This year marks the 17th edition of the Red Bull Music Academy, held in Paris, and 61 artists, musicians and producers will have a chance to breathe, eat, and live music. Activities include lectures by remarkable artists from diverse genres, studio time, and bonding with all of the other fellow musicians. The announcements have been released over the course of a week, and we’ve rounded up the Latin American presence for this year.
We’re repping with 9 participants, from countries like Colombia, Brazil, México, Argentina, and Chile, as well as our Portuguese cousins. All of them are very different, demonstrating the wide range of the RBMA selection criteria. Let’s meet the lucky ones.
Julián Mayorga / Colombia
The Colombian singer-songwriter, now based in Madrid, explores the possibilities of folk and ambient music, and on his latest album, Atlas, he plays with pop and rock notions. Read our thoughts on the album here.
Sobrenadar / Argentina
Paula García, a.k.a Sobrenadar, makes beautiful and ethereal pop music with a whisper-like singing style that gets in your bones. No wonder artists like Javiera Mena count this Argentine singer as one of their favorites. Here at Remezcla, she won our hearts with her Björk and El mató a un policía motorizado covers.
Dani Shivers / Mexico
From Tijuana, Dani Shivers has always intrigued us with her unique blend of sugar-coated melodies, vocals and twee electro-goth sounds. It’s all fun and games until you listen to the lyrics – death, witches, vampires, and the occult abound. She also explores ambient sounds under her Mitad Fantasma moniker.
Thingamajicks / Brazil
Vinicius Duarte uses the Thingamajicks moniker, one of many, for his odd electronic adventures. The São Paulo producer toes the line between techno, house, and noise, but there’s something in his approach and sound treatment that makes the result quite ominous and unsettling – probably something to do with his background as a black metal drummer.
DESAMPA / Brazil
Also hailing from Sao Paulo is DESAMPA, and artist with a strong classical background (local opera and musicals). He introduces all of those influences to an R&B context, and the result is something very special, as shown on his /// EP.
Borchi / Mexico
Tropical bass will also be present at this year’s Academy, with the inclusion of Mexican producer Pablo Borchi. Well-known on the local scene for his work under the Borchi alias and as part of Beat Buffet, he makes dancefloor bangers that are influenced by dancehall, cumbia, samba, and more, and his love for percussion is undeniable.
White Sample / Chile
Ignacio Dacio is White Sample, and electronic music is his thing. He makes dirty, glitchy techno, with an industrial influence, and has an affinity for saturation, gritty textures, and steady rhythms. This is music for a dark, scary party.
Érica Alves / Brazil
The guys at the RBMA really showed some love to Brazil this year. Sao Paulo artist Érica Alves is a singer-songwriter who loves to experiment with drum machines, synths, and cassette recordings. Her voice is close to St. Vincent’s, and she’s also part of The Drone Lovers, where her Brazilian roots are more apparent.
Malard / Colombia
Here we have another Colombian artist who’s based in Spain. Little is known about Malard, but his ambient soundscapes say it all. His music is lengthy, abstract, and mostly based on drones and field recordings. He definitely knows how to move feelings through sounds.
Ghost Wavvves / Portugal
Straight out of Portugal, André Francisco’s Ghost Wavvves can be directly linked to PC Music. Bold bright sounds, pitched-up chipmunk-like vocal samples, and beats full of unexpected twists, Francisco’s music is fun as hell and very forward-sounding.
Luisa Puterman / Brazil
The work of this Brazilian artist is definitely inspired by early minimalist and experimental composers like Steve Reich. You can find Luisa Puterman doing painfully beautiful piano-only pieces, or having fun with electronic programming, or even doing jazzy guitar improvisations and loops.