Today we’d like to introduce you to Felipe Carvajal.
Felipe, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started playing guitar when I was 11 years old. Just one year after that, I discovered the flamenco music and not later, I was already sure that I would like to become a musician. However, being a flamenco musician in such a small country like mine (Costa Rica) is a very difficult task.
So basically, since I was 15 years old, I knew that it was a requirement for my career to travel to Spain to pursue my dream. I started my formal flamenco studies in Costa Rica, at the “Superior Academy of Guitar.” My main teacher was Manuel Montero, who later moved also to Spain and he has become a very successful guitarist there.
While I was able to move there, I was playing locally with many other flamenco artists. Also, I was a teacher in that academy until I got the opportunity with some other friends to create our own place. Also, I started to get some concerts outside the country and finally, I moved to Spain to continue my studies and keep learning.
Spain was a great experience, and it was my dream come true. I studied there at the Conservatory of Music of Seville. My guitar teacher was David Vargas, a great person, and guitarist who always believed in me.
During that time, I realized two main things. First, that the economic situation of that moment was not the best, and it should take a long time in order for me to have a good career there. And in another hand, I realize that I love flamenco above any other kind of music, but it’s not my only love. I discovered a big passion for film scoring and general composition, so I started looking for another option to continue growing in other areas rather than only flamenco.
After many days looking for options all over the world, and being very very worried about my future, I spoke with another friend that was studying already at FIU, in Miami, and he suggested me to apply. So that’s what I did, I applied for the Music Composition program and I think it was one of the best decisions that I have made. Not only because of the education, but also for the huge turn around that my life suffered.
I have been able to play and learn a lot of music that I even realize it exists! I have also been producing music for a great variety of projects, recording, composing, performing. Some weeks I have been doing 3 or 4 different styles of music. That´s a good experience, but also it gives you two things that are very important: confidence, and musical knowledge.
This year I released my first flamenco solo album, and I have been collaborating on many other projects, from pop up to film scoring.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are always struggles, and there are always things that turn you down. I will start saying that I lost my two brothers. One when I was 11 years old and another one when I was 21.
I have the best parents in the whole world and just the fact that knowing that I have to leave them alone in my country, it was something that every day hurt me a lot. Many times I was almost quitting music because of this. However, on the other hand, it has been something useful, as a strength, to really put my best effort and try to make this distance worth it.
In the road, you also find people that want to make you improve and be a better person and musician, and sometimes appear some others that only want to destroy you. Its very hard to deal with those people without asking yourself sometimes if they are right, and simply you are not good at what you do. I think what really hurt most is when you find out that people that you helped or trust are not really good with you, or they are just telling things that they don’t know if they are true, and that can really hurt you or make a bad effect in your career.
However, I supposed people will always say good and bad things from yourself. And that’s the moment when you need to be confident about yourself.
Another huge obstacle and challenge from leaving your country is dealing with immigration policies from the other countries. All the paperwork that you have to fill, apply for visas and all those things. That is really horrible, and at least here in the United States, really really expensive. I lost a very good opportunity to go on tour through the world with a very famous artist in 2014, just because of migration. Fortunately, this year I got approved an exception talent residency in the US, and this got solved.
Finally, the other challenge that I would like to mention is arrived to a new place, knowing that “you have to make this work.” Start building relationships with new people, start getting gigs and letting the people know you. That can be really really frightening at some point.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Felipe Carvajal – what should we know?
I’m a guitarist. Mainly a flamenco guitarist. But I think what sets me apart is that I am a flamenco guitarist that is very skilled with computers and that also studied academic music composition and classical guitar. Also, I have played with many bands and artists of other genres, so I’m very versatile of what I can do.
That opens a huge spectrum of things that I can do. I can play Latin music, or give a solo flamenco recital, some other days I’m composing music for a documentary in my studio, doing an arrangement or writing a new classical contemporary score. I also do recordings and I’m a huge fan of mixing and mastering. I would not classify myself as a mixing and mastering engineer since it’s not what I do every day, all day; but is something that I know how to do very well.
I’m also interested in electronic music, but from EDM up to avant-garde stuff. Recently I have been researching about audio/video installations that can perform in real-time. I think it can be something interesting to be applied to flamenco music.
If I have to say what I do in just a sentence, I would say that “I’m a composer, producer, and guitarist, mainly a flamenco guitarist.”
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Perseverance, responsibility and discipline.
Perseverance because it’s not about how easy you can do something, or how hard it can be to achieve it, it’s about being able to keep trying until you made it.
Responsibility: you simply can’t succeed if people don’t trust you. In music, 99% of the time people believe in you, and in the fact that you are able to deliver something of good quality (a music performance, recording, arrangement, etc) in the proper time. If you are not responsible, people will not believe in you and you are not going to have a good career. That’s it.
Discipline: Music it’s like being an athlete, you need to practice, study, read, etc… In order to be in good shape and knowing the latest in order to get good results.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.felipe-carvajal.com
- Phone: 7866093290
- Email: info@felipe-carvajal.com
- Instagram: @fcrguit
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felipecarvajalrojas
- Twitter: @FelipeCarvajalR
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7JPKcaYhrJnrAmMpf1DHPo
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