In Poble Nou (Barcelona), the census of the 22@ technological district alternates industrial warehouses, garages and cafes with exorbitant prices with veteran local businesses. There, the visitor who examines the gastronomic offer of the Thai Petit Bangkok is in for a surprise when, turning his gaze towards the opposite sidewalk, he sees the singer Trueno in a booth, like a showcase. “We were looking for a headquarters for Folch Studio and the production company White Horse, after refurbishing this warehouse there was a space with a glass wall facing the street and we decided to turn it into a gallery,” says Rafa Martínez, founder of Gallery Sessions, the video format in a booth that, with only two white panels and a spotlight, has attracted artists from all over the world, from Nathy Peluso to Rigoberta Bandini, including Morad, J Balvin, Judeline, Duki with Bizarrap, Julieta Venegas, Ana Mena, Rusowsky, Natalia Lacunza, Young Miko or Mushka.
Albert Folch Rubio and Rafa Martínez had been at the helm of Folch Studio since 2004. “We were an editorial agency, but we evolved as we edited our own content,” explains Martínez. Their entrepreneurial ambition and the rise of audiovisual led them to create the production company White Horse in 2017, which was joined by Pol González, another “naive”: “We started with other people’s productions, but from the beginning this was a vehicle for our own project,” González points out. With the production company and studio up and running, they decided to move to a new space on Calle d’Àvila, 84, now the creative centre Acid House. “It was going to be a block of flats, but the developer backed out at the last minute,” they recall. After a facelift, in February 2020 they opened the Window Gallery, an exhibition space where they hosted projects such as Front Conic, by designer Massimiliano Moro, for the Llum BCN festival.
“A month after opening, lockdown and teleworking arrived. We wanted to give the project a new twist, for Acid House to be a cultural and creative reference in Barcelona,” says González. The change of direction would be aimed at the music industry, but at the White Horse production company they were not clear about the focus, “we preferred to move away from music videos, which is the easiest option, and we thought about doing something in the space we had, in the Window Gallery.” It was the summer of 2020, marked by the pandemic, the limit of chairs at the tables, the safety distance. It was the summer of reunion and The meeting, by Alizzz and Amaia.
“We were amazed, it was the first session (November 2020) and it had 100,000 views,” González says. Getting to the final design was not easy, “aesthetically we tend to leave everything very clean, but the street generated a lot of noise, so we put up the white panels and a good spotlight.” The public response was good, they had built the ideal setting but they needed the musical criteria to fill it and, with that purpose, Genís Pena arrived: “I thought it was an incredible idea, in Spain this format did not exist. We had to give it consistency, selecting artists who forged the identity of the Gallery label,” he says.
The Gallery Sessions team chooses the guest artists based on current events, artistic contribution to the project and availability. From the moment Nathy Peluso said she wanted to do a Gallery Sessions until she recorded it, Little girl This June, more than two years have passed. “It was very difficult for us to get Sen Senra to come (It will be worth it to meJune 2021), we spent six months in conversation with Soto Asa and La Zowi (SmartphoneJuly 2021) and the same with Morad (Thoughts, January dand 2021), “But it was worth it because the hardest ones to get were also the most iconic,” adds Pena. “It’s not just about going for the big signings, you have to find the right song and the perfect moment for each artist, so that both they and we can play this ace well. Also, this format doesn’t favor everyone,” he adds.
Singing alone, between two panels and in front of a mirror-like glass is very demanding for both established artists and emerging talents. “The format is quite rigid, but it also allows you to create very interesting energies by breaking the rules a little,” says Pena. Breaking the rules resulted in the session of rapper Álvaro Díaz, premiering Slowly a year ago. “The intro “It was musical and the ending was explosive, we wanted to do something special and play with the outside. He starts outside the booth, with a camera attached to his chest, and interacts with people on the street who then join the session,” he adds.
The recordings last four hours on average. “It seems simple, but it takes a lot of work. There are people like Nathy Peluso, Tokisha or Manuel Turizo who give you the essence you are looking for in the first take, and other musicians who require more accompaniment and trust until they get that spark that makes the sessions interesting,” they explain. For Pena, the Gallery Sessions connect the audience directly with the musicians, who are sincere, unlike in a normal music video.
Looking to the future, the question for the Gallery Sessions team is not who will come, but where they will go: “We have become a reference project in the Spanish-speaking world, this is our market. If bringing Peso Pluma has opened the American market for us, what would happen if we had a Gallery in Miami or Mexico?”, asks Martínez. Folch Studio and White Horse have opened another Acid House in Madrid and now they intend to conquer new musical scenes and look for emerging talents, always safeguarding their identity: “The sessions are the tip of the iceberg of a more ambitious project. There has been a conceptual leap, Gallery Sessions is no longer a format, but a header, and this opens up a new dimension for us.”
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