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What's Un-Convention?
Un-Convention is an independent music convention,
unconventional as its name says,
which was born in Manchester City.
In Manchester...
A music factory in which we will create an album in real-time,
in three days, 72 hours.
Artists were selected for this album in a contest
trying to symbolize the whole Argentine culture.
Diego Schissi.
We have Laura Ros,
Pablo Dacal,
La Púa tango quartet featuring Black Rodriguez Mendez,
Malyevados performed also,
Aymama,
Altertango,
Paola Bernal,
Lucio Mantel,
Seba Ibarra,
We put up a super professional recording studio,
along with Andres Mayo and the Audio Engineering Society.
The complexity of this job is that the musicians
must do their very best onstage.
There are no retakes nor edits, as usual in recordings.
This will be the exact interpretation of what happened onstage.
You need to tune in the same frequency, even with the tech staff.
I think we did our best in the recording,
now we are willing to see what this turns into.
The recording experience is obviously very positive,
blends the most pressing factors of both recording and playing live.
I have no serious live record of my music
so it's cool to have this opportunity.
Our experience was particular, interesting, strange, nice,
it was similar to sessions, but with the pressure of the lack of intimacy,
this studio is like a show in some way.
The energy of bands when live is always cuter.
To travel and get ready with all the band for something like this makes you grow.
There was something that seemed very interesting to me
and I never seen it before -the way the cover art was created.
We need to design for bands, we will work today for bands,
so we thought of putting up a band of designers.
They passed the many drawings they were designing to each other
then everything was scanned and got six covers from that.
We improvised like in a drawing jam, obtaining these chaotic graphics.
These are lightboxes used to develop animation in the most classic or crafty way.
If we are working for bands, we need to play.
The collaborative concept in that small level is a real hit.
I think that the most innovative thing about this event is the album artwork.
To communicate what was happening in real-time in the room,
the guys at Amplifica set up a "digital station"
We started very early on Thursday, first thing in the morning
setting up the live webcast of the conferences
and the bands that recorded, as much as the mix and mastering team
and the guys at TRImarchi producing a documentary...
What we did was filming the bands when playing, we interviewed the artists
just after they got off the stage and edit them
and an hour later that videos were online so everyone could watch it
In addition, we edited a documentary about the whole Un-Convention
which is what you're watching right now.
No, no, that's all I wanted to say...
We also had the opportunity to be part of one of the conferences
on how to promote a band online with no money.
That was the idea, we were there with all the international guests
Andrew Dubber, Martin Giraldo, Vijay Nair...
I get messed up with names, there were many guests...
Discussing about the music industry crisis is a first step
as it implies working on new solutions and options to move forward
If I have a band and I upload my music to the Web
and fans download it from there... well, that's illegal
so today's debate was focused on what to do
to turn things we find useful to promote our bands legal
Actually music labels are the ones who are in crisis, music industry is better than ever
In Un-Convention I've found that the cultural value is always before business
I think music helps us feel free and understand changes in our society
My name is Martin Giraldo, I am from Colombia
I am a social engineer, a social activist
I use technology, music and creative expressions to stimulate more people
to express, collaborate and participate
in the process of development of a new 21st Century society.
I think Un-Convention is a group of dreamers, we're all mad
willing to do this, we do it with lots of passion
Seeing the eyes of people when listening to the conferences
and speaking with the guests... you can see their interest
to move forward and to develop an independent music environment.
We want musicians to make a living with their music
We need to get involved as musicians, producers, venues,
governments, NGOs... that's a spot we all need to fill.
I felt creation in a pure state there,
effervescent dynamics and cultural production at its best.
It's a place where you can find something, a word, an idea
that will become the sprout of something much bigger.
The illusion of finding, I would say, the light at the end of the road
that it is really possible to make a living of what comes from our hearts
is really moving to me.