Edito de OtredadPEDRO VILLAGRA - BIO My music is born of friendship and work with innumerable creators. I have to acknowledge the influence of the radio, whether on or off, but my musical voyage has been nourished by closeness, skin, flash encounters with other souls, guided by the generous hand of Music. I was born in Contulmo, Chile, in the heart of the Arauco region, a place where one grows up looking towards the mountains and the senses are excersized by the wonder of existence. I met the legendary Chilean group, Inti-Illimani when I was a boy, living in the south. During those years I also accompanied Victor Jara, along with my parents, on some research trips into Contulmo's countryside. My first band was called "Santiago del Nuevo Extremo," a life project in hard times (1977-1986). Along with these brothers I was declared honorary son of Liverpool, England. Then in 1987, I joined the group Huara; one of the most influential ensembles in Chilean roots music. That's how I got my childhood wish to play in a band called "Estrella" (star), because in the indigenous language, Aymara, huara means star. In 1990 I moved to Cologne, Germany to play saxophone all over Europe. In 1995 I got the invitation to join Inti-Illimani, which motivated my return to Chile. It was during that period that I received the honor of "hijo ilustre" (distinguished son) of Contulmo, my birthplace. After some intensely active years with Inti-Illimani, I brought together Santiago's best, young musicians to form my new group: La Pedroband. Thanks to the musical and human qualities of the group's members, our dreams have traveled on unknown paths, but with the security of joy itself as our passport, and a fraternal and Latin American invitation to blossom. Pedroband is the instrument that has allowed me to fully realize my musical ideas. The line-up is a Latin Jazz combo that naturally joins the jazzed rhythms of the Caribbean with South American atmospheres. THE PEDROBAND This firey mix has a history in Gato Barbieri, Los Jaivas, Huara and Los Hijos del Sol. During my sojourn in Germany, I also formed the group Kunza, of which the Pedroband is a direct descendant. We have a picture window that looks out on the colors and sounds of the Atlantic and we unite these with the intrauterine tides of our own turbulent Pacific. One of the fruits of our local craftsmanship the Chilean cueca (folk song style) which we add to this varied list of rhythms. MY NEW CD: OTREDAD * * includes interactive track Otredad (another of my made-up words meaning something like "otherness") is the incarnation of the other voice; the one that speaks of certain realities that only open up to us within certain attitudes. By excersizing the difficult skill of letting things be, we can come closer to Otredad, where anticipation, invocation and memory are present. Otredad is the ageless soul of stone and soil; the ever-youthful countryside. It's an ecclectic and dynamic album that offers a light with which to see life. It's an invitation for the body and soul to celebrate the multi-dimensional present. Lire la suite