The ex-pat who never came home from SAMC

The ex-pat who never came home from SAMC

8 March, 2008 | 12.49PM

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: Music News: samc

Meet Katrin Richter, the German ex-pat who came to the first ever South American Music Conference in 2004 and never went home.

After being an editor for four years, she now freelances for Germany’s Raveline magazine and writes a monthly column about South America as well as interviewing local talents, such as Barem, Violett, Franco Cinelli and Santos Resiak.

Her story is like something that happens in those romantic novels. It’s also an enlightening tale of how Buenos Aires, a special place, manages to keep international travelers in a firm check.

“I was dancing on a table in the VIP room of the first ever SAMC in Buenos Aires when I suddenly saw the most beautiful chico I had ever seen dancing there right next to me,” Katrin tells Beatportal over lunch in the Porto Madero yacht club.

“We started talking and even though I didn’t speak any Spanish and he didn’t speak any English we connected.

“We hung out the rest of my trip, and when the time came to leave, I didn’t want to go home.

“Instead we went traveling to Patagonia.”

That’s the kind of girl Katrin is, a spontaneous fun loving person- she calls herself “a crazy enough electronic music professional with a zest for adventures”.

In the last three years, Katrin has met and written a great percentage of Argentinean DJs, producers and promoters so she’s the perfect person to grill about the local scene.

“There’s so much good music coming from here, especially from the minimal scene,” says Katrin.

“The scene is small but very potent, and people know each other very well as they all started off together. I try to stay objective as I am interested in electronic music in general, and also as a global movement, so I try to stick my nose into as many different scenes as possible different without getting too acquainted with a particular one.”

Is their rivalry between DJs and promoters in Buenos Aires?

“Yes there is rivalry but it seems to be more personal than business. Sometimes that’s a healthy thing as it really pushes people forward on professional level,” she reveals.

And how has the music scene in Buenos Aires changed since Katrin first arrived three years ago?

“Progressive house and trance were, and still are, huge.

“DJs like Nick Warren and Hernan Cattaneo are adored here, but for some here, prog has a stigma. It’s associated with money making and domination of foreign deejays, organizers and labels who do not give anything back to the scene.

“On a global level, it all got too big and went from an overground trendy thing to a commercial thing.

“I remember doing an interview with a female minimal DJ here and I sent it to her to proof read - she came back to me extremely angry saying “how dare you say I started off as a progressive house, don’t ever associate me with that music"."

“That’s the way some musicians are here, they don’t want to be pigeonholed because they’re very self-aware of the way the outside world boxes things up.

“If you become known for something that you don’t stand for, it’s considered bad publicity which these new and upcoming talents from Buenos can’t do with – it’s very difficult to later get rid of that label, especially if it’s a label held abroad in the US or Europe.”

The club scene has gone through some major developments in the last three years.

When Katrin arrived in 2005 it was a few weeks after around 500 people had died in a fire in a Buenos Aires rock club called Cromanon just after Christmas.

“The authorities shut down most of the city’s clubs and music venues overnight,” says Katrin.

“The scene was crushed, and for a few weeks the local officials were pressured not to reopen any venues until regulations were met.

“Slowly over the next years, clubs reopened while the scene reshaped, and now it’s really healthy.”

Whilst Katrin is the official South American correspondent for Raveline magazine, she’s also the unofficial tourist guide to the city for traveling DJs, producers and label owners.

Katrin says: “Whenever DJs and producers from Germany come over, I am trying to hook them up with club owners and organizers as well as showing them around.

“This weekend DJ T from Get Physical was over for a gig in Pacha, and in the end, I found him a slot in an underground club – he ended up playing a spontaneous set at Cocoliche, one of the capital’s nicest clubs.

“He played to about 50 people, but he was happy to be playing for the right people. He is very much interested in spreading the vibe deejaying for music-passionates.”

After lunch, Katrin jumps on her bike and peddles off into the busy, traffic-plagued streets of Buenos Aires.

She’s living proof that we are free people, able to make rash and spontaneous decisions that alter the course of our lives without regret. It’s always a good thing to discover new grounds. 

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