The producer Gustavo Santaolalla spoke about his career and concept of musical creativity in the programming of Campus MAPAS.
During the meeting, immersed in the training program of the South Atlantic Performing Arts Market, Santaolalla spoke about his professional experience and creativity in conversation with fellow Canarian musician Ner Suárez. The veteran producer starred in the meeting on the afternoon of July 4 in the Chamber Hall of the Tenerife Auditorium, accompanied by his inseparable ronroco, a Bolivian instrument that belongs to the charango family and that has also become a of the hallmarks of the Argentine musician. “For me it is a pleasure, it is the first time that I am in the Islands. It is a nice opportunity, also, to be part of the MAPAS project”, thus began his intervention.
During his speech, the Argentine composer talked about how he started playing the guitar at the age of five because he came from a very musical family. "My parents bought a record a week and in my house a lot of music was listened to and very different," he added. Santaolalla considers himself an artist, a creator, a versatile musician, capable of choosing different ways to express his creativity. "Making a football analogy - very appropriate considering where I come from, he joked - sometimes I have to go to the goal, other times to go up to score goals, sometimes I have to be off the field as a technical director, also a physical trainer... but always in the party of creation”.
For him, creation emerges as a necessity and as something that serves "both the one who makes it and the one who completes it, the viewer", he assures that it is "a different way of reorganizing and reinterpreting reality, a way of approaching the pain or love; It is something that helps our mental health. A world without art would be a pretty sinister world.”
At 71 years old, Gustavo Santaolalla has a record that would silence anyone, awarded with two Oscars for his impeccable work on the soundtracks of films such as 'Brokeback Mountain' Y 'Babel', two Baftas, a Golden Globe and up to 19 Grammys, his name is one of those that are engraved in capital letters in the history of music. Surprisingly, the artist admitted not knowing how to read or write music because he never got "get along" with the more academic side of this discipline. He began to play by heart from a very young age and at the age of ten he began to write his first melodies. At the age of 12 his parents gave him his first electric guitar “and at 13 he already wanted to be a musician”.
During the conference, a topic as feared and exciting as that of creative stagnation was addressed. “I always talk about work discipline. Picasso said that 'I hope inspiration finds me working'. I don't believe in sudden inspiration, I believe in working. Sometimes it comes alone and many times it comes as a result of work”, he reflected. Ideas, he continued, can come at any time and that is why Santaolalla always carries his mobile with him to record everything and not forget. The unpredictability of creativity, he considered, is "one of the most beautiful parts of art."
His intrepid spirit leads him to venture out to try instruments he doesn't know how to play. “It puts me in a situation of innocence. The greatest example of this is the soundtrack of 'Babel' and the lute, an instrument that I didn't know how to play and that in fact I haven't picked up again”. He thus ensures that one of the soundtracks that made him successful in Hollywood was the result of inexperience. “The fruits of experience and knowledge are just as good as those of ignorance. It is good not to forget to be a beginner”, he stressed.
For that reason, the producer has always liked working with young people. "If you see, 80% of the albums that I have produced are first artist albums." Santaolalla affirmed that he felt like a 'discoverer' of the birth of all those new promises with whom he worked; Julieta Venegas, Molotov or Juanes, among others. Artists with very strong visions who “bring new content to the table” and are a joy to learn from. Santaolalla never liked working with what in the United States they call 'yes people'. Those artists who say 'yes' to everything. “To work, you have to win the space of these artists, show them that you understand what they want to propose, their universe, their humor and, finally, earn their trust. My role as a producer is to maximize what the artist is bringing to the table and never impose myself, in my opinion that would be a mistake."
He made his first steps as a producer at the age of 17 when he recorded the first album with his band, Arco-Iris. “We were making alternative music even before that term existed. I learned by listening to Les Paul's songs, who, when changing the speed of the tape, generated a higher-pitched sound than that of the guitar». Gustavo Santaolalla was an icon of Latin American rock, an experience that also served him well in his facet as a producer: "Luckily, the mistakes I made on my records I didn't make on other people's records," he joked.
Santaolalla said goodbye to Ner Suárez and the audience, but not before thanking the continuity of dialogue and meeting forums such as MAPAS, "also with an important dimension of development for professionals in the musical and artistic sector."
The Campus MAPAS program continues in October with the training workshop aimed at performing arts professionals given by the director and actor Andrés Lima, we will also enjoy the participation of María Pagés and El Arbi El Harti, figures of recognized interest and worth in the field of music in its most contemporary version.
