2023-08-15 14:25:44
Edu Schmidt, founding member of the essential band Árbol, also a prominent violin multi-instrumentalist, artistic producer, composer, arranger, educator and actor, as well as a chef, will perform in the region with his latest solo album “Coso”.
Born in Haedo in 1973, he was part of Árbol between 1994 and 2006, with which he released the albums “Jardín frenético” (1996), the homonymous “Árbol” (1999), “Chapuysongs” (2002) and “Guau” (2004). After leaving the band, at the end of 2006, he began his career as a soloist, stage in which he released “El silencio es salud” (2009), “Chocho” (2013), “Loco!” (2017), “Croto” (2020) and the recent “Coso”. in dialogue with BLACK RIVER Journalstopped for a few seconds to answer some questions before the shows in Alto Valle,
Q: How many times have you been through the region?
R: I went many times, sometimes alone, sometimes with a band. Yes, it is the first time that I go to Centenario and Fernández Oro, so I am happy to discover two new cities. This tour I am going to be with a trio that accompanies me, coordinated by Gustavo Giannini, who suggested that I put together the band, release the songs and coordinate the dates of the tour. For me it’s great because it’s very expensive for the band I play with here in Buenos Aires to accompany me, it greatly resolves the fact that I can go and gives it an important artistic quality. Usually there are armed bands on tours.
Q: What can you tell us about “Coso”, your latest album?
R: My latest album is called “Coso”, and from the name it is defined as something indefinite, because “coso” is something we don’t know what to call. I gave it that name because it is a kind of metaphor for the current situation that we have as people, as a world, everything is a bit undefined, we don’t know what is going to happen. I am answering this note prior to an election that nobody can know how they will end, for example. This is happening all over the world. It is an eclectic album, it has very high and very calm songs, it has everything from charangos and Creole guitars and violins, all acoustic, to songs with distortion and very strong drums, rock, folklore and reggaeton. It maintains my line of always that is to always do something different. Of course, there are lyrics that I take great care of, melodies that I think are good and there are six songs. You can listen to everything in 16 minutes, it’s something I also like, it’s very from this era. In that sense, so reckless, it’s a bit like how I handle everything I do.
Q: How long did it take to record and edit it?
R: Like all records, it took between two and three years. This occupied a large part of what was called the “quarantine”, there are things that were recorded by WhatsApp and with a chinstrap. Three of the six songs were shared compositions, it is something that I have developed more in recent years, I get together with people who like how he composes, who will take me to a different, or very different side.
One is made with Marcelo “Balde” Spósito, former bassist and composer of Kapanga, who currently composes for Caligaris; With Pablito Lescano, a total boss, we made “Flota” which is a reggaeton, we are very good friends, we compose very similar, but he makes another style of music, we complement each other very well. We did another song with Ramiro Sagasti, singer of the group from La Plata “Pérez”, which could be classified as Indie, I am a re contra fan and it was a joy to be able to compose with him and another song I did with Hugo Figueras who is a multi-instrumentalist musician, singer of children’s music, also from La Plata, with whom I was a classmate when I was studying music at the Faculty of Fine Arts and we have been friends for about thirty years. Through WhatsApp we composed “El Pacto de Ayer”, a kind of quiet, folkloric milonga, with amazing lyrics.
I was recording it with my band, “Los Enroscados”, the rock part, also with people who came to my studio or sent me the recorded instruments by mail. I put everything together and mixed it with my record co-producer and engineer Alejandro Gálvez. He took three years.
Q: How long have you been a music teacher?
R: I have been a music teacher for a long time, I graduated at 18 when I finished high school, I was graduating from the conservatory as a music teacher. I studied harmony, instrumentation and orchestration, all from 20th century music, in La Plata as well. More than thirty years ago, it happens that I started in traditional schools, with curricula, and immediately I was left out, I didn’t like it. I didn’t do very well with the directors of some schools who scolded me for the repertoire. Once I did “Los Orosco” by León Gieco and they told me I couldn’t play it because he was a friend of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, so I immediately stopped teaching. He also taught violin and was a recreation teacher. I have handled the didactic issue, especially with adolescents, and I like it.
In quarantine, in the absence of being able to do shows, I resumed classes. For example, I gave classes to a Chilean who lives in Paris via WhatsApp, he told me: “I have a record and I want you to produce it for me”. I ended up doing the artistic production of a record by video call.
Luckily, I have been doing the workshop that I am doing “Cocina de Canciones” for more than ten years, in which I returned to teach, rediscovering myself with musical pedagogy, which is very important to me.
Q: Are they all musicians or do they not have to be?
R: It is not necessary to be a musician who knows the theory, it is a workshop that is designed for all ages, anyone can participate. During winter holidays, since there were a lot of children, we ended up making a rocking children’s song together with the families. The slogan is “anyone can make a song”, like the recipe for bread, only instead of flour, salt and water, it’s the verse and the chorus, we add songs and make one together. I am going to resume doing it within child and youth orchestras in the province, I am giving it throughout the country and in Europe.
Q: What about your task as a cook?
R: The gastronomic theme comes to me since I was little, because of my mother, who liked to try different things. Later I studied gastronomy, I always avoided doing it professionally because it is a very sacrificed field (all jobs are, but especially the kitchen). In quarantine, not being able to play, with my partner we decided to do a small venture, to have some money and have something to do and not go crazy with the confinement.
This is how we put together “Shleper”, a traditional Jewish food venture. It ended up getting a lot of food reviews saying we have the best potato knishes and the best pastrami and so on. This month I have a couple of shows where I’m going to play and also cook: they called me because they knew I cooked. One is going to be in Tecnópolis for “Cocineros Argentinos” and another in Morón, where I’m going to give a master class in Jewish cooking and, also, play songs by me and by Árbol.
Q: Is it tiring to be a multi-instrumentalist, or what is it like?
R: It’s something that was given to me since I was a child, trying instruments, playing them, maybe not being the best violinist in the world, but playing the violin, the trumpet, the charango. I don’t know if exhausting, what is exhausting is carrying all the instruments. Rockers always laugh at the drummer who has to carry a lot of things, in my case I carry many more. It’s something fun that ended up being something of my identity, characteristic. People are surprised because suddenly I take out a trumpet, a charango, a violin, it’s a kind of superpower that I developed in a relaxed way.
Q: Is musical composition inexhaustible for you?
R: For me it is not inexhaustible. Those of us who compose are always afraid of running out of ideas, of running out of beautiful melodies, good lyrics, the famous fear of the “blank page”. As I say in the workshops, the blank sheet is the void of not knowing what is going to happen, but it is also the void to be filled with new things and something always comes out.
Q: What about the mix of styles?
R: Mixing styles is similar to playing different instruments: I’m a fan of The Beatles, like many musicians, and they made various records, they drew a cake with several slices. There were love songs, slow songs, fast songs, some of protest, and that’s how they put together the cake of what was going to be a record. It’s a bit like that idea that I bring to my records, you’re going to go through many moods, like a roller coaster.
The band that accompanies Schmidt on tour is Gustavo Giannini, on bass; Alejandro Sandoval, on guitar and backing vocals; Pedro Folatelli, on drums.
The shows: day, time and places
All the shows will be at 10 pm, in Neuquén, this Thursday, August 17, on Friday the 18th at Roca, on Saturday the 19th at Fernández Oro and on Sunday the 20th at Centenario.
In rock It will be together with the return of «Preventive Prison», a legendary Punk band from Villa Regina (Gustavo Giannini is the bassist).
The show will last about an hour and a half. The tickets have a value of between 3,000 and 5,000 depending on the place and if they buy at the door or in advance.
Those of Roca (at Rapsodia, Av. Mendoza 115) and those of Neuquén Capital (at Morrigan, Elordi 39) are sold by phone 2984698087 or at the door.
Those of Fernández Oro and those of Centenario, They are purchased at the door or in advance by contacting each location: La Cocina de Oro 2994521036, and La Negra Roberta 2995275403.
1692109677
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