Oriana Barbato
Hi, my name is Oriana Barbato. I am an electric bass player and a sound artist. As a sound artist I have been involved in several
projects. I’ve done music for Theatre, for Dance, I have pieces exhibited outside Canada, for example in Belfast last year. I
got invited to go and present one of my electro acoustic pieces for the International Computer Conference. The Sound Arts I got
into it in my years at York, I attended the York University for a Music degree and I got introduced into electro acoustic music,
Musique Concrète, which is a genre of electro acoustic music and what this current is about, basically it deals with sound more
than music. It’s not music that comes from instruments, it’s music that comes from every day sounds or music generated by
computers or digital oscillators as you call them.
I got really interested in that because it expands your knowledge of music, it takes you out of the norm. Usually when you talk
about music you think of a symphony or a song that can be sung or something that can be played, but this Sound Art is the total
opposite, as I said you work with sounds from everyday life and you put them together in a way that makes sense, in a way that
it can be presented as a musical piece. I’m always trying new things with different sounds.
I’m working now putting together a band that will incorporate that genre with Pop Music. I‘m trying to put together a band that
does Dance, mixed with Reggaeton, Batucada, which is a Brazilian Rhythm and some electronic components. So that should come your
way next year 2010, hopefully it will be put together by then.
I’ve also done sound tracks for video and short films for independent artists here in Toronto and it’s always a very interesting process where you sit with the artist
and you talk about the video or whatever the project is and you always try to find ways of connecting their ideas with the sounds
that you bring into the project.
As a bassist I’m working now with 3 projects. One of them is “Santerias”, which is a band that I’ve been involved with for the
last 6 years. I started with them as a guitar player and then discovered the bass and switched to the bass with them as well and
this band is a fusion of Latin music, with a little bit of Flamenco, a little bit of Bossa Nova and Hip Hop as well.
I’m also a member of a band called “Cathartic” that was born in BC. They have moved now to Toronto.
I’m also a member of a Punk Band, “The Johnnies”, and we play high energy Rock. And I find that my trajectory as a bass player
will be for life. I find myself always trying to improve my technique, every day I try to play as much as I can. And this takes
me back to my band that I’m working on, which by the way is called “Taxi Hotel”. Apart from becoming a better bass player with
this band I also want to take advantage from the fact that I’m a composer as well and I want to fuse that Latin component that
is not Salsa or Merengue that is something that you can call it urban, it’s that Hip Hop – Latin thing that is happening now and
I want to take that and combine it with Dance. It’s an idea that I got when I went last year to see “Bajofondo”, which is a band
that mixes Tango and Dance and I figured why not do the same but with Batucada and Reggaeton, which I love and is really cool,
rhythmic wise. So, hopefully that will become solidified next year.
And what else can I tell you about myself? Apart from al the projects that I have going, I’m working on a very interesting project
about a Chilean singer. Her name is Violeta Parra. She’s not alive at the moment, but she was very popular in Chile in the 60s.
She went around Chile collecting folk songs and interpreting them. She brought these songs into the Pop culture back in the 60s.
And I’m working with a colleague here in Toronto. Her name is Valentina Saavedra. And this is also a project that will happen next
year in March and we are working towards a show that will make tribute to Violeta Parra. I’m very excited. I’m the Musical
Director for that. The auditions for that will start soon. It’s going to be very exciting.
In the long run I see myself being really the best bass player that I can be and always trying to fuse rhythms. Many people are
doing that right now. And as a sound artist I’m always open to new projects.
I’m very good at crafting a piece for anyone that needs sound. I find that I can take advantage of that and share it with whoever
needs this service. I really see myself as a craft person.
Toronto is a great city for music Fusion to happen. So we’ll see what the future brings and keep on working hard. I say that to
every artist: “Success is like 95% hard work and 5% luck”. So with that in mind this is the end for me. I hope that support will
come, that’s another good thing about living in Toronto, with good support for the Arts. That’s about it. That’s who I am.