Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
IN THE CHARTS
November 2023
#13 - Top 40 for Latin American Influence
"Faro De Lisboa" Music & Lyrics By Carlos Goñi/Revolver (track)
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ABOUT
Ernesto J. Espinoza (Chile, 1972)
Violinist and composer of Chilean origin.
His artistic future began showing itself as a child (around 2 years of age), when he would take advantage of any opportunity to sing in public – there are several anecdotes of this kind that took place on the city buses of Santiago (Chile), which put his parents in a tough predicament on many occasions, especially because he didn’t precisely sing “children’s songs or nursery rhymes”, but instead he would opt for politically engaged songs that he had learned in his day-to-day surroundings. This resulted in astonishment for those present, given the politically unstable situation in Chile at the time.
His parents, artists and very active supporters of the Salvador Allende government and “La Unidad Popular” (The Popular Unity Movement), highly influenced Ernesto’s musical and ideological growth due to the close relationship his parents had with a wide range of intellectual artists of that time, with the likes of Victor Jara and the group “Quilapayun” among others.
In the mid-70s, and as a result of exile, his parents settled in Vancouver (Canada), where he was raised from the age of four. It’s at the age of nine when Ernesto begins his musical studies and violin training. Showing great interest in Celtic folk, he enhances his studies with excellent violinists of this genre, such as Alasdair Fraser and Buddy McMaster.
His musical career takes off in his pre-teens, forming part of various youth symphony orchestras and touring throughout Canada, the U.S., and Europe.
By 1990, already settled in Toronto (Canada), he develops his own unique style of playing the violin and begins to collaborate (performing and arranging) with numerous groups and a diversity of musical styles (Rock, Blues, Jazz, Salsa, Andean Folk, and Flamenco…), participating in recordings and producing for artists such as: “Los Jaivas”, Marcelo Puente, Alberto Kingbombo….
In 1997 he launches his first album “Mas Que Un Café” with his band “Casma”, musically directed by him and named in honor of his “Mapuche” roots, which earned him the door that opened and encouraged his vision towards more committed projects such as composing music and/or soundtracks for short films, theatre, and poetry: “The Other”, “Remembering” (based on the “Cantata Santa María de Iquique”), “La Rabia”, and “The Art Of Modelling”; he also received an opportunity as an actor, portraying a role in the short film “Family Album”, broadcast on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
Currently, Ernesto J. Espinoza has been living in Spain since 2001, where he continues to expose his music in the company of his gypsy violin as well as collaborating with various renowned artists (Rosa Maria Lobo “Maya”, Manu León, Miguel Rix, Pablo Sciuto, Cristina Narea, “Gueta na Fonte”).
In 2006 he decides to step down from the stage for a while, in order to fully devote himself to his recent album “Nos Atañe”, teaming up with lyricist Carmen Heredia. The production of this album was long and strenuous in order to give it its due dedication and this way achieving the opening towards a more personal phase and at the same time much more committed, expressing his feelings against social injustice, concerns that have accompanied him throughout his entire life. In this album, we can find influences of his musical background, accomplishing a rich variety of rhythms: with the subtle touches of a “Tango” or a “Chacarera”, of “Flamenco” of “Salsa” as well as diverse incursions into “Swing”, “Blues”, “Bossa”, “Jazz” and “Rock”, uniting with lyrics which indulge us with twists and shades of sarcasm, intrigue, love, and pleasure, recognition, everyday simplicities…. Ultimately, everything that, like so many of us, moves us and… concerns us.
Violinist and composer of Chilean origin.
His artistic future began showing itself as a child (around 2 years of age), when he would take advantage of any opportunity to sing in public – there are several anecdotes of this kind that took place on the city buses of Santiago (Chile), which put his parents in a tough predicament on many occasions, especially because he didn’t precisely sing “children’s songs or nursery rhymes”, but instead he would opt for politically engaged songs that he had learned in his day-to-day surroundings. This resulted in astonishment for those present, given the politically unstable situation in Chile at the time.
His parents, artists and very active supporters of the Salvador Allende government and “La Unidad Popular” (The Popular Unity Movement), highly influenced Ernesto’s musical and ideological growth due to the close relationship his parents had with a wide range of intellectual artists of that time, with the likes of Victor Jara and the group “Quilapayun” among others.
In the mid-70s, and as a result of exile, his parents settled in Vancouver (Canada), where he was raised from the age of four. It’s at the age of nine when Ernesto begins his musical studies and violin training. Showing great interest in Celtic folk, he enhances his studies with excellent violinists of this genre, such as Alasdair Fraser and Buddy McMaster.
His musical career takes off in his pre-teens, forming part of various youth symphony orchestras and touring throughout Canada, the U.S., and Europe.
By 1990, already settled in Toronto (Canada), he develops his own unique style of playing the violin and begins to collaborate (performing and arranging) with numerous groups and a diversity of musical styles (Rock, Blues, Jazz, Salsa, Andean Folk, and Flamenco…), participating in recordings and producing for artists such as: “Los Jaivas”, Marcelo Puente, Alberto Kingbombo….
In 1997 he launches his first album “Mas Que Un Café” with his band “Casma”, musically directed by him and named in honor of his “Mapuche” roots, which earned him the door that opened and encouraged his vision towards more committed projects such as composing music and/or soundtracks for short films, theatre, and poetry: “The Other”, “Remembering” (based on the “Cantata Santa María de Iquique”), “La Rabia”, and “The Art Of Modelling”; he also received an opportunity as an actor, portraying a role in the short film “Family Album”, broadcast on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
Currently, Ernesto J. Espinoza has been living in Spain since 2001, where he continues to expose his music in the company of his gypsy violin as well as collaborating with various renowned artists (Rosa Maria Lobo “Maya”, Manu León, Miguel Rix, Pablo Sciuto, Cristina Narea, “Gueta na Fonte”).
In 2006 he decides to step down from the stage for a while, in order to fully devote himself to his recent album “Nos Atañe”, teaming up with lyricist Carmen Heredia. The production of this album was long and strenuous in order to give it its due dedication and this way achieving the opening towards a more personal phase and at the same time much more committed, expressing his feelings against social injustice, concerns that have accompanied him throughout his entire life. In this album, we can find influences of his musical background, accomplishing a rich variety of rhythms: with the subtle touches of a “Tango” or a “Chacarera”, of “Flamenco” of “Salsa” as well as diverse incursions into “Swing”, “Blues”, “Bossa”, “Jazz” and “Rock”, uniting with lyrics which indulge us with twists and shades of sarcasm, intrigue, love, and pleasure, recognition, everyday simplicities…. Ultimately, everything that, like so many of us, moves us and… concerns us.
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