We had the honor of highlighting Morita Vargas as our Featured Artist for May. She is n experimental music producer and performer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has released two albums called "8" (Hidden Harmony Recordings - Estonia) and "Mandrágora" (Autogenesis Magazine - Germany), both linked to the world of ambient, dream pop and fantasy. She has also been part of renowned international festivals such as MUTEK (Canada), Marvin (Mexico), Rewire (Holland), Maintenant (France), INDEX (Brasil), Kiezsalon (Germany) and in top national venues in Argentina such as the Usina del Arte, Museum of Contemporary Art, Centro Cultural Kirchner and the Margarita Xirgu Theater, among others.
How did your journey with music begin? How did you get into music making?
I started making music in 2014, singing over friends' instrumental beats and then I began to explore the music production program Ableton Live and there I laid my first foundations. I recorded my voices with my cell phone in the form of voice notes and then when I bought my first microphone I explored recording multilayer voices and that universe fascinated me.
What’s your creative/ songwriting process?
I always start on a different path so sometimes something inspires me and I create a piano melody. Other times it helps me to sing first and then on top of that I add layers of different elements. The song ends up being composed as if it were a collage. Images inspire me a lot, I usually imagine sound as if they were images.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
Cocteaw Twins, Mazzy Star, Cocorosie, Bjork, Fever Ray, Clarice Linspector, Laurie Anderson, Maria Calas, and Yma Sumac.
You seem to be interested in many mediums of art. What draws you to this interdisciplinary approach to creativity?
Movies influence me a lot. I was always fascinated by soundracks. How to set moving images to music. Also the staging, the theatricality of things, the performance. Since I was a girl I always liked clothes, makeup, hairstyles. I was always fascinated by actresses and dancers. I read many books by many authors and I think everything intersects. I always felt very stimulated and today it is music but maybe tomorrow I will be creating other things.
What do you wish you'd known when you were an emerging artist?
You have to take the path alone, you have to be encouraged, knock on doors without shame, enter wherever you want with a firm step and be very specific with what you want and desire.
Why is collaboration with other women and gender minorities in the music industry important to you?
It is important because there are already too many straight men doing things and doing very well for them, but they always had privileges that we do not have; So it seems important to me to create a network and make our way. We are also more creative and talented than many other things that are successful. So if we come together to create we can do stimulating things for new generations with more open curiosities.
How is your European tour going? What are you most excited about?
What excites me most is seeing new places and new audiences. I will be in countries like Slovenia and Slovakia for the first time and I am very intrigued by how everything will be. I will give music production workshops and I am excited about it. I will also do a residency with other artists so what we can do gives me a lot of adrenaline.
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