Originality has always been a driving force in Kerpel’s music, from his time spent producing the scores for the alternative theatre of De La Guarda and Fuerza Bruta, to the alt-folk of Carnabilito. “I am interested by things which are original and unexplored. When I wrote Carnabailito, it seemed to me to be very original and the same goes for King Coya.” Kerpel’s fascination with genre cross-pollination led to the birth of the King Coya alter-ego. Initially created as a name for his sideline in DJing traditional cumbia from Colombia and Latin America, King Coya soon evolved into something more substantial. The inclusion of a laptop allowed Kerpel to experiment further with the songs he was mixing: “I started to add beats and was doing my own mash-ups, from this it became something more personal.”

Despite only two albums in eight years, alongside the creation of King Coya, Gaby Kerpel has not stopped developing his musical idea

It was through his appearances at the weekly ZZK club nights in Buenos Aires that the material for King Coya’s début release began to take shape. The community of artists behind the forward thinking club night and label earned a reputation globally for it’s open minded fusion of traditional music, in particular cumbia, with hip-hop, dancehall and modern dance music: “It didn’t exist previously so at this time we were all trying new things and taking the music in different directions.” Coya’s own cumbia explorations were perfect for the label’s unwritten manifesto and the forthcoming album, Cumbias de Villa Donde, a selection of mash-ups, remixes and original compositions, will be ZZK Records sixth full release.

Despite only two albums in eight years, alongside the creation of King Coya, Gaby Kerpel has not stopped developing his musical ideas. In 2007 he returned to the music from Carnabailito, using live instrumentation and sampling techniques to dissect and then reconstruct the songs before live audiences. This year will also see Kerpel contribute to an album with famed producer and composer Gustavo Santaolla in a group called Terraplen. Were it not for Santaolla, Carnabailito may never have seen the light of day. A long time friend and mentor, Santaolla convinced Kerpel that his songwriting was good enough to merit a release and offered to produce it himself. As Kerpel says Terraplen “was Santaolla’s idea: basically there are three producers and a host of invited musicians and singers. It will be a mix of Argentine folklorica and electronica and should come out around September.” The King Coya album, Cumbias de Villa Donde is set to be released through ZZK Records this summer.

Links:
www.zzkrecords.com
www.myspace.com/kingcoya

Photo by Noah Greenberg