Karina Castillo (voice), Dan Joe Salazar (keyboard) and Jose Luis Gonzales ‘El Alcalde’ (guitar) are the faces of Saint Woodthe group of young people between 23 and 25 years old who live in Chaclacayo, but who have managed to get thousands of compatriots to give contemporary Peruvian music a chance.
Regarding the release of their first album “I already have nostalgia for conversations I had yesterday”, the centenarian musicians talked in an exclusive interview with La República about the experience of seeing how their songs attract music lovers of different ages. In addition, the artists spoke about the recent death of Walther Lozada, musical director of Armonía 10. The trio made it clear that his art is based on cumbia and chicha.
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How was Santa Madero born?
The story of Saint Wood It started as a game, but, shortly after, it became a mission with planned objectives. Karina, along with the group’s manager, Aura Buntinx, and Dan, said goodbye to adolescence with the desire to start making music just “to pass the time”. However, it did not take long for the first presentations to arrive and, in this way, a new character to join the group.
Jose Luis: “I remember that, when the Instagram stories began to appear, I saw them (Karina and Dan) in a bar in Chaclacayo. Because I knew (Dan), I told him: ‘I want to be in the band.’ We agreed that I would play the guitar. Then we decided it was time to play more in Lima. We needed a drummer and a bass player, and we wanted them to be from Lima because we were aiming to play more places within the city. That’s how we met Rodolfo Rueda and Francisco Zaragoza, bassist and drummer, respectively. He was very nice. Now there are only three of us, but we remember those moments fondly.”
Karina: “The name ‘Santa Madero’ came about because Dan, Aura and I were meeting with some friends in the San Juan de Chaclacayo park. We had already decided to form the band. We were drinking a little, it was the weekend. Suddenly, we passed a wooden cross in the street and a friend dramatically shouted: ‘Look, a holy tree.’ Then Dan opened his eyes and said, ‘that’s the name.’ We changed it to Santa Madero and it stayed that way. We liked the way it looked written.”
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On his debut album “I already have nostalgia for conversations I had yesterday”
The ‘boys’ from Chaclacayo released their first album last June: “I’m already nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday”. With only nine songs, they left local music experts speechless and delighted a young fanatic, eager to refresh her ears with new national idols.
Karina: “The songs began to do very well on social networks. Until we played live, we were not aware of the impact it had caused. We found out when we did the album presentation concert. All tickets sold out in 22 hours. We saw too many new faces. It was a larger audience. Actually, our age and up. Now we saw people who were 17 or 18 years old. (…) Experiencing the ‘fanaticism’ of such young people is something else, it really excites us”.
Santa Madero is aware of what it has caused in the local scene. Its members, and with good reason, have a well-defined position regarding the diffusion given to the new generations of musicians in the different media.
Dan: “It’s going to collapse at some point. There will be so many young and new bands, and it will be shameful that these proposals are not given space. You realize that it is growing. Sometimes, by prioritizing the commercial, they are closed to give opportunity to the new ones. Until they see that it is profitable, they are not going to do it”.
From Armonía 10 to Santa Madero: what unites 2 musical generations?
Instead of creating more separation between those who have been making music in our country for years and those who are emerging in the field, the members of Saint Wood clarify that there is something that inevitably unites these two groups: inspiration. For the musicians of this indie group, the iconic artists of the music that represents us, such as chicha and cumbia, are figures to look to when it comes to making new music.
Karina: “I wanted to mention that we really like the music that is made in Peru. Not only from our generation, but also everything that our parents and grandparents listened to. There are artists who are referents for Santa Madero. Personally, I really like chicha. I can mention the Shapis, Sally Doll and Milly Princess. They are references where to look when I need inspiration. Specifically, for the song ‘I can’t believe you’ve made it this far,’ we referenced Pasteles Verdes.”
Later, the vocalist made it clear that, despite the death of Walther Lozada, the music of Armonía 10 and other famous artists of this genre will continue in the future generations of the field. In the case of Karina, having had the opportunity to meet and interact with referents of music made in our country marked a milestone in her personal and musical history.
“Right now we are young people who make music and the greats of Peruvian music, whom we admire, are leaving (referring to the death of Walther Lozada). Time passes and generations change. The post is passing. It is the natural course of life. We had the opportunity to play with Los Mirlos in the edition of the Selvámonos festival, in 2019. It was like meeting your greatest idol. It was amazing and exchanging words. They called us ‘naughty’. We respect and look at projects before us. We don’t do cumbia or chicha, but we are in the same place. We feel responsible for what the people want to say”, revealed the singer.
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