México Y2K17 International Livelooping Festival - Part 2
CENART
CENART - the place where we would give some small presentations about our stuff and gear and approach to music and play the festival’s final shows over the course of three days. Someone mentioned it is Mexico’s most significant center for arts education and a huge cultural hub. As if I hadn’t been amazed enough yet by the venues so far, but the place and the sight of our gorgeous outdoor stage blew my mind one last time.
The „Sonorous Tastings“ in the Aula remained intimate and only a handful of „outsiders“ dropped by to watch and listen, but it gave a nice chance to catch a glimpse of what the other musicians are actually doing in detail and why, and how they got here.
Meanwhile in the outdoor area, the weather became an adventurous factor. On the first day, heavy rain caused some performances to be cancelled. During day two, everything remained hot and dry, and only a temporary power out during the set of JC Taylor brought a brief interruption which we spontaneously filled with an acoustic jam session in the audience area. Day two ended with a glorious jam session when MIDI Pipe invited some of us fellow musicians on stage.
And finally the third and last day of the festival on which I had my own performance, went smoothly until Rick Walker summoned the rain again with his last song, and the sky offered us an impressive spectacle as a final blast. We helped disassembling the stage in the rain and finally stood by our gear soaked, happy, and in disbelief that this meant it was over.
BACKUP - AND THE CREW
More than at any other festival I’ve attended before, I was continuously amazed by the blend of highly professional work and sweet personal commitment of anyone involved in the festival. We met the duo of Cabeza de Caset who were responsible for the design and the beautiful festival T-Shirts.
We had the wonderful Paola Gonzále traveling along with her camera, taking the most beautiful shots but also becoming a good friend and crucial part of the gang. We had a whole group of culinary students in Mexico City that greeted with delicious lunch packages and firm hugs during the festival days.
And then, as the intumblable foundation on which the whole event stood, there was the crew of Backup Produciones & Apoyo, the team behind producer Gerson Miranda – always busy, always patiently catering to all our technical requests, carrying our things, keeping everything going, but also a genuine part of the loop family.
THE LOOP FAMILY
And yes, I’m calling it a family, because after two days already we were looking back and couldn’t grasp that most of us had basically just met – it felt like we’d been acquainted for ages.
We were musicians of all ages from 6 different countries from the US to Pakistan and with a broad variety of different musical genres, reaching from song-oriented folk-pop to experimental improvised soundscapes, united only by the fact that we play with loop samplers of some sort. We could hardly have been any more diverse, but nonetheless we connected, exchanged music, language and ideas, learned from one another and parted with tears.
On no other festival have I experienced such a mutual curiosity for each other’s creative and technical approaches across all gender boundaries, and a willingness to join and improvise together in spontaneous sessions, on stage as well as back home in the loop headquarter til late into the nights.
LEARNING
Personally, I learned a handful of things about Mexico and its culture. I was taught how to drink Mezcal (it is meant to be kissed, not chugged) and how to dance the Cumbia (thanks to MIDI Pipe!), learned the hard way about the kind of hangover that Tequila can give you, caught a few interesting facts about the city and its history, a few basic fragments and swear words in Spanish, was surprised that the aztec relievos used to be colored, and how hard it can be to find vegetarian food. Thanks to Juan Pablo Villa I learned about the old folk art of Cardenche singing, and in the workshops of Rick Walker and James Sidlo I found lots of new insights about rhythm and guitar effects.
We talked a lot about mutual influence and inspiration, because it seemed like this was one of the core qualities setting this experience aside from the regular festival events, where everyone comes, showcases their own stuff and packs up to leave again. I’ve mentioned it above. No, this, it seemed, was in fact more about experimenting and exchange. Not stealing innovative ideas from one another, but sharing them consciously with a strong sense of appreciation.
ENCOUNTERS
Besides a bunch of strangers from the audience that I talked to during the festival, there were a small handful of people that had already known my music, thanks to the far reaching powers of publishing online. What a whimsical experience! A girl called Paloma from Guadalajara invited me to visit her café and musical space. A sweet couple had driven an hour to San Miguel Allende, brought me kind words and a delicious cookie („here, we remember that you’re into baking.. this is one we made“).
And after the final performance at CENART I was gifted an issue of an independet music zine that had featured EFTB in a small print article back in 2008. I remember back then someone had messaged me a screenshot of it to my ancient myspace account, but would never have expected to get my hands on the real thing – and now I stood here, half awkward, hugging strangers and feeling an honor and a gratitude I couldn’t quite find the right words for. How strange it is, for a small unknown musician to come to the other side of the world and find people already acquainted with your music. I still don’t quite know what to say, other than Thank you… I don’t even know all of your names, but I thank you so much!
APPRECIATION & SIGNIFICANCE
Okay, now a slightly more serious wrap-up of this journey and what it means to me. Because besides the musical and social aspects of the trip, there’s also a third layer that reaches a bit deeper. More than ever before on previous musical trips, this festival triggered an inner discourse of the social and even political significance of events like this. Rick Walker kept us reminded of that by speaking on behalf of the Californian people and their view on the relationships between the US and Mexico and the course it is currently taking. Personally, I was struck when Faisal in a jam session started entonating a sufi chant that I had once learned in a garden in Istanbul, playing with people from Europe and the middle East. And talks here and there reminded me of how little your place of birth matters if you grew up listening to the same bands and lauging about the same internet memes, able to converse in the same language and overcome different nuances in mentality.
But let’s not get lost in hippie talk – I am serious.. this year, for the first time, being able to travel and build artistic friendships across the globe occurred to me not only as a privilege – which it doubtlessly is – but also as an obligation as an artist. In times when people tend to vote in favour of national separatism, fear dominates the political discourse and border walls come back into fashion, when politics cater to concerns about safety at the cost of an open and embracing culture, it might be our task as traveling musicians to keep building bridges rather than shutting ourselves off, disassembling stereotypes instead of strengthening them and keeping at least the borders in our heads as permeable as possible.
For us who came to gather in Mexico this year, I guess we all did it simply because it’s what we do, what we love – playing music, meeting people, traveling around. But maybe, seen under these circumstances, it is time for us to also pursue our passion more consciously as an active, peaceful act of resistance to emerging mindsets. Photo credits for this post: Julia Kotowski, Paola Gonzále, JC Taylor, James Sidlo, Klang Rêverie, and frankly I forgot who took the picture in the metro and at loopi casa... Anyhow, thanks for capturing all those great moments!
Gefördert durch die Initiative Musik gemeinnützige Projektgesellschaft mbH mit Projektmitteln derBeauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien