In terms of producing your music, do you work in a systematic way, or, as you have suggested, do you work in a playful way?
There is a Chilean writer who says, “Anyone who has a method for writing is a traitor” and I think I think like that. I think if you are trying to create something new you need to be quite relaxed and open to experimenting and you need to careful not to be too structured in your path to being creative.
What about influences on your work?
I have some very concrete, and particular influences. At the moment I am listening to a lot of percussion.
In a more general way, I tend to be influenced by literature. I would probably say that writers and poets influenced me. Musically someone like Satie, a French composer, even though that might not be an obvious at first glance, would be an influence on my work. There are folkloric South Americans I like and there are South American musicians I like as well.
You were part of an Artists and Creatives delegation to Palestine recently. How did that come about?
My name was put on the list of people to be contacted by a fellow musician. I have always been quite political. In my music in the samples and the voices I use I have a political orientation. I am quite open about that. So I was selected to go on the trip to Palestine.
Do you think that trip and your experiences there will have an impact on your music?
I am sure that the trip and my experiences, the things I witnessed, will have an impact, but I can’t really say how that will happen. I like to think that it is something that just comes to me, almost without thinking about it. I think it will be quite a subtle thing.
I would like to think that what I will do will be part of building bridges between the people of the Global South and people in the Global North. We have very few points of contact between even people in our local area. I mean it can be quite difficult to travel locally, in fact in some ways it is cheaper to travel to the Global North than to travel in our region. But regardless of that, I want to be part of making connections between people, and between people in my region and the Palestinian people as well.
Where to now?
I have a new album coming out in October, “Chico Signora” which is polyrhythmic music with ambient harmonies and some subtle traditional melodies.
If there is a difference between previous projects is that the music is a little faster. I am developing the rhythms using music which is above 130 beats per minute. I want to generate a space where again people can feel they can dance.
And hopefully the experiences in Palestine will at some point find their way into my work.
To see more of the work of Ignacio Rosa
