Homes by Tropico del Cancer

“I guess we all look for home, before realising that home is where we are. Still the search for that core home accompanies us most of our life, but as the traveller walks, there may never be a final arrival. I have found many places on earth I can call home. The Ecuadorian Andes where I was born, the south of Alps where I grew up, Copenhagen and the Nordic seas, the banks of the Ganges,…

In the last 2 years I settled down in a house in the Danish countryside with my family, a new life with very little travelling. There I played with my instruments, friends of wood and metal, walking inward and listening to the resonance of that home seeking.

I chose these 4 pieces as an imaginary map for this journey we call world experience. They are all “first takes” (except track 4), with some editing and overdubs. Tracks 2 and 4 include looping.

“Himmel Bål” is the North. A night by a fireplace with some friends, from the flames some sparks fly up to the sky and blend with the stars. From this earth-walk into the vastness of the universe.

“Pasillo Oriental” is the East. The deep forest of the Ecuadorian “oriente”, the wild Bengal, or the dream of an even further land called Indonesia.

“Walking Home” is the West. West African harp with West German harmonica, slowly walking back to where I come from, the far yet familiar homeland.

“Si spezza la terra” is the South. My Italian language, warmth in my mouth, to speak the split that breaks hearts and soil, mythological Palestina.”

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Juan (Tropico Del Cancer) has largely researched on traditional ceremonies and mystical arts from around the world, travelling throughout Ecuador, Colombia, India and Europe, visiting and learning from local masters and artists. In 2016 he graduated from The Danish National School of Performing Arts as musician for dance and modern dance classes. His focus and inspiration have often been the interrelation between sound and movement, dreams and earth, silence and awareness, chaos and simplicity; both in his compositions, collaborations as well as in his own practice of martial arts, yoga and meditation.
He lives in Denmark since 2002 where he has been percussionist in bands such as Valravn, Suna, Trypical Cumbia and Heilung, as well as singer-songwriter with Quemando Palabras.

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Juan Pino’s minimal and poetic sound universe recalls the world roots and the magic of dreams. From the many travels to the Andes, the Amazon and the Ganges he gathered a bunch of instruments at his wooden house in a park of Copenhagen: marimba, harmonicas, kalimbas, hammered dulcimer, organa, mini synths, vocals and percussion. Juan was born in Ecuador, grew up on the South of Alps.

juanpino.dk