ContirbutorBekando, lovely to have the time to speak with you today. You’re kicking off 2021 with your third release on CODI Records ‘Bekando’s Way’. Tell us a bit about how CODI Records came about and what it represents?
First of all, I’d like to thank all the people who helped make this all real.
It was my long-time friend, Stéphane Gerne, who asked me to create CODI records, which means COgnitive DIssonance. Both are fans of electronic music and we wanted to create a label that allows several local artists to express themselves. That’s what we did, and after that, the pandemic happened and we talked for a long time about whether we wanted to continue or not? Bekando’s Way was born!
What was the creative process behind ‘Bekando’s Way’?
The process of this EP was very different from other projects as it took me several months to finalize it.
For “Complex”, I just had the loop voice and a beat with a lot of percussion like congas, bongos and toms and I wanted to do something quite linear with a strong inspiration from one of my favorite Khulile songs “We Belong” (Afro Beat Mix), then I turned to something more raw with Hip Hop influences.
For Vortex, at the beginning the essence of the track was afro and there too, I was turning in loop with all these elements, I decided to turn to something more aggressive, a little bit of the Berlin style in a way with New Wave sounds of the 80’s. As I said earlier, the process was very different because usually I take 2 to 3 weeks to finalize a track and often the direction I choose is the right one from the beginning.
How would you say this EP differs to your previous releases?
It all depends on how I feel when I start a project. For me, music is not a matter of style but rather of sincerity. Even in electronic music you can create things with a lot of emotion, feeling and energy. This is my vision and this is what I want to feel, and especially the audience, every time in my creations. I avoid the “boom chak” in my rhythms because I’m not comfortable with it. As I am from Uruguay, I am very inspired by the “Candombe” (percussion of African origin).
Have you had the chance to test the songs out on the road?
It may sound weird but I very rarely play my own songs because I will listen to the flaws or what I could have added , etc. Maybe that will change haha? I prefer someone else to play them, it’s more rewarding.
I often play for private parties but I do not want to perform in the clubs of my city because for me, no one is a Prophet in his country. My goal is to export myself, and I am convinced that this is the key for me to move forward and propose something different to the public.
How was your studio set up for this collection? Was there one piece of kit that really defined the sound of the tracks?
The plugin I used most often in this project is “Arcade” from Output, I find it very ergonomic and easy to take in hand. The sampler is really very intuitive and I love to cut, move and recreate samples with it. I often use it for arrangements or to color the mix. It is with this program that I find my sources of inspiration, I find it very complete. For percussion, I used “Battery 4” from Native Instruments which is extremely powerful if you master it well and I also have the “Wavedrum” from Korg for improvisation. Basically, the leads of this project come mainly from Arcade that I play with my KeyStation from M-Audio.
What more can we expect from you in 2022?
I have an EP scheduled for February 4th on Inward Records with remixes of Maximiliano dB and Newmanhere, a 2nd EP for February 18th on Nomadism Records in collaboration with Steven Sanchez and I just finished a remix of DummySplash that will be released on Inward Records also in March normally.
I am also preparing another EP which I hope will be released on Inward too;-).
And I have another project but I can’t say more!
Thank you for this interview and Stay Safe!!!
Peace
Bekando
Bekando’s Way is available on preorder here