Sebastian Escofet

- You have a very eclectic career. Could you summarize, in a few lines, your musical history?

I was born into a family where music was very present. My grandfather was an avid classical music fan & collector, my mom sang in choirs, my old man plays the piano, the guitar, sings, my uncles play instruments & sing to different extents. Almost all my brothers play more than one instrument. I was raised listening to music ranging from classical to choral, folklore, tango & rock. At age 12, inspired by a Pappo poster, I bought a Faim SG guitar, I was initiated into rock practically as self-taught learner. At 18 I took formal guitar lessons & my teacher introduced me to jazz, I started studying & began to listen to different music apart from rock. I met my teacher Favio Shifres & discovered new continents. I always played in rock groups & performed in duets with pianists, cellists or alone with bases & images.

One day Richard Coleman invited me to play as a stable guest musician in Los 7 Delfines, then Ulises Butrón told me to join the final process of La Guardia del Fuego, there María Gabriela Epumer asked me to write & compose, I began to create with friends like Coki Debernardi, to be a part of Fabi Cantilo’s band, to play & record with Jorge Drexler. I always played alongside other people but also did “my own thing”, playing & recording, seeking to grow, to learn. I’m sensitive & curious, I follow my creative instincts. I can do short films, feature films, music for children’s plays with Los Cazurros, music with lyrics, instrumental music, abstract sound collages, experimental, etc ,etc. This is like with food: it’s all good with sushi, barbecues, breaded beef, vegetarian. They’re colors in a big rainbow.

I’m not an orthodox. We live in a society so conservative that we aren’t used to aesthetic multiplicity, audible diversity & artistic risks. We applaud the guy who repeats the same tricks over & over again calling him a total genius .

 

- Now you’re very ABOCADO to your work with instrumental music. Where has your more rock & roll side/ the rocker side of you gone? Is there still room for that?

Rock isn’t just posing ,a haircut & sticking out your tongue, making demagogic gestures & recording the same album over & over again to please a deaf audience. To me being a “rocker” means having an open mind, experimenting, seeking change, taking risks musically, maintaining your career from a position of absolute independence, respecting your inner voice, not repeating yourself. Being a rocker is having diversity when it comes to aesthetics, culture & thought. Plurality. Rock taught us to be free thinkers, didn’t it? Rock isn’t just the “sound” of sharp guitars & freak show contortionist poses.

Perhaps that’s how the majority feels, but I assure you it’s not what motivated so many brilliant guys to break with moulds & prejudices two generations ago. To create a sound-form & a vision of the world that didn’t exist. I know those stories very well & that tradition is what inspires me. I’m a son of rock culture.

If I make the albums I make, it’s partly because of the “rock” that runs through my veins.

I have an album with songs -“Ahora”, from 2003, which is “rock” in the more preponderate sense. “Suite Patagónica” as well. Making an album like “Siberiana”, almost an audible soundscape of Rothko, is more rock than Luca & Pappo put together, & I’m not just talking about the SOUND OF ROCK.

Within the official national rock scene, I play & record with Estelares as a guest musician every chance my schedule allows .That’s when I work up a sweat according to the rules. Generationally & spiritually I’m a ROCKER.

 

- In your music, the textures have been very carefully worked on. Do you consider them as important as the music itself?

The material that music is made out of is SOUND.

Sound / sound waves are air molecules put into movement at different levels & frequencies.

Everything is music !!!!!!!!!!!!

In music there’s harmony, melody, rhythm, texture. It’s the interaction of a dynamic inter pattern, I love texture as much as the other components within music. Maybe we’re not used to identifying it, enjoying it & realizing how valuable it is. From the moment that sound exists in music, there’s texture. Hearing & perception must be developed to be able to recognize it, to feel it in an omnipresent way, real & tangible. To learn to HEAR is to expand the consciousness.

 

- Do images condition you in any way when composing?

The images, the rhythm of editing & the actor’s gestures are part of an abstract score. When you work with a director who is creative & has personality, the images & the discourse suggest atmospheres & structure. They INSPIRE.

Through the composer’s sensibility, that language-message-discourse is translated into music. When the director allows you to “create”, the music that results flows incredibly with the images. A visual structure can be like a prison if it’s not understood that images & music together create a third thing,a piece, a work , a complete sensory experience. Cinema is one of the great inventions of the 20st century.

 

- Do you feel more comfortable working in more abstract fields -such as Las Vidas Posibles- or do you prefer something more melodic & harmonious -such as Cordero de Dios-?

I feel comfortable when I work within an inspiring creative process that flows. I move spontaneously within the abstract, the melodic, the harmonious, the rhythmic, the figurative…within my limits. As my friend Ezequiel Borra would say, “everything has its place in me”.

Each project has an aesthetic & a sound; it takes time to discover it, to catch a glimpse of it.

Cordero de Dios is a project that I feel is very accomplished, a great creative experience.

 

- Do you have any references when it comes to working on soundtracks?

No, my references are the artists I admire from different musical movements (Beatles-García-Luis Alberto-Ravel-Eno-Pappo-Piazzolla-Debussy-Depeche Mode-Mateo-Gabriel-Atahualpa-Crimson-Zeppelin-Clash-Bowie-Can,etc).

I like creative director-composer teams such as Hitchcock – B.Hermann, Tim Burton – Danny Elfman, David.Lynch – Badalamenti, Tarkovski – Artemiev, Fellini – Nino Rotta.

Musical language for film is different from many other languages but it feeds off every style & genre.

 

- Are you working on any new projects?

I’m finishing a new album with songs which I’m mixing right now & will come out in the second half of 2009. I’m also composing for a couple of films & figuring out how to materialize an old project with Talvin Singh – who played with Björk, Massive Attack, Duran Duran. For a few years we’ve been about to do something together & I believe the time has come to find a way. I’m always creating but right now I have to find a more dynamic way to release all my creativity. Albums in CD format are agonizing & have a high cost. From now on I’d like to reach people directly via the WEB platform. Today you can download my albums from my website. Not all of them because I didn’t update it because of the “2009 crisis”, but soon all my music for all the ears that want to hear it. I really feel like doing old projects together with Manuel Moretti & with Ezequiel Borra, but oh well, the night is young!!!