Check out the interview we did with Los Sara Fontan before their concert.

Your performances seem very physical and intense. How important is the body in your music-making process?
As a violinist and drummer, the body is a key element when performing. On stage, we put our bodies to play the instrument, to make the sound alive and to connect with the audience, to send them all that energy that is generated in our bodies when we play together. However, when it comes to composing, perhaps we live the process in a more emotional, more mental, more internal way.

Sara, as a classically trained violinist, how did you begin experimenting with electronics and loops?
I started experimenting with improvisation and how to transform the sound of the violin at a fairly advanced age, around 27/28. The first analogic pedals were left to me by my friend Pau Rodriguez (Za!) and since then a world of colours and possibilities has opened up. Thanks to all this sonic exploration an inner look has also opened up, what do I listen to inside me? And how can I show it with a concrete and limited life set? I like to play with physical but not imaginative limitations.

Edi, coming from a background in bands like Za!, how has your approach changed when working in a duo setting?
ZA! and Los Sara Fontan are both duos, and this formation allows for a very fluid and constantly changing dialogue on stage. A duo is capable of matching each other in tempo, volume, dynamics… to almost become one. It is also demanding, because when you are only two, you can’t hide behind a crowd. Finally, duos do not work by simple majority, but by total consensus. It is an intense and fulfilling relationship.

You describe your music as “music without songs.” What does that phrase mean to you artistically?
The song is a concrete musical form, it has existed for centuries and usually contains intro, verse, chorus …. we do not compose on the basis of this structure. We like the free form very much and it gives us a lot of satisfaction to find structural solutions outside of the pre-established musical forms.

Do you ever feel pressure to “tone down” the experimental side when playing for more traditional or unfamiliar audiences?
Not at all, and not because of our creative ego, but out of sincere respect for that audience. Softening your speech before an audience means underestimating that audience, and we are convinced that the capacity for listening, curiosity and open-mindedness of any human being is very broad. The problem lies precisely in our own self-censorship: by guiding our actions by thoughts about whether something will be more liked, or sell more, we tend to ratify the status quo and validate the simplest option, the lowest common denominator. Like a cold spaghetti without sauce: everyone can eat it, but does anyone really want to eat it?

Has any audience reaction ever caught you completely off guard?
A few months ago we did a street concert at the end of a popular festival in Tiana, a village near where we live. There was a moment when the audience became very energetic, they made pogos of weird dances and a very unique atmosphere of corporal expression was generated. We had to improvise a last song so that they could continue dancing, unforgettable!

What question do you wish more interviewers would ask you?
Perhaps questions that are not so musical, for example, how do we coexist with the contradiction of travelling and being sustainable? Or how are we able to keep smiling in the face of the patriarchal, climatic and structural catastrophes that surround us?

What do you listen to nowadays?
This last months, Sara has listened to classical and contemporary music, random Tidal, jazz, her students’ pieces, electroacustic… On the other hand, the latest top five acts on Edi’s player would be Venetian Snares, Laurie Spiegel, Oranssi Pazuzu, Sal del Coche and Olivier Messiaen, in no particular order.

What is your favorite performance so far?
We have many good memories from live acts, but one of our most recent favorite performances was at Sugar Illegal Fest in the city of Vic, an event that takes place in the middle of the street, with no stage, no lights, no permit, no money involved, completely surrounded by the public.

Do you have any particular plans, announcements, messages, advice you would like to share with your existing and future fans through this interview?
In times of political deactivation due to information saturation, we find consolation in two phrases that serve us as a guide. One we saw in a silkscreen printing workshop in Bratislava that said “Don’t work for assholes, don’t work with assholes”. The other was said by Fugazi many years ago, but it feels more valid than ever: “never mind what’s been selling, it’s what you’re buying”

Anita Ulovec (Volontiram u Močvari)