2 September 2009
By Jonathan Jackson, Photography BY Chris Sataua
“Because of the bipolarization that exists between us as musicians, because of the differences that exist, we are poles apart. The ‘sala,’ where we come together and sit and have a dialogue, is the stage, where our music and instruments unite.” – Revuelta Sonora
Sala Bipolar is performing at Bar Fussion, an appropriate setting for a band featuring musicians whose two distinct styles have been fused together as one: Clara Grün, a prodigy of Nicaraguan music legend Carlos Mejía Godoy, with her poppy rock piano background and singer-songwriter mentality, and DJ Revuelta Sonora, an obsessive electronica producer, and gifted drummer with a lust for beats.
The yellow and red lights come alive, spinning back and forth like tiny over-caffeinated robots. A simple electronic drum loop breaks the silence. Ominous piano chords follow as Clara Grün’s distinct voice comes in crooning hauntingly as she sits behind rows of keyboards. Then at the precise moment, ‘crash,’ a relentless combination of musical body shots reverberate through the darkness as Revuelta Sonora assaults his drum set, taking the percussion from a backing element and bringing it into the foreground, filling out the body of the music as it permeates the thick Managua night.
Sala Bipolar formed in late 2006 after Neus, Revuelta’s wife and manager, suggested that collaboration between the pair of high-profile musicians could potentially be great, and if nothing else, interesting.
“She had no idea what type of music would come out. She just knew that me as a songwriter, and me as far as composition, as a singer and a piano player could pretty much fuse with Bikentios as a DJ and a sound engineer and create something particular. It was like a chemical experiment. Put two elements together and hope that it works out,” says Clara.
Revuelta sits in a chair at his studio in Espacio Sur. In front of him are several computer monitors, the screens filled with virtual knobs and levels, numbers and colors. To someone unaccustomed to music production software the whole thing is reminiscent of the endless chains of green numbers in The Matrix. But like the characters in that movie, Revuelta sees his world in the chaos. He sees his music.
Clara sees music too, but it’s all in her head. She sits next to him on the floor, her slender legs crossed, a small USB keyboard connected to Revuelta’s G5 Mac rests on her lap. He taps a key and the ‘boom-bap’ of a drum track fills the room. Clara focuses, seeing the music, counting it in her head. She plays a melody on the keyboard, stops, scrunches up her face and asks him to take it from the top. He does. She tries again. Nope. One more time… The process continues until Clara seems to find something she likes. Revuelta seems less enthusiastic.
“It sounds weird,” he says, eyes fixed on the monitor.
“Well isn’t that the idea?” she replies, tilting her head up at him. Revuelta glances down at her, then back at the screen, chuckling a little as he runs his hand over his trademark baby afro.
Over the past two years the idea behind the band has been evolving constantly. When the duo first began recording, Clara would present her songs and piano harmonies to Revuelta. With his expertise as a sound engineer and producer, he was responsible for crafting the beats through the use of drum loops, samples and DJing. The two halves worked separately. Tracks were bounced back and forth, with the other person taking a song, working on it and bringing it back.
Over time, Sala Bipolar began creating songs together and as the pair learned more about each other musically, collaboration became easier. They realized that the process didn’t have to be complicated to be good. Revuelta describes it as coming to the understanding “that simple things also have taste and flavor.”
Working together the boundaries of creation became blurred as the two sides found their styles and personalities mixing. Revuelta learned more about composing songs, as opposed to simply making beats. Likewise, Clara credits the experience with helping her to “separate herself from herself,” by leading her to accept that as a songwriter every song she writes doesn’t need to make her bleed or cry over her piano. It opened her up to the freedom of being able to write songs that are casual and fun or even sensational.
The two musicians say that learning from one another has made working together much more interesting. It has also made the music more interesting, allowing the group’s sound to develop organically.
“Now that we’re more focused on the concept of Sala Bipolar, it’s sprung out naturally,” says Clara. “We’ve had no intention of making it this way, or making it sound that way. The fact that (Revuelta) is now playing the drums in the concerts and that I’m playing the guitar changed the original songs that we made in the first couple of months. They developed their own personality… they’re not better than the other ones, they’re evolved.”
A similar statement can be made regarding Revuelta Sonora and Clara Grün. Through the process of collaboration, the two artists have come together as a group and developed a musical personality. Sala Bipolar is not better than either of them individually, it’s them together, evolved.
Sala Bipolar’s self-titled debut CD is scheduled to be released mid 2009
in Bambu Beach Club this Sunday!