Jorge Villamizar: “Our songs are more powerful than Bacilos”

bacilli, the group that sounded since the end of the 90s with hits like My first million, Tobacco and Chanel and Caraluna, will be presented today at Casa Grande (Avenida Beni, between sixth and seventh ring), as part of his tour called Toca Madera Tour, which has been carried out by several Latin American countries.

The Colombian Jorge Villamizar and the Brazilian André Lópes They strongly resumed the group, which was founded in 1997 together with the Puerto Rican José Javier Freire, who left the project in 2021.

The group will bring to the Bolivian public his usual hits but he will also sing his recent productions, such as Toca Madera. EL DEBER spoke with Villamizar before the shows.

_How do you rate the experience with Bacillus?

It has been an experience that one day I will write in a book. It has not been something planned, but rather it has been taking place and we are surprised at how long it has lasted and the validity it has in youth. It’s something we haven’t gotten used to, we’ll see how far it goes, meanwhile we keep enjoying and working.

_What has been the key to get to where you are?

Work according to the music. There has always been a genuine search for one’s own sound. That gave us longevity, but also today, because we are not stuck in one era, it has given us our own identity that has kept us connected with youth.

_That can be seen in Toca Madera, a fresh sound with pop airs that can be from any era…

The songs that I write can only take me an hour or a week, but today’s is more modern, it is written in work teams that contribute, from the engineer to the producer, everyone has an opinion. Knock on wood It’s an exercise in all of that.

_What is it like to work with André and what is the basis of the creative work between the two?

Well, we make a good team, we have our own macro functions, but André tends to be a very mentally organized person. Everything is like a company, André is more focused on reading the contracts or seeing where the money is and I am more focused on creatively seeking a direction and a voice.

_In Bacilos the mix of cultures always stood out, the result of which is reflected in the songs…

Of course, that was always very important, although it has been a bit expensive for me, because in Colombia they don’t see me as a Colombian artist at all. I am part of a larger vision as Bacilli. I believe in the Latin American vision, I believe that we waste time on many things instead of thinking of a more serious political agenda, less demagogic and more pragmatic, that unifies us. I feel at home in any country on the continent, I don’t feel like a foreigner. The light is in the unification.

_This is the moment?

I don’t know, when a cause is politicized, there is a tendency to see it as something that is born from the left, when it should be seen as something of the essence of the people. It is happening even in negative ways, from the illegality of some organizations, such as the drug cartels. If you stop to think, they have already unified, they do not see borders, they work calmly in Bolivia, Colombia or Mexico and you do not have to be from a particular country to work with them.

_But it can also be unified from music…

And it’s happening too. Berklee graduates are no longer divided into countries, they are divided into graduations. They are small musical mafias that are quite united; then, they are passing and transmitting the things they do. Because your messages no longer belong to a single television channel or network, but travel freely from one country to another.

_During the pandemic, the use of social networks, such as TikTok, gained strength. What did Bacillus do not to be left out?

The algorithms have been very generous with Bacilli. A lot of the reason we’re here is because around the time we were apart, Spotify came along, which is a platform where we have impressive numbers. Our songs are more powerful than Bacillus. We don’t have as many followers on our social networks as our songs do on streaming platforms. This new world keeps us alive, we stay afloat thanks to algorithms.

bacilli, the group that sounded since the end of the 90s with hits like My first million, Tobacco and Chanel and Caraluna, will be presented today at Casa Grande (Avenida Beni, between sixth and seventh ring), as part of his tour called Toca Madera Tour, which has been carried out by several Latin American countries.

The Colombian Jorge Villamizar and the Brazilian André Lópes They strongly resumed the group, which was founded in 1997 together with the Puerto Rican José Javier Freire, who left the project in 2021.

The group will bring to the Bolivian public his usual hits but he will also sing his recent productions, such as Toca Madera. EL DEBER spoke with Villamizar before the shows.

_How do you rate the experience with Bacillus?

It has been an experience that one day I will write in a book. It has not been something planned, but rather it has been taking place and we are surprised at how long it has lasted and the validity it has in youth. It’s something we haven’t gotten used to, we’ll see how far it goes, meanwhile we keep enjoying and working.

_What has been the key to get to where you are?

Work according to the music. There has always been a genuine search for one’s own sound. That gave us longevity, but also today, because we are not stuck in one era, it has given us our own identity that has kept us connected with youth.

_That can be seen in Toca Madera, a fresh sound with pop airs that can be from any era…

The songs that I write can only take me an hour or a week, but today’s is more modern, it is written in work teams that contribute, from the engineer to the producer, everyone has an opinion. Knock on wood It’s an exercise in all of that.

_What is it like to work with André and what is the basis of the creative work between the two?

Well, we make a good team, we have our own macro functions, but André tends to be a very mentally organized person. Everything is like a company, André is more focused on reading the contracts or seeing where the money is and I am more focused on creatively seeking a direction and a voice.

_In Bacilos the mix of cultures always stood out, the result of which is reflected in the songs…

Of course, that was always very important, although it has been a bit expensive for me, because in Colombia they don’t see me as a Colombian artist at all. I am part of a larger vision as Bacilli. I believe in the Latin American vision, I believe that we waste time on many things instead of thinking of a more serious political agenda, less demagogic and more pragmatic, that unifies us. I feel at home in any country on the continent, I don’t feel like a foreigner. The light is in the unification.

_This is the moment?

I don’t know, when a cause is politicized, there is a tendency to see it as something that is born from the left, when it should be seen as something of the essence of the people. It is happening even in negative ways, from the illegality of some organizations, such as the drug cartels. If you stop to think, they have already unified, they do not see borders, they work calmly in Bolivia, Colombia or Mexico and you do not have to be from a particular country to work with them.

_But it can also be unified from music…

And it’s happening too. Berklee graduates are no longer divided into countries, they are divided into graduations. They are small musical mafias that are quite united; then, they are passing and transmitting the things they do. Because your messages no longer belong to a single television channel or network, but travel freely from one country to another.

_During the pandemic, the use of social networks, such as TikTok, gained strength. What did Bacillus do not to be left out?

The algorithms have been very generous with Bacilli. A lot of the reason we’re here is because around the time we were apart, Spotify came along, which is a platform where we have impressive numbers. Our songs are more powerful than Bacillus. We don’t have as many followers on our social networks as our songs do on streaming platforms. This new world keeps us alive, we stay afloat thanks to algorithms.

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