Alex Etchart & Vientos bring their soulful dancescapes to The Fisher Theatre, blending LatinX and British folk traditions with euphoric electronica. Glorious synth pads, tropical percussion and lush harmonies come together to craft modern ballads of joy, justice and queer love. The group is led by Alex Etchart, the Anglo-Uruguayan multi-instrumentalist and activist who also leads folk star Sam Lee’s Fire Choir; Lee praised him as “cross-pollinating communities and spaces, keeping the folk flame alive in ways only Alex can”
Your music blends Latin American folk with British folk traditions and electronic elements, how did this unique fusion come about and what’s your process for bringing those different worlds together in a single song?
Each song is a portal. Between relationships, parts of the self, musical influences and diaspora generations. One song might emerge from a London jazz jam, another from a sunset in Montevideo, another might come from an intense dystopian dream. I don’t set out to plug one genre or language into another, but each story finds the ingredients it needs as it grows. A Nueva Canción Chilena melody my dad sang to overcome dictatorship might meet a violin ditty from an Irish folk session in my head while I’m getting sweaty at a queer rave.
Many of your songs are described as ‘dancescapes’ that tell a story. Can you walk me through the story or feeling behind one of the songs you’ll be playing at the Sonic wave gig?
Tonada Menguante begins in an immersive jungle, birds converse over the canopy, creatures croak through the thicket, your booty starts to tweak to the Colombian conga fills by Taty Tambo. But before you can float away 4 part harmonies drag you into the present and the drums kick us into tropical prog rock. Take I Will Make Space — it starts as a whisper of a promise, then suddenly you’re in this euphoric chorus, hundreds of voices insisting on their right to exist. For me it’s not just a dance track, it’s an initiation. You enter shy, you leave shining, like you’ve been touched by some ritual of joy and defiance.
Many of your lyrics focus on social justice and ‘unearthing invisibilised histories’ can you tell us about a specific story or history that you felt was important to share through your music?
Many Latinx mamas and papas I grew up around escaped fascism and neocolonial pillage, got to London only to work 3 cleaning jobs while raising a family, and still had the gumption and sense of justice to get involved in Unions, community organising, anti-austerity struggles for each other and for the wider British working class. I wrote Devora as an ode to them, for keeping the panamerican post-capitalist dream alive across continents and generations. Conversely, my a cappella salsa Pronte, is a shout out to my queer Latinx contemporaries, navigating our sometimes socially conservative diáspora, calling on our elders to support us to create ‘queer spaces that pulsate love’. Over these two songs I reconcile past, present and utopian future, to build identities that are plural and multiplicative, not vying for space but dancing a fiery tango.
The name of the band is Vientos, which means ‘winds’ in Spanish. What does this name mean to you and how does it relate to the music you create?
Winds move unseen but course through everything, soft as a sigh or fierce as a whirlwind. It was derived from the song ‘Vientos del Pueblo’ by revolutionary Chilean folk musician Victor Jara, which is a poetic cry against centuries of injustice that ends in hope and defiance. I hope music can be threaded with invisible forces that swell you with joy and incite you to action. I also feel the thrill and magnitude of a howling wind when I hear Inti-Illimani layer their voices in Andean revolutionary song.
You’ve been praised for keeping the folk flame alive, what’s a classic folk song or artist from either Latin America or British tradition that has been a major inspiration for you?
In South America I love the contrast between Mercedes Sosa and Violeta Parra, because the former was grandiose, rich, regal, eternal, while Violeta was reedy, earthy, direct and ephemeral. And yet between them, and the many shared songs they sang, they form a tapestry of dignity and melancholy, fragility and endurance. With bottomless metaphors and an abundance of philosophy.
Anne Briggs was my entry to British Isles and Irish folk. I didn’t grow up in that tradition, with few role models keeping it alive, though I do remember my first Ceilidh on a farm when I was 8 or so. Incidentally I came across Anne Briggs when I was living in Uruguay at 19, because the neo folk scene wasn’t very developed then like it is in Argentina, and so I was curious as to what new stories I could bring to the table.
I’m really glad to have discovered British and Irish folk and the folk scene, as it offers healthy ways to connect to indigeneity and everyday people’s histories on this island, in a time where identity teeters on a toxic tightrope. As such folk song and dance, ever the province of the disenfranchised and the powerless, has the power to re-root people in regional pride, centuries of workers’ resistance and land justice, oral histories of migration and resilience, and as such offer a vision of Britishness that celebrates diversity and the underdog, not upholds dominant power and divisive belonging.
For someone who’s never heard your music before what’s a good song or album to start with to get a feel for your sound?
From my a cappella album of joy and justice, start with track 1, Seeds are Sewing as it captures the album in three simple lines “seeds are sowing and buds are growing, I sew into you – you sew into me, ready for change!”. From my prog rock electronic material Johnny Barnes and its epic music video that’s been to 5 film festivals can take you on a folk fusion ride to genderqueer utopia. Strap in and enjoy.
I can’t wait to dance sing and storytell with the folks in Bungay and the glorious folks at Sonic Wave who have been pioneering across voices and art forms for a while! Sometimes the small town gigs are the best because you get that intimate energy and appreciation that is lost on the culturally spoiled urban sprawl.
Alex Etchart & Vientos will be at The Fisher Theatre on 27th September – go here for more information and tickets.
Interview by Hayley Clapperton
