“Etnokam is proof that music is free and without borders”

Guitar, cello, transverse flute and drums. With this atypical instrumental base, Etnokam builds its own repertoire and a sound imprint that is difficult to pigeonhole, but which is living proof that music knows no limits or borders.

Most of its four members have conservatory training, but they are not a classical ensemble. They have rock overtones, but they are not a band. They improvise, but they are not a jazz group. And although Latin American folklore influences them, they don’t quite fit into that terrain either.

Their unusual proposal is based on musical mixing, explains drummer Adrián Oropeza. “We are proof that music is free and has no borders.”

In just one of its songs, elements of minimalism, the intensity of rock, counterpoints of concert music, such as the baroque, and, at the same time, Latin American folklore, as well as the freedom of jazz and its improvisation sections, can converge.

“That’s why it’s difficult to pigeonhole ourselves. What suits us best as a project, I think, is to call it instrumental chamber fusion,” the performer highlights in an interview.

Such a peculiar vision of sound art is endorsed by Etnokam in his most recent record production, distant connections, which was presented yesterday with a concert in the Blas Galindo auditorium of the National Center for the Arts (Cenart).

Although it is his third album production –preceded by Mirovia, of 2014, and Particles, 2017–, is the first that the ensemble does with its current quartet formation.

This musical project was founded in 2013 as a trio by the composer and guitarist Jorge Calleja, the cellist Mónica del Águila and the flutist Madame Gorgona. The idea was to form “an ethnocamerata, a small chamber group with ethnic overtones,” details Oropeza, who comes from jazz and is the most recent member of the group, which he joined in 2024.

Available on digital platforms and on compact disc, Distant connections It is described by the performer as “a sonorous and emotional journey” between the Latin American roots and the sonic avant-garde.

“It is an exercise in contrasts that oscillates between contemplative calm and expansive energy,” he adds. “We wanted to create an album that was a reflection of our identity: complex, rhythmic and deeply connected to our roots, but with the freedom to explore the chaos and power of contemporary rock and jazz.”

According to the drummer, it is a material that translates into sounds what cannot always be expressed in words: the connection with nature, animals and other people; even when there is no rational explanation.

Its title, he clarifies, responds to the idea that, despite geographical or temporal distances, we are all connected in some way. “Beyond social networks, there is always something that unites us,” he asserts.

“Is called distant connections, but at the same time it speaks of close, spiritual and musical connections, such as those that unite us as a group and, I hope, with our listeners.”

In addition to the new equipment “which allowed the ensemble a greater capacity for fusion,” another of the singularities of the new material is that its 11 songs are not exclusive to Calleja, as in the two previous productions, since it also includes a composition by Madame Gorgona and another by Oropeza.

“This marks a new opening for the project. It is not only about the inclusion of the drums, but also about the fact that the other members have been able to contribute to the band through musical creation.”