Pantamuzik - Label Feature

It has only been in relatively recent times that Latin America has opened itself up to, and embraced, electronic music. Even so, as seen in many parts of Asia, it is the large commercial brands that dominate, dictating the scene through countless festivals, super-clubs and one-off, arena-sized shows. What underground movements there are, are small, often limited to single venues and scattered pockets of hardcore enthusiasts. Inevitably, the pull of the European sights and sounds are strong, with the more successful artists heading straight across the Atlantic.

Unfortunately, this tends to void the local scenes of any real chance to benefit and flourish from their talents, creating, on the whole, a distinct lack of artistic unity within the region. There are, however, exceptions to every rule. Step forward Humberto Polar and Pantamuzik; a record label created with the intention, first and foremost, of providing a platform for Latin Americans to release the music that defines them, as much artistically as culturally.

Signal Deluxe "Yerba Buena" from PANTAMUZIK on Vimeo.

Born in Mexico in 1965, Polar has over thirty years experience as a professional musician. A classically trained guitar player and jazz aficionado in his early years, it was not until 1999, whilst living and performing in Colombia, that he became captivated by electronic music. Initially, it was the more experimental sounds that drew him in, early Warp and Ninja Tune records playing a huge part in the shaping of his earliest productions. From these rose the label, inspired by the wealth of contacts that Polar had amassed over the years, a collection of talented but frustrated electronic musicians, desperately in need of guidance and representation. And so, in the year 2000, Pantamuzik was born. 

As expected, the early years were eclectic and varied. Polar explains: “We wanted to be open-minded; going after a specific sound or style in South America limits you considerably, being exclusive gets you nowhere.” Downtempo, broken beat, drum'n'bass and bits of techno made up their first releases, a series of successful CD compilations that, with the backing of a major Peruvian cigarette company, sold an impressive total of 40,000 copies. In the meantime however, Humberto was personally beginning to move towards a tougher, more direct sound. His tech house outfit Monopolar was showing signs of steady progression and soon it became clear that it was only a matter of when, not if, the label was going to make a dramatic shift towards the dance-floor – more specifically, the European dance-floor. Finally, in 2002, the time came.

“What I realised was that the future of the label depended on us breaking into Europe, where the genuine electronic music consumption is. In order to achieve that we had to shed a lot of the experimental stuff and focus on the club beats, whilst maintaining the South American tradition that had carried the label so far. We wanted to keep hold of the traditional criollo (meaning 'native to Spanish America') sounds - without of course, falling into the typical clichés – it's not just about throwing a few congas in. And actually, I should make that clear, these aren't tracks with congas. It's a lot more profound than that, I was brought up as a trained musician, which allows me, both as a producer and label owner, to bring a certain depth to the records, a certain understanding of the elements that make music that little bit more interesting.”

Fast forward to 2011 and Pantamuzik are sturdier than ever. Within a decade, Polar has successfully assembled a family of dedicated, talented regional artists, a feat that sees the label accomplish one of their earliest and most hardline mission statements. With over 30 releases, they continually showcase a rich and varied cross-section of the Latin American scene, whether it be the Venezuelan fused tech house of Miguel Toro and Argenis Brito or Signal Deluxe's tough, Mexican techno. It was through the latter, reportedly Mexico's most celebrated electronic artists “by far”, that Polar was able to first get in touch with Limeñan resident Jay Haze. “I went to Peru to DJ and heard he was in town so I got in touch, spoke to him about the track we had in mind for him and he loved it. He agreed and instead of it being a straight remix, he used some of his own samples and wove it into something completely new and distinct. A new track pretty much. He's very much feeling what's happening in South America at the moment, everytime I go to Peru I call him – he's very dedicated to the continent, to not just being another tourist and to really connect with the people and the scene.”

Guajira was the end result, the highlight from last years 10 Years of Pantamuzik compilation. In Humberto's eyes, the release was weighted perfectly; commemorative of the label's past whilst boldly alluding to potentially higher, future plateaus. “Things are starting to spread a little bit, bigger artists with more pulling power are starting to get involved, realising that we're very serious about what we do and that our image is a strong, unique one. On the next release were gonna have remixes from Sierra Sam and Camea. But these guys are always just remixers, the original mixes are still coming only from artists from the continent. That remains very important.”

 
Perhaps to some it may seem as if Pantamuzik have, at times, adopted an unorthodox approach to the music business. The switch to dance-floor centric sounds in 2002, along with the consistent and constant thirst for European recognition, may appear to some as, for use of a better term, band-wagon-esque. It is in fact pragmatic, and entirely necessary, in a world where success and progression are so heavily dependent on breaking into these specific scenes. “People have to understand, making electronic music in Latin America is a titanic feat, because it's not that popular a music here. The scene is limited, there aren't many clubs. We're a rock region, a traditional music region, reggaeton, cumbia... So there's no way of making the income that is necessary to keep reinvesting in productions, promotions, remixes, so it's a slower process. That said, the label have Latin America pretty much covered, we have our team of artists from all over, we all play all over the region regularly, we've just got to conquer Europe now. It's the next logical step. I'm confident that with time, if we stay patient, one of our releases, one track will chart somewhere big and things will begin to move forward and the promoters from Europe will start to take an interest in what were doing – 'Okay, lets see what these crazy Latin Americans are bringing to the table..' That's how we're going to enter into what is such a competitive scene. I'm confident that the music is of high quality and so I'm dedicated to the cause. Slowly but surely, we'll get there.”

With five more EPs confirmed for 2011 and Humberto Polar jetting off to spend this summer DJ'ing and networking in Berlin, it would certainly appear as if Pantamuzik were moving in the right direction. The Ubersalsa EP from Monopolar is available here.

Carlos Hawthorn

Pantamusik on Pulse Radio