S1: One of Tijuana's most important cultural icons , hit a milestone this year.
S2: Tijuana's own Grammy nominated band , Naughty Collective , reached 25 years of professional career.
S1: And last March , we were there at the legendary Las Vegas Dance Hall , where the band celebrated in true Nordic fashion with a brassy tuba and piercing accordion spliced by pulsing digital beats.
S2: A norteno colliding with the rain. For those living under a rock , Nautica is a Tijuana electronic collective that came to world prominence with their groundbreaking combination of the regional norteno genre with techno , electronica.
S1: Norteno technology or Nordic. The result is a distinctly familiar yet seductive rhythmic sound that not only put Tijuana on the international stage , but helped consolidate the city as a hub for arts and cultural trends , many of which were set or influenced by the collective.
S2: The Party at Las Vegas was a concert for the ages.
S1: Northcutt deployed a full band set of brass , strings and signature accordion , along with their trusty drum machines and samplers. The main stage had two massive LED screens that dramatically framed the elevated platforms for each of the group members , Ramon and Pepe. Each dressed in what seemed to be astronaut suits , and below them a full band routed the performance with acoustic elements.
S2: The band packed the venue with concert goers from different generations bumping and dancing to their well-known hits.
S1: But when the speakers started blasting the first beats of the timeless. Tijuana sound machine. The crowd lost it. The hall was set ablaze with the cheers and euphoric woos of the crowd.
S2: It was an unforgettable night for those who were there to see it.
S1: Since the launch of their first album titled Nautica. Remixes.
S2: Remixes.
S1: Founding members. Pepe , most.
S2: Known by his stage name Foosball.
S1: And Ramon Amezcua.
S2: Known by his stage name Bostic.
S1: Have kept busy creating rich sonic landscapes and collaborating with artists across genres and artistic disciplines , from museum installations to feature films.
S2: To this day , they continue to defy obsolete ness by constantly reinventing themselves , garnering nominations , awards and recognition.
S1: They operate from Tijuana , where we join them to reflect on 25 years of their professional careers , how they blazed the trail for new artists to challenge traditional genres.
S2: If this is your first time tuning in to this season , we are showcasing stories of visionaries and shapers of the Borderlands. Today's episode is all about how North X shaped the cultural landscape of Tijuana , and the tip of the hat to one of the city's most important cultural icons. Stay tuned.
S1: From KPBS. This is the port of entry.
S2: Where we tell crossborder stories that connect us.
S1: I'm Alan Lilienthal.
S2: And I'm Natalia Gonzalez.
S1: You are listening to Port of Entry.
S2: Alan , our producer , Julio , met both Pepe and Ramon at Ramon's home in Otay.
S1: Ramon greeted us at the edge of his garage. Once inside , he led us through his house to a studio. The entrance was decked with nautical memorabilia. In his studio , the walls were covered with all sorts of sound machines and synthesizers. It gave you the feeling of being in a spaceship with knobs and buttons literally everywhere.
S2: We pulled out our new six channel zoom recorder. And with Alan's help , they set up the On the go podcast , puesto.
S1: Our makeshift interview pop up.
S2: Then we got to our questions , starting with the big one.
S3: Pero ya tenemos otros diez anos antes haciendo musica electronica. Entonces creo ha sido una una de bastante nutria de ciudades tostadas discos collaborations Y aqui vamos aqui seguimos.
S1: Pepe reflected that 25 years flew by. He describes it as an odyssey of creativity , putting records together , touring cities and many , many collaborations.
S4: Pues la tecnologia , Los avances todo lo q estas y a parte de nuestra ciudad de alguna manera proyectos lo vimos nuestra ciudad y se ha hecho en cada uno de nuestros discos , ya con norteno antes de norte.
S1: Ramon chimed in , stating that in their case , technology , the vibrancy of Tijuana and the city's dynamic culture have fed their inspiration throughout this 25 plus year journey.
S2: But let's go back to the beginning , to the turn of the millennium , when Nordic first became Nordic , before there was Fusible and Bostic.
S1: You see , Pepe and Ramon both led diverse professional lives before the conception of the Nordic collective. Pepe was a budding systems engineer turned 3D graphic artist , and Ramon lived in a seemingly distant reality as a dentist. But both had taken a keen attraction to technology and synthesizers. In the early 2000. Nortel played some of Mexico's biggest stages toward the world got nominated for Grammys. And to think this was all happening while Rahman's other career was thriving.
S4: Dentistry at the time was very good here in Tijuana. I used to have a lot , a lot of work. So the electronic music was like a side project , like a hobby.
S1: That's a clip of Ramon's own port of entry episode from some years ago. In it , he goes into detail on what music opened the door for him to delve into electronic music. He found himself gravitating towards records that had some level of electronic instrumentation going on.
S4: Bands like Tangerine Rain , Emerson. Pink Floyd.
S1: But Ramon says his bona fide love affair with electronic music began with a song called Autobahn by Kraftwerk.
S4: I didn't know where that sounds came from. Only that. That that sounds. It sounds like from space. Mostly from the future.
S1: Those sounds of the future. Synthesizers , drum machines , weird effects. Completely fascinated him. He was hooked. If you haven't checked out this episode , it's one of my favorites. We'll leave the link in the description.
S2:
S1: Anyway , Pepe and Ramon's common love for technology and synthesizers built the foundation for their collaboration and eventually the birth of the Nordic sound. But if Pippa had to pinpoint one moment that sparked the birth of Nordic , he would say it all began at a wedding where a norteno band was performing to liven up the festive atmosphere.
S3: Rapido sa de la verdad fueron Como unas three semanas antes yo estaba una fiesta tipico mexicana de una boda.
S2: Pepe mentioned that he was stuck seated next to a norteno band.
S3: A lado de la entonces. Yo la verdad estaba en la musica norteno. Este me gusta mucho menos.
S1: Pepe confessed he never liked norteno.
S2:
S1:
S2: You would think he would be all about norteno.
S1: Well , it did grow on him.
S2:
S5: Go ahead.
S1: He was stuck sitting next to the norteno band at his sister's wedding. And since he was stuck there. He embraced the moment and started appreciating the sounds , the beats , the textures. When this idea struck him.
S3: Up ! Aqui. Cuatro horas. Como mi cerebro ? Casey. Casey. No ! Como estas ? Carolla's con algun efecto. Con un delay. Con un reverb. Voice. Accordion. Si se processor. Processor. Vos estado de YOLO Como un filtro y me parecia quieren ideal.
S1: If these traditional sounds were put through some processing , like reverb or delay , he thought to himself , how would they sound ? It could lead to something entirely new.
S3: Ya esta ideas y entonces.
S1: He floated this eureka moment to a friend at the wedding and the friend laughed and reacted with your drunk after hearing the idea.
S2: Despite initial skepticism to his idea. Pepe trusted his gut , so he went with it. He even tried hiring the same norteno band that played in his sister's wedding. But it was out of his budget.
S3: See ? Quantum Cobra. Why me ? Cobra ? No se cobra van asi Como si fueron atacar en otra boda. No obviamente no tenian presupuesto Y ya una una amigo tenia.
S1: As luck would have it , though , a friend with a recording studio hooked him up with free studio time and connections to different banda players and tapes.
S3: Practicamente varias cosas entonces graves muchos instruments separate y todo.
S2: And so the first banda recordings were ready to be mixed with electronica. He took those recordings and experimented at his home studio.
S3: La Casa para poner lo junto con un disco , minimal techno para sonar y luego ya mettre en la casa ritmo.
S1: Once the first demo started to come out , Pepe was excited for heat concocted. He called Rahman and told him about what he had come. Up.
S3: Up. With.
S1: With.
S2: But Ramon was skeptical. Ramon.
S3: Ramon. La casa. Ya tenia madame de todo. Esto es Como la familia.
S2: No one said Pepe's. Ramon heard the first tracks.
S1: He was blown away.
S2: After hearing those first tracks. Ramon's reaction to Pepe's early experiments transition from disbelief to excitement over its potential.
S1: The seed had been planted.
S3: Tenemos el original ha sido las Emilia del sonido norte.
S2: That moment was indeed the spark that ignited North Tech's revolutionary sound.
S1: It wasn't just a trendy fad , but a bold sound that took the music scene by storm. Around that time , in the late 2000 , Tijuana faced a wave of violence that paralyzed the city and forced businesses to close. It was a bleak time to party in the open , and many were forced to do so underground. Northfork emerged despite the hopelessness , catalyzing a rebirth of the city's music scene and as a cultural rebirth of the city as well.
S3: Algunos Como Como se empieza a reinvented Como en el dos , mil dos y empezar , en la unos clubs empezamos a tocar otra vez Como se empezar ya ya un dos mil ocho exploitative con varios espacios no de la musica electronica y comienza a una nueva escena.
S1: This new scene was an indicator of Tijuana's cultural blooming that grew in part with North's rise and cut against the narrative that the city was just a cartel wasteland. Nautica stood out and by consequence , put Tijuana in the global music scene.
S2: The new Tijuana Brass.
S1: Is what some music critics called it , alluding to Herb Alpert's legendary band. News outlets from all over the world wanted to catch a glimpse of what was happening in Taiwan.
S6: We're talking to some friends of mine collective based out of Tijuana.
S7: De México , Tengo Norte Collective , The Norte Collective , presenta.
S8: Funciona Musica electronica con musica populaire del Norte mexicano.
S9: Han sido un party. Aguas en la zona electronica mexicana.
S1: Norte evolution became so intricately interwoven with the cultural and musical landscape of Tijuana that the sound became inseparable from the city's identity. Tijuana itself became as much an instrument in North Texas music as the technology they used. Igual.
S4: Igual. No. Siempre. Nuevas tecnologias nuevas ideas. Y también creo Los standards de musica en su vida muchisimo en el aspecto del impacto tienen las frecuencia.
S2: Ellos New technologies give you new ideas , Rahman says , highlighting the continuous cycle of innovation that technology brings to North Tech's music creation and vision.
S4: In Aspecto creative composition , eau de aiport sino mas todos en el aspecto calidad o del efecto Q causa esas productions en la gente sobre todo en vivo.
S1: Ramon says that every advance in tech is integrated into the hardware of new music making machines , and those machines.
S2: Like synthesizers and samplers.
S1: Become co-creators in a sense. Each machine , with its own personality and mood , influences where the song ultimately goes.
S2:
S3:
S1: Pippin notes that synthesizers often guide their projects.
S2: From scoring a film to soloists.
S1: Yielding unexpected outcomes that evolve into new DJ sets , Nordic tracks , or solo DJ projects.
S2: So in a sense , the machines ultimately drive the creative process.
S3: Vamos algunos o nuestras casas de la scirocco o la nueve y la terceiro tres y otros synthetic doors. Entonces vamos con ciertas cosas entonces ya cuando.
S1: As they play an experiment with their different synthesizers and samplers for , say , a concert or an exhibition , new ideas and sounds start surfacing.
S3: Siempre estamos en las maquinas. Este una maquina de repente puede hacer algunos unidos y al algunas atmospheres Q esa mismos atmosphere. Esos unidos o melodious Q comienza salir t dicen VA hacer para hacer para otro proyecto.
S2: You might have an idea of where to go. Purposes. But the machine is telling you to go somewhere else as different sounds come out from these interactions and experiments.
S1: This ongoing exploration of new musical territories exemplifies the adaptive creativity that is characterized them. Over the years.
S2: Nordics reach has been far and wide as they collect quite the roster of appearances.
S1: Including a Y2K defined celebration to ring in the 21st century in the iconic Festival of Lights that took place in Mexico City's own mythical plaza.
S3: El Zocalo mundial de este concert también y luego de Japan tuvimos una de todas las puerta del Palo Alto , mille feuille del dos cinco in Japan.
S1: At one point , they were Mexico's most sought after electronic groups , receiving invitations from around the world.
S2: From Japan and Milan to Shanghai and Barcelona , among many other cities around the. World.
S1: World. Notably , over a decade ago , they delivered an unforgettable performance at Coachella , featuring an exclusive stage dedicated solely to them , where Nordic members rotated appearances throughout the night.
S2: They even headlined the opening party to the Pan American Games in 2011. Shanghai.
S3: Shanghai. Milan. Entonces eso también es importante si bueno Los americanos también a ver Cerrado Los Juegos Bueno. La apertura de Los jogos para americanos y en un estadio.
S2: Pepin noted these milestones not only launch Nortel's unique sound to the world , but also paved the way for more bands to emerge with their own take on the Nordic style.
S1: Some being as bold as trying to carve a new path into the post Nordic era , as other bands would blend other Latin American sounds like salsa and cumbia with other versions of electronic music.
S2: But that will be part of a different episode.
S1: Wink , wink.
S2: Stay tuned for our season of music of the Borderlands coming next year.
S1: What is undeniable is that part of Tijuana's musical identity has been shaped by Nordic , and we wondered how people felt about it. So we set out to ask folks about that at one of their concerts in downtown Tijuana.
S2: On this occasion , Nordic closed at the state's tourism expo that takes place each year. And this time , Nautica shared the stage with Badger's classical orchestra.
S10: Back to California.
S1: When we asked concert goers , we got a varied array of responses.
S11: No sabia realmente de ellos.
S2: That's Juan from Chiapas , who had never heard of them but enjoyed the unique combination of the sounds of the north of Mexico mixed with electronica.
S11: Mucho la combination de la parte de. La musica. Entonces esa combination. Yo creo q es aqui en el norte.
S1: And longtime listener Cristal appreciated how they've incorporated different aspects of the Tijuana folklore.
S2: From the stage setup to the graphics that were displayed on the LED screens behind them.
S8: Combining Como Los concepts en el contexto tanto a nivel social musicale , las imagenes , la production de las imagenes estaba con La Jolla y si transmit tenemos entonces no se creo varios aspectos de la cultura de Tijuana condensate musica electronica y también con musica folklorico de la region Taiwan.
S2: Dances like Cristal passionately pour their hearts into sounds they feel truly represents them.
S1: A sound or beat that echoes the spirit of their city , a rhythm that turns a place into their home. For Ramon and Pepe , it's deeply rewarding and humbling to know that when people think of Tijuana , neurotic often comes to mind , first becoming synonymous with the city's own unique voice.
S4: Varios amigos estan en la musica electronica. En otro otro ciudad a veces dice nada Tijuana music. Electronica Norte. Entonces si es Como un referent nos da gusto y nos gustaria también escuchar a alguien nuevo aparte. Nosotros hay mucha gente nuevo. Pero digamos tengan Como un referent.
S1: To them it's about creating a legacy that resonates beyond their sound. It's about marking an era and opening the door for new pioneers of the city and the ever evolving music of Tijuana.
S2: We'll be back after a short break.
S1: You are listening to Port of Entry. Nurtec has been pivotal in crafting the city's unique cultural and musical identity.
S2: Their innovative approach has not only made North a collective stand apart from other musical projects over the decades , but also deeply influenced the music scene within the region and the country.
S1: Inspiring both Nordic like projects and those looking to carry the torch beyond the Nordic sounds into different areas , experimenting with different genres. What's remarkable is that North's work acts as a poster boy of Tijuana's ambitions to carve out its own identity , showcasing the ambition of the city's talent for harmonizing its rich traditions with contemporary or even futuristic outlooks.
S2: The impact of Nordic collective fusion has resonated across the music landscape , inspiring other artists and contributing to the evolution of Tijuana's music scene.
S1: Through their creativity. North , the collective has helped shape the city's identity , blending the past with the present in a way that points towards a vibrant and distinct future for Tijuana's cultural expression.
S2: That is why when you think of North , you think of. Tijuana.
S12: Tijuana. Makes me happy. Tijuana makes me happy.
S13: Din din din.
S2: This episode of Port of Entry was written produced by Julio Cesar Ortiz Franko.
S1: Adrian Villalobos. Technical producer and sound designer Emma Gonzalez. Lima Brandao is our interim editor.
S2: And Lisa J. Morrissette is director of audio programming and operations.
S1: This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting , a private corporation funded by the American people.
S2: This project was also made possible with support from California Humanities , a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit Glamorgan. Natalie Gonzalez vemos pronto.
S14: Bang , bang. Bang bang bang bang.
