When studying the music for the Latin American showcase for this years Envision festival, it was difficult to choose who I was most looking forward to. With the opportunity to interview Luigi, the bassist in the electronic jazz trio of Santos&Zurdo, the choice became obvious. I learned about the origins and influences of their sound, the present vibe of the new album and what’s in store for the future, plus some secrets! I hope your anticipation grows as much as mine did after hearing what we’re in store for in February at their live sets at Envision 2019!
Starting our conversation at the roots, Luigi said the guys are like family after 15 years of being together. When I asked if anyone was related, he jokingly answered with, “sometimes, on lonely nights”.
The band started as a duo of Santos, from Argentina and Zurdo, from San Jose. When the bassist, also from Costa Rica jumped in, things started growing into something even more powerful.
Luigi said, “The thing with being a trio is it gives more power to live sets and recordings.”
It has opened up their market and audience enabling them to appear on bigger stages and festivals. As a trio, they feel the possibilities are endless for expansion. They have been at burning man twice, among other festivals in the states and all over Costa Rica, including their favourite, Envision.
Luigi pointed out something really unique, “there are only two musical acts that have been at Envision every year since the beginning (9 including this year), these are: ‘the band of Costa Rica’ (Santos&Zurdo), and Random Rab”.
He was with Random Rab in Mexico recently and he said they talked about doing some collaborations in the near future. With this and more intentional connection making, the trio are motivated for the next level, international tours.
The dream he said, “is to tour with Santos and Zurdo all over the place, how can we make world tours, non stop. Continue making music, continue growing more into world music, in other directions. How can we take not only our music to other places, but how can we take the people other places with the music, that’s what we have been feeling.”
With friends in India saying they will be rock stars when they get there, of course they want to, but Luigi said he knows it’s just about taking the steps, doing the work and keep doing what they are doing.
“It’s not easy but when you find out how, someway, it starts happening, you have to continue, believe in your dreams and what you are doing, on your perspective of life and things will come, if you are open to receive it.”
Luigi is currently living in Mexico, after going back and forth for the last 4 years, immersing into the country he and the trio know is the hot spot for this rising momentum of Latin American music. He said, “If you’re an actor you have to live in Los Angeles, if you’re a musician you need to be in Mexico”.
He said, “I believe it will be great to reach a lot of the audience in Mexico, in Tulum and this movement that is pop-electronic music. In the United States the music scene is very different. In the case of Latin America you have to spread your wings and search for new markets, and for me, the best way to make it possible, to make it happen, is to be there.”
He is finding that being there and talking to the right people, visualizing is becoming easier and it’s all happening. They have a Mexican tour coming up and will be playing in some festivals there in 2019. He understands the musical market in Tulum is huge and is growing bigger, fast. He sees Santos&Zurdo being apart of that growth, through connecting with the other talents that exist there already. He said if he wasn’t in Mexico he would be travelling to New York or Los Angeles and something different would be happening. With Mexico being a great space for this open market, the possibility for an even bigger project than Santos&Zurdo is in reach. It’s a Latin American project, and at this moment, Latin American music is really growing in the niche they’re in.
He gives the example of Nicola Cruz and Matanza as Latin American musicians spreading these vibes internationally in a good way, “but not like the madness of Reggaeton”, he says laughing.
Their newest album titled ‘The Mess I Made’ is a little more pop as they decided to do something a little different including lyrics. “We’ve been recording all these tracks of world music, really psychedelic with all this fusion all over. When we used to play these songs live, people really enjoyed it, they were like ‘Wow, this is a great set’. So we decided to make an E.P and release these tracks where Zurdo sings in all of the tracks,” he said laughing. He described it as having a really deep sound with the bass, and punk-sitar with electro funk, “with what kind of music do we connect with people and how can we take that into not only live sets, but also the recordings.”
They are really happy with the result. Luigi shared that part of that is what they will be performing at Envision this February. He slipped out the surprise saying they will be releasing a brand new kind of show this year! It’s going to be mashups of a lot of influencers they have from all over, combining years of sound into a new kind of experience for the first time, live at Envision 2019!
“What we believe about Santos&Zurdo is that it’s a band that doesn’t get old, you are going to see them now, or in 15 or 20 years and you will be like, wow, what is this,” Luigi said on inspiration, and why they will be performing for many years, internationally. Their promise? To never get old. Everlasting, ever-changing. Yet another reason they have been at Envision for so long, you can see the show many times and it’s always something new. They love seeing people losing their minds, tripping out at their shows, people’s faces saying ‘why are you doing this to us’, yet they keep coming back for more. The three of them are big festival people, they love the energy, especially at Envision Festival with the huge stages. Being at Envision, experiencing it from the start and seeing what other people were making and how they were performing, has been their biggest influence and become a part of them, their growth as a band.
“I believe that Envision Festival has really given us a place, we value that a lot and are really glad to be apart of it,” Luigi closes with, ready to heat it up back home in the jungle beach paradise!
We’re glad too! Thank you Luigi, and see you all on the dance floor soon for this new experience influenced by ‘jazz, electronic sitar madness’ as Luigi puts it. Pura vida!
