Q - Is this your first visit to the UK?
Yes it is, and we are feeling quite emotional about it! Much of the music we have been listening to since childhood comes from this country, and we are excited to get to know the place where rock music is pretty much part of the local heritage. At the same time we are thrilled to bring you our own music, a music that expresses the youth of Latin America: I really enjoy helping to revitalise the image Europe has of Latin American contemporary identity.
Q – Maybe you could describe for the UK audience your home port city of Valparaiso.
Valparaiso is an old city, bohemian, diverse, and very vulnerable to the thieves of beauty. It’s like a big ship where some are finding inspiration and some are looking for treasures to steal…We are on this same boat, nomad musicians, defending our city, singing to it, looking for spots that are on the verge of disappearing and raising the alarm. Everyday life in Valpraiso is very pleasant, alleyways climb up and down, there is a lot of wind, and sun, and birds, and every night you can find music and wine somewhere around town. There are many great singers from Valpraiso and we are part of this free family of itinerant musicians. We always pay tribute the old singers because we want to make people fall in love with our city and our culture, so that it can be better protected and not just disappear.
Q. You spent time in India and Indian music is an influence on you – are there links to Chilean traditional music?
Music that comes from an ancient origin generally shares the concept of modality, of more open musical forms, and in that sense all folk music has something in common. When I studied in India I was very interested in the concept of constructing melodies out of ragas, and later I found that there is something very similar in the intonation of mapuche melodies (an indigenous people in the south of Chile). Or maybe my blood is so mixed that I’m as ready to sing an Arabic tune, as a Mapuche, or Mexican or Indian melody. This is what we younger generation have to take advantage of in this moment of time, these windows of globalization…
Q. Perhaps you could describe some of the traditional Chilean dance rhythms you use in your music?
We use a lot of rhythms from the north of Chile, like huayno, trotes and caporales; these are the rhythms used in traditional fiestas. I love the desert carnivals in Atacama, they are very simple and those attending are real devotees so they dance and play music for hours on end. I’ve been to watch and dance at these carnivals since I was a child - these rhythms have a joy that often blends with minor-key harmonies giving them a very special feel, that of a profound and melancholic celebration…. I like trying to transplant this feel into my own music; I firmly believe that danceable music can have a lot of substance too, there is no reason to divide music into music ‘for listening’ and ‘for dancing’, implying the latter one not having much substance at all. We also incorporate modern rhythms like drum and bass, which I think blends very well with music of Chilean origin.
Q. Violeta Parra has been described as your biggest inspiration. Could you say a little bit about her influence?
Violeta Parra was a very powerful woman - in a macho country like Chile there are very few women that have venutred into the world of arts. What interests me is to re-vindicate her image that was very badly treated during the dictatorship and later in democracy it became overused but without the value it deserves. I have given myself the mission of bringing Violeta back to the present, simply by always singing her, especially her lesser known songs, increasing awareness in her work and above everything treating her music with kindness after it has been so maltreated for so long…
Q. Fauna are your fantastic band – maybe you could introduce the musicians?
La Fauna is my family - we started when we were very young, just beginning our music studies. Jaime the drummer is my husband, and together we have travelled to many places exploring carnivals, and he also writes some great songs for La Fauna.
After all this time in the band we are all like brothers and sisters, the band is a collective that is based on the friendship we have for each other, above everything else. When we started out we played rather badly but we liked each other a lot… and well, this gives me a lot of inspiration, everything that we have lived through together makes us better every day.
Q. Do you have any recommendations for young Chilean artists we might not have heard of?
Chile really is full of music! Here are 5 songs and 5 artists I would really recommend you try and check out – it’s a little melancholic songbook to make you think about the Southern Pacific…
Ojos de Miel – Demian Rodriguez
Hermanos Maravilla – VariosArtistas
Los Celos - Juga di Prima
Siempre que hago algo – Camila Moreno
Vamos los dos – Chinoy
