capture and process sounds from your city to generate an open sound library for global use"». At the same time, they will have to produce a track that will be part of an album along with the other artists. To learn more about this project, we contacted one of the three directors of the residency (along with Ion din anina and Nomad radio)., Idosoids, who is a producer, sound artist and DJ, compiler and producer of the label New Latam Beats.
Let's start with the obvious, what is Remix the City all about?
Remix Your City is a project, now a platform, that proposes sonic reflections on the soundscape of urban life in Latin America. It also explores the intersections between what we have historically called "music" and "sound," or simply "noise.".
What kind of experiences do they hope to reflect?
We're currently working with artist residencies, which are virtual due to the circumstances. We appreciate that this virtual residency space is a great incubator for new artists and new expressions. We have a very diverse group of facilitators, including DJs, sound artists, musicians from different Ibero-American countries, communicators, and sound engineers. Therefore, we hope that each participant will be able to reflect their own unique perspective on how they experience the soundscape of their own region.
How does the application process work? Who can participate?
The call for submissions is now open, and this year we are organizing it in two specific locations: Valparaíso (Chile) and Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) and surrounding areas. Two sound art collectives from these locations, Tsonami and [name missing], are participating in the call. Southern Aural. Creators related to sound can participate: musicians, DJs, sound artists, producers, sound engineers, audiovisual professionals and students from any of these areas.
The idea, I imagine, is that future editions will expand to the rest of the continent, right?
That's right, we held our first edition in Asunción, Paraguay, last year, and we already have a third double edition confirmed for this year, in Lima (Peru) and Montevideo (Uruguay). We dream that at some point, interrelationships will develop between the participating artists from the cities where we work.
I know it's a rather difficult task, but how would you explain the resulting sound of this platform?
The project aims to bridge the gap between certain artistic languages that haven't been as closely linked. On one hand, there's an experimental and ambient aspect—more closely associated with sound art—which I believe has seen tremendous growth in the last 10 years and will continue to do so. in crescendo. On the other hand, there's a highly valued musical tradition that we want to highlight in each place, and a relationship with rhythm that gives each place its own pulse, its own identity. I think the result encompasses all of this and a little more…
Finally: What do you think is the current state of experimental music in Latin America?
I believe we are witnessing a time when "the experimental" is no longer misunderstood or taboo. The ear is a muscle, and we have years of training in what we might call "aural culture." Today we are immersed in a semiotic deluge where an artist's quest to be unique, sincere, and... experimental is highly valued. We will then see how the music and pop industries feed off all of this.
Incidentally, there is a great emergence of experimental artists on the continent who are gradually finding their channels and audiences.
I highly recommend Tsonami's radio which is amplifying many of these new sounds day by day.
