Considered the most important cultural manager in Colombia, Iván Benavides is a long-standing composer, artistic producer and musician in Colombia. They say that his specialty is going to the Colombian towns in search of great talents that later makes them recognized all over the world.
He has worked with great musicians, the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra (Mestizajes), the San Jacinto Pipers and artists in Europe, the United States and Latin America. With more than 35 years in music, Benavides has been a key part of the growth of Carlos Vives y la Provincia, Aterciopelados, Chocquibtown, Sidestepper and many groups that filled the public with curiosity and led to the transformation of the musical taste of Colombians.
Another facet of Iván has been his participation as a cultural manager. During his tenure at the Ministry of Culture, he was in charge of concretizing entrepreneurial projects in various areas of the Pacific and the Caribbean. For this reason, for Jaime Andrés Monsalve, musical director of Señal Radio Colombia, “his entry into the public sphere was something very important” for the development of new sounds and the empowerment of people throughout Colombia.
Now, it fulfills a new role in Colombian cultural management. He is the director of the National Center for the Arts, in the heart of the historic center of Bogotá, which opened its doors on March 21 as one of the most important cultural complexes in Latin America.
“From there we continue to promote culture and art. We are committed to artistic management, inclusion and expansion, ”he told THE NEW CENTURY.
Benavides, highlighted that the complex that he directs is ready for all kinds of presentations, after seven years of construction, when his building, of 17,000 square meters and twelve floors, with various stages, such as the Delia Zapata Room and the Fanny Mikey Experimental Room it starts to come to life. Not only with avant-garde pieces, but also counting on ancestry.
He explained that the musical revolution that is being experienced today serves as the basis for thousands of national artists to come to light with innovative projects and to project a discourse. He gave the example of salsachoque, a genre that had its peak thanks to soccer and the participation of Colombian athletes abroad.
luxury track record
His projects range from electronic and rock to traditional and symphonic music. Benavides was a member of Sidestepper, Bloque de Búsqueda, and Iván y Lucía, with whom he made recordings and toured the world. He has composed music for film, theater, television, web series and symbolic campaigns such as “Feel the rhythm” and “I am capable”. He has won Grammy and India Catalina awards, and has directed large-scale events, such as the Inauguration of the 2013 World Games in Cali, the commemoration of the Bicentennial of Independence in 2010, the Great National Concert, and the III Ibero-American Congress of Culture. . He has also dabbled in the cinema as one of the producers of the feature film “Somos calentura”, shot in Buenaventura. He has been an adviser to the Ministry of Culture, the Bogotá Ministry of Culture, the Manos Visibles Corporation, Discos Pacífico and Mercados Culturales.
Its objective is that “the fruit of processes or that unleashes processes” be presented on the stages. That is why laboratories work with indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, with Afro communities of Tumaco and Urabá; They prepare a play with deaf communities and another with blind people, among other projects. However, Benavides explains, this will not take away space from the presentation of established artists of classical music and opera.
“I have been traveling throughout Colombia for years, I have worked with many artistic and cultural expressions, although people know me better as a music producer, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with great artists, I have made a lot of traditional music, from the Pacific, but I have also worked as a film producer”, he highlighted.
The Colombian music producer defines himself as an Afro-dependent, passionate about peripheral Colombia and the Pacific. His passion for music began when his father came from trips and brought him and his brothers different vinyl records that were in fashion at that time.
As a child he grew up in a studio full of records and books, which definitely defined his personality and his life today. His father was a great music lover. He took all those records, listened to them without really knowing what he was and, in this intuitive and curious way, he fell in love with sound, as a sensation, as an impression; an inspiration that keeps him alive.
He says he has many ideas and projections for the coming years, challenges of turning thoughts into attractive programming for the public that attends the National Center for the Arts.
“Having been a musician, having been on many stages, traveling the world and meeting so many people gives one a perspective, I think that is why they called me to be the director of this center, because I am very Cosmopolitan and also because I have I have traveled a lot through the towns and now in front of this new rest there is the possibility of exploring new paths”, he highlights.
Benavides comes to occupy the position with many expectations: “We are betting on mediation with each artist or each process. We will present from established national and international artistic expressions, to expressions that come from the communities, and that are mediated so that they are put into production value and reach the stage in the most dignified way. Now we have three rooms and a stage for orchestras, the programming is very diverse. The curatorship is done based on the strategic lines that I was talking about now. From each of them we draw themes such as ‘the air and the land in care’ or ‘the company and the future’, and from there we build everything”, he stated.
He has been artistic director of large-scale events such as the Inauguration of the World Games in Cali, the closing of the U-20 Soccer World Cup, the celebration of the Bicentennial of Independence, the Great National Concert and the III Ibero-American Cultural Congress.
Not to mention that the composer created the song “El primer paso”, a song made to celebrate the visit of Pope Francis to Colombia in 2017, and which was performed by several Colombian singers, including Carlos Vives, Jorge Celedón, Goyo de Chocquibtown, Herencia de Timbiquí, among others.