The tribute to Gritón was extended with an evening of jazz at Portales

The life and work of Antonio Ortiz Loud (1953-2024) was celebrated with a concert on Saturday night at the Jazzorca café, which, together with the painting of a mural in the Roma neighborhood by about thirty artists a few hours before, became an extension of the emotional tribute that a collective of more than 100 creators from various disciplines paid him on Friday at the Mexico City Museum, after his death on December 5.

The evening at the Portales neighborhood forum was a point of convergence, synchronicities and union in which memory and friendships became even more intertwined under the influence of free jazz, musical improvisation and performance, to conclude between cheers and shouts of ¡viva! dedicated to the painter and activist.

The line-up included the composer, guitarist and actress Gaby Tomé, with a set of five songs of improvisation, voice and performance; the double bassist Adriana Camacho, who presented her project Loope; and the free jazz of the trio made up of David Contreras on saxophone, Rodo Ocampo on drums and the aforementioned double bassist, who were joined by Gaby Tomé and Germán Bringas, founder of Jazzorca.

Before starting her performance, Adriana Camacho, romantic partner of Loud until his death, he evoked his relationship with him, as well as the one he established with that musical-cultural space, this house that has given us space for many musicians who are on a different tune, on other frequencies; it lifts our spirit, it heals us, it moves our heads.

He described how that artist arrived at that place for the first time, about eight years ago, and the friendship he established with its owner, the composer and jazz player Germán Bringas, who after the pandemic asked him to paint the mural that to date can be seen on the façade.

According to the documentary filmmaker, music was essential for Loud: It meant everything to him. He was a music lover. He loved Cream, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Alexis Korner. He painted many paintings listening to La Monte Young, John Adams, Terry Riley, he also made a painting based on the music of Morton Feldman.

His taste was such, he stated to The Day, that he owes his decision to dedicate himself to art to a large extent: “He said that one day (at the end of the 70s) he went to a concert by Iannis Xenakis in the Rectory Tower of the National Autonomous University of Mexico; There were few people, the power went out because there was a storm; They lit candles and Xenakis talked about how he wanted to translate the storm into music, he wanted to make it rain inside the room. So, Loud “He was inspired and went for painting, thinking that he could reproduce any natural phenomenon in his work.”

The double bassist recalled that she was a frequent guest to play at the nude drawing workshop that the artist held on Río Niagara Street, where he had his studio, and whose name he named several of their joint musical projects.

“He won over all the musicians who passed through the house; When they came to rehearse with me, I always talked to everyone and had a great time. In addition, we did Radio Niagara, live broadcasts on Facebook of musical, poetic and performance”, He stated, and mentioned that there are around 30 of these emissions available.

La Zurda, Radio Niagara…

The link of Loud With sound art, he was not limited to consumption as a listener, but also actively, by generating proposals from and for that artistic discipline, such as the La Zurda independent music markets, where the recording production and dissemination of independent groups was promoted, in the Los Pinos Cultural Complex.

Likewise, he himself became a performer when he formed the Niagara Falls duet with Adriana Camacho in 2016, which was born after a group canceled a performance at the San Rafael Culture House and Loud solved the problem Taking out a keyboard and his fish, he put on a paper mask and we started playingrecalls Adriana Camacho.

“Niagara Falls is born from the source from which everything came with Loud. The source of color, imagination, everything that came from there resonated with waves of super good vibes; he made it visible to us with his Antennas to change the world (…) It was a power duo with marked roots in avant garde music explored by Lamonte Young, SunRa and Terry Riley, among other composers. “It generated atmospheres and soundscapes that refer to unconventional mental states from other times due to its use of instruments of pre-Hispanic origin.”

His presentations, he said, focused on political events and marches demanding the rights of those who are in resistancesuch as the Comparte festival, organized by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation; a strike by university workers; for Ayotzinapa and Palestine; for the disappeared, against the mining companies for the dignified rebellion.

He also performed in forums such as the Terraza Monstruo, the Chalton Gallery in London (England), the Hugo Cara Museum in Trieste (Italy) and the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. He has an album, recorded live from a concert at Café Jazzorca , available on the site: https://adrianacamacho.bandcamp.com/album/cataratas-del-ni-gara.