Episode 1: Mexico, Indonesia, Venezuela
MEXICO – Reporter: Sonido Confirmación
The Report
‘El Peñon de Los Baños’ or ‘Colombia Chiquita’ is a rock formation in Mexico City, right next to the airport. Where hot springs still gush today. In the same way, it is a source of cumbia and tropical music. ‘El peñón’ is the cradle of the ‘sonidero’ movement, where the cumbia arrived years ago. In this report we take a look at the musical culture of this place, we will see the activities carried out by four characters from different generations but who share the same love for ‘sonidero’ music.
The Reporter
Sonido Confirmación is an independent project that explores urban visuality and sound. From the image he proposes a transit through the contemporary Latin American city, from the sound mix, a playful combination of rhythms and sound explorations. It is defined as an echo of individuals and cultural situations throughout the city. As a member of the Sonidero movement -an important part of the construction of identity in the city-, the project centers its practices around tropical music and the goal is to pay special attention to one of the social facets with the highest rate of autonomy, the organization of dances.
INDONESIA – Reporter: Adythia Utama
The Report
A short video about the challenges faced by a non-profit record archiving initiative, Irama Nusantara and its employees during pandemic times.
The Reporter
Adythia Utama is an audiovisual enthusiast based in Jakarta, taking on the roles of director, videographer, music producer, and editor. He was born in Ottawa and grew up in Jakarta. He later graduated in 2010 with bachelor of art degree from Jakarta Institute of the Arts concentrating in documentary. Besides making films, Adythia Utama is involved in a music video collective, Sounds From The Corner and organizing music shows at STUDIORAMA. Currently, he keeps himself busy by producing breakcore under the moniker Individual Distortion and making pizzas at his apartment during the quarantine.
Irama Nusantara is a non-profit foundation to archive data and information on Indonesian music. Serving as a reference point for those curious about Indonesia's musical past, Irama Nusantara reveals the rich history of our country's popular music.
VENEZUELA (1st report) – Reporter: Trópico 70 Diggin Lab
The Report
San Agustín is a district in south-central Caracas, Venezuela, that began to form in the late 1800s. People from Margarita Island and the Venezuelan Andes, but especially from the Black areas of Venezuela, populated this culturally rich community known as the musical district of Caracas. This video portrays the history and mixture that shaped the art, music and identity of San Agustín in the voices of its cultural leaders and musicians who keep alive the Afro-Venezuelan culture. A dance teacher, drum students, teachers, a flautist and percussionists of Afro-Venezuelan music talk about their careers, music projects and digital strategies to continue making art, despite the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Reporters
With over 15 years in the music scene, Marcel Márquez, also known as Afroraizz Hi-Fi, began playing dub and dancehall vinyls as a hobby, after road tripping several cities in the United States. Since 2012 he is a full-time DJ in Caracas, deep music lover, vinyl collector and digger, he is dedicated to hunting down rare vinyl records and music in all formats. Marcel is also a researcher and music journalist, founder and director of Trópico 70 Diggin’ Lab, a platform for music promotion and research based in Caracas.
Valentina Figuera Martínez is translator, researcher and communications specialist with experience in the fields of culture, arts, contemporary literature and audiovisual translation. Valentina is co-founder, writer and executive producer of Trópico 70 Diggin’ Lab and also is dedicated to poetry translation projects for online literary magazines.