We spoke to Argenis Brito a few months back as we looked forward to his latest releases with Pier Bucci. This latest news from the Argenis camp is one of many good-news days from a man that seemingly lives and breathes all forms of music. Originally starting out with a focus towards live performance and singing, his technical skills led him to the world he exists in now where he produces with many of the house-hold names in electronic music and can boast to have made a serious impact on the underground sound we all love today.
But while you could be forgiven for not initially thinking of South America as a top clubbing destination, it's clear with the likes of Argenis and his other South American friends, such as Ricardo and Pier, that the region has been knocking out hugely talented artists for years, and when not off around the world spreading their 'trademark' sound, you could always take a trip down to two of the worlds most respected clubs - Warung and D-Edge - and enjoy a lesson in how they like it done.
Anyway, let's hear what Argenis has to say for himself...
I know you're touring around South America at the moment, where will the tour be taking you?
The tour was during January and February this year, and I played in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. I went to Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Rosario and Mendoza in Argentina. To Santiago, Viña del Mar and Con Con in Chile and to Camboriú (Warung) and Sao Paolo in Brazil.
Cool, did you manage to take in the Rio Carnival at all?
I played in Rio last year, unfortunately I didn't have the chance to experience the Carnival. Rio is one of the most beautiful cities I've seen and I can barely imagine how much fun it must be to be there during the Carnival...
How much influence on your music have you taken from events like this?
Festivals and massive events like the Rio Carnival are an inspiration for me to create music and to try to lift people's spirits. They are a celebration, a moment of joy and union, where people get together, unwind and dance to the music.
Do you have any favorite venues to play in Brazil? D-Edge and Warung are certainly well known…
Actually those are my favorite venues in Brazil! In D-Edge I've been playing for about five years, and in Warung I played these last two years - amazing venues, super crowd, amongst the best I've seen.
What is the scene like in your home country, Venezuela?
Venezuela, like all the rest of the countries in South America, has a relatively small but interesting and enthusiastic electronic music scene. There's only a few clubs where parties take place and there are promoters in charge of bringing the most significant dj's and producers.
Some countries are more developed than others, and in Venezuela the electronic music scene is slowly growing, hopefully we'll hear more from there in the future.
Venezuela is perhaps not the most obvious destination for the birth of an electronic music artist, so what is the story of you developing into an artist as such? Take us through the stages of your career from singer, producer, DJ and beyond…
There is music everywhere, at the beginning of my career I was more dedicated to play the bass, write songs and sing, after a few years I moved out from Venezuela to New York, got in contact with electronic music and started to work with new tools; that's already a long time ago. I moved to Chile afterwards, got to know many of my current friends there and started to collaborate with some of them during all these years... right now I perform live my solo sets with the music I've been producing all this time since I moved to Berlin in 2002.
Although I say it's perhaps not the most obvious destination, there are several well-known artists from South America… why would you say so many people work to become electronic music artists?
There is also talent everywhere, since the increasing access to more and more people in the world to a computer and to produce and promote music, producers from less obvious destinations have begun to flourish and to take a significant place in the world scene.
Presumably you would say yours and their sound is unique, how would you describe it?
I wouldn't say it's unique, I would say some of it has a trademark, a recognizable sound, achieved by a few by focusing more on their ideas, on worrying more about the music.
From what I can gather, 2012 will be a hugely busy year for you… You have a new album with Pier Bucci on the way yes?
well, I really hope so! Yes, our third album as Mambotur will come out in May this year, we are very happy about the result and hope a good reaction from the people.
Can't wait! Tell us about your Los Refrescos project…
Los Refrescos is a project we've been working together with Dandy Jack for a couple of years now, it's a bit more song oriented and tries to keep the BPM down and groovy. We have the album almost finished and should be out very soon.
And you have a solo album planned to come out at some point this year. What can you tell us about that?
After coming back from South America I've been working on new tracks, I should have the album ready after the summer, right now I'm more focus on the release of the Mambotur album, but I will keep on working in the meantime.
In and amongst all of this, you have some collaborations with the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Dinky and others. What's planned there then?
With Ricardo we try to get together as often as possible, he just did some additional mixing and pre-mastering for Mambotur's new album, we'll release a collaboration we did with P. Bucci and W.
Miranda very soon on Perlon.
For Dinky I played the bass in a couple of tracks from her new album, and recently did the vocals for a new track on the new Tiefscharz coming album.
What made you move to Berlin? Will you be back there after the tour to work?
Berlin is a fascinating city, I've been living here already for ten years and I don't plan to go anywhere. It's a very good place to work and to meet interesting new proposals.
Finally, to those who have not experienced South America before, what would you say to convince them to go?
South America is amazing, it has all kind of different things to see and enjoy, the weather, the nature, the people, the food, the culture, etc. etc.
a must!
