Peruvian Inspirations

Hi, I'm Katie. 

A little bit about me:

Music and travel have been two big inspirations for me from a very young age; in this project I hope to combine them to create a dynamic video to inspire others who feel similar.

From age eight I've played sax - I'm now eighteen. I took my grades up to five, then stopped due to exams. Although going back to grades doesn't seem like it will happen, I really do wish to expand my musical knowledge. And what's better than to travel the world and explore music that inspires other cultures?

Where I want to go:

I first would love to travel to Cuba, and explore Havana, however, this will be brief compared to the few months I'd spend in Peru. In Peru I hope to start from Lima, and travel down the coast, then cut across to Cusco, then the Amazon, and finally back to Lima. This will be my first big independant journey. 

Along  the way I hope to explore different areas, urban and rural, and see what music inspires a culture other than our own. As I go, I'd love to meet new people a record what inspires them, and what music mean to them; then mash it altogether in a video to say thanks to you guys!

Then what?

I hope to learn from the music recorded and transpose it for saxophone, experiment with the sounds and hopefully create something wonderful. 

Any funding will be put towards the video making, the costs of seeing musicians, and any spare will be donated to a charity that I hope to end my journey volunteering at.

I hope to inspire others to see other culture's music. I think in the Western society  we don't get exposed to music from other cultures as much as we should - especially my generation. I see people who listen to mainstream music and live by that... and there's nothing wrong with that, except most of it seems so superficial to me. It lacks character and most of it is a face for the public; how to achieve the current 'cool'.

Why?

Apart from being personally inspired by this, I think countries like Peru and Cuba have economic and political problems that are reflected in the music. This type of music seems so raw, and it's as if they are bearing their soul to try and achieve some explanation of the events that surround them; especially in Cuba. Of course, this is only what I've read and seen in video's etc. This is why I would love to see it for myself. 

I also want to do this for myself; I'd love to record the music I hear and transpose it to sax; hopefully creating something very interesting. 

I'm a versitile musician - I play a little bit of everything - but hopefully with inspiration from countries such and Cuba and Peru, I can recreate a sound that shows the talent of musicians from the otherside of the world, but stylised more to Western tastes.

So, if you want to help me get lost in a world of strange language, music and culture; inspire like-minded people, especially people of my generation who are stuck in the main stream trends, then please donate or comment! Any ideas are welcome. Thanks a lot for reading.