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Thursday, 24th April, 2008

I was taking the shuttle back from Times Square and saw Sean doing his interview, so, nosy as I am, I stopped t see what was going on...happy I did. Here's the interview by Sean Hickey and some music and video by Andes Fusion   from their myspace page.

Robert Tucker, inidizoo

"Andes Fusion is led by Juan Castillo from Ovalle,Chile.The blending of the rhythms and sounds from their varying countries of Chile,Peru,Ecuador,Bolivia and Japan make for a lovely and unique sound belonging to them alone.The group have many wonderful credits to their name.They have played for the first lady Hillary Clinton;they have also performed for the United Nations "Earth day" for former President Jimmy Carter.They had the privilege to play with Simon&Garfunkel in New York City as well as recording and performing for various television commercials that sought to incorporate their melodious sounds into their commercials.They performed at the Olympic Games in Atlanta,Georgia.Andes Fusion won the coveted award known as MUNY "Music Under New York"for their performance.Having toured all of South and Central America,and United States,Andes Fusion is making now their home in New York City.Having found a new home here in United States. " From Andes Fusion Myspace page

Interview with Juan Castillo, by Sean Hickey
 

I came across Juan Castillo in the Times Square subway station on Sunday, 4/13/08, while scouring the New York subway for musicians to interview for a project in a global music ethnography course I’m taking.  He is originally from Chile and plays a ten-stringed instrument called the charango, which looks something like a small guitar.

Q: Where did you first learn to play?

A: The instrument?  Since I was a child.  Everybody learns there when they are a baby, because they are surrounded by a lot of musicians all the time.  I also play the guitar and flute.

Q: When did you come to America?

A:1993.

Q: Have you been playing music steadily here since you came?

A: Yeah, yeah I came to play music here. Because I playing before in other countries, traveling around, so I came here to play a little more.

Q: Where else do you play?

A: I’ve been traveling with a group all over the united states: Florida, New Mexico, California, Ohio.  We used to travel a lot but now we’re settled in New York.

Q: What kind of music do you play?  Traditional, or do you compose your own songs?

A: Yeah, I compose my own songs too, I do traditional stuff, contemporary songs, whatever, I like it.  I like all kinds of music, so.  I try to play different styles.

Q: Has your music changed at all since you came to America?  Have you incorporated different influences?

A: Yeah, since you live in New York, it’s the capital of the world, so you, you interact with a lot of musicians, I’ve been playing with a jazz musician, a chinese musician, everyone.

Q: Do you interact with other subway musicians?

A: Yeah, I play with another group sometimes, they work down here too

Q: Does your music remind you of Chile, and kind of keep you connected with where you came from?

A: Yeah, because it’s a part of you, and you grew up with that, it’s part of the culture.  But I think you must adapt to new influences.

Q: How is the music culture different in America and Chile?

A: Chile’s a very much open country to another kind of music, because people love it there, so…that’s why many famous musicians go there and play music, you know, like Chick Korea, Eric Clapton, Santana or whatever.  All of them have gone to Chile to play because people fill up the stadiums when they go.  People like it.  I grew up with listening to my kind of music, traditional music, listening to rock, Led Zeppelin…all that kind of stuff.

Q: Did anyone in your family play?  Was it kind of passed down to you, or…how did you pick it up?

A: I was very blessed by my older brother, because he played many instruments, all these kind of instruments, more than 15 instruments I think; whatever he picked up he learned to play.  So I started learning by myself because of him, because I saw him, I wanted to play like him.  So my other brother plays too—my sister, my nephews, everybody in the family plays an instrument.  We do instruments though.  We make them.

Q: Did you make this (the charango)?

A: No, I bought this.  But I know how to make ocarinas, you know, out of clay.  And rain sticks, the stick that makes the sound of rain; flutes, too.

Q: Do you play zampoñas, panpipes?

A: Siku.  Zampoñas is the spanish name; siku is the Indian name, native name.

Q: Is that what you speak?

A:Yeah, we say zampoñas or siku, either one is fine.

Q: Are you part of the Quichua culture, then?

A: Yeah, because it was part of the culture until the Spanish came to our land, you know?  We have a lot of words in Quichua, Quechua we call it there, in Chile.  And my CD, we use for Estompilka (I really don’t know how to spell this, or what it is), Quechua name.. or food, a lot of things, Quechua words.

Q: Do you speak the language, or is it Spanish with some Quechua incorporated?

A: No, it was lost.  The place I was born, 100 years ago, there were spoken many native languages, like Quechua, the Agita, Batan, Cambo…like uh, six different ones, just in my area.  But they were lost when the Spanish came.

Q: What part of Chile are you from?

A: A small town called Ovalle in a region of Chile North of Santiago.

Q: What is your business like here? Do you do this more for the money, or just to perform for people and expose them to your culture…?

A: It’s the thing that depends on the motive that you have in life, or whatever, you know, but I do play music because first of all I like it, that’s part of my living. I really like it, to play music, so I come here to play.  Just put it out, if they like it, they put it…you know.  Not asking for…  But when you put your soul into what you are doing, things come easily, so I’ve been living by my music since I got out of high school.

Q: Cool. Do you still play with your family?  Your older brother?  Did they come here?

A: No, no.  We used to travel, a little bit, together.  But then I’ve been playing with a lot of other musicians from other countries.  I lived in Guatemala too for a while, traveled to Costa Rica, everywhere, Central America, South America.

A: Yeah, yeah, sure!  Here to, we’ve been traveling a lot, we know a lot of the United States, we’ve been so many places.

Q: Does it feel…Is music more a part of the community in Chile, where you come from?  Or here?  Is there a difference?

A: Yeah, it’s, it’s a…sorry.  Some part of people listen to this kind of music.  There are groups that are very famous all over Chile, you know, that play this kind of music.  But you know, since the media is controlled by some rich people, they don’t allow this kind of music to be...

A: Yeah.  They want people to just to listen to…garbage. (laughter) So it’s like, it’s going on all over the world, you know.  People try to control what people listen to.  You don’t have access to…other kinds of music.  Like in the united states, 60’s, and 50’s, jazz musicians were in the charts, you know?  And now…wow, Shakira or Beyonce…you have to listen to crap.

Q: (laughter)  Is it like that in Chile, too?  Is it more…Westernized?  Or becoming that way?

A: Yeah, it’s the same, you know…the people who has money control everything:  the TV, the radio, they want people to live controlled by music, or stupid things, you know.

Q: So do you kind of see yourself as keeping your culture alive?

A: (simultaneously) It’s a kind of survival, of keeping alive the traditions, and go further, you know?  ’Cause, we need to adapt, you know, but never lose the roots.  I do play, as I was saying, trying to say, I play this kind of instrument, traditional music, and I play classical or jazz songs, cause I like them.  But I never stop playing my traditional Quechua music. That’s how I grew up.