From light to shadow.
Francis Bacon He once said that “for the light to shine so brightly, darkness must be present.” Under this precept, the Mexican filmmaker Hari Sama (Lu's Dream, Without Ton or Sonia), began to create a musical project that would unify these contrasts so present in his art and his psyche that were crying out to get out of it. From there it was born Noble Savagea kaleidoscopic, ominous and danceable proposal that pays tribute to the purest synth wave while embracing the urgency of modern life.
On the occasion of his new album Black Noise / White Shadow, Indie Rocks! spoke with Sama about the genesis, growth and future of this project, as well as its live offering.
“Noble Savage It was born as a pandemic project. I made a movie a few years ago called This is not Berlinwho was traveling the world. I began to notice that a lot of young people identified with the music and celebrated it. They also led me to meet a new generation of musicians who were once again highlighting those dark and danceable sounds of synth wave and post punk that marked me in my adolescence.
When the film's journey ended, I locked myself in with a producer friend and we both had this concern of putting together a project to make dance music, but that also took into account our darker side. What I thought a lot about when creating this project is that when you embrace the shadow, the possibilities open up,” he stated.
Graduated from the career of Cinema at the Cinematographic and Musical Composition Training Center at the CIEMthe Mexican Sama He has been a natural musician since his adolescence, having had a band since the 90s. After realizing his dream of becoming an artisan of the seventh art, Euterpe She seduced him again to return to her first love.
“12 years ago, the bug bit me again. I thought 'something is rotting inside and I need to get it out somehow', and so I came back. I never thought that the project would grow as it is, and extraordinary things are happening to us. The truth is that, if the project becomes more relevant or people begin to identify and recognize it, you dedicate more time to it: to play in more places, travel and make records. But I think it is easy to reconcile both passions and find a way, as in the case of a Jared Leto either Johnny Deppthat they both have established careers and that they equally attend to their passion for music,” he continued.
His new album, Black Noise / White Shadowchannels the filth of the eighties sewers with the brightest neon reflectors along with a surreal and dark visual proposal to manage something macabre and sensual that can invade the sepulchral solitude of a room and all the dance floors in the city.
I worked with the Monocrom brothers (Gabo and Raúl), who finished giving body to the compositions, and I gave them a melodic line for the voice. Then I sat down and summoned the shadow, to find the letters. This part of the process is always more intimate and solitary, and there are lyrics that I'm not sure where they came from (laughs), but the crucial thing was always to take the idea of the shadow as a starting point. My music wants to make you dance and create a space of joy, but my lyrics make a kind of balance, like life itself. There's always a conversation about the difficult and the exalted, and that's what the album is about.”
After two years of arduous creation, Sama will bring the material live along with a performance just as crucial as the lyrics and music, where there are influences in his body movements from emblematic figures of synth pop, but also from Japanese dance and expressionism.
“Jim Jarmusch He said that 'there is nothing new under the sun, but then you sift through your influences, you mix that and something new comes out.' I admire a lot Peter Murphy already Dave Gahanand I didn't want to emulate them on purpose, but you unconsciously take elements from all of them and bring it out live. One of the things I like to do most in life is dance and all the recitals are excuses to get up and do it. Dance is something that takes over the shadow, and in that coming and going of the two concepts it becomes an irrepressible energy. The shadow becomes the character. I also added paint and had a hard time figuring out what outfits to wear, but then I found the designs of Boyfriends Shirta shop on Havre Street. With each piece of clothing I said 'this is it' and from there I bought almost everything, which is a lot of military vibes, but also about chivalry and sexual fluidity. Noble Savage It is also embracing sexuality but without a gender distinction,” he concluded.
Black Noise / White Shadow of Noble Savage is now available on all platforms streaming.
