Ep. 41 "Así se compuso El Tiburón de Proyecto Uno": Nelson Zapata, líder de Proyecto Uno

Nelson Zapata, compositor, productor y fundador de Proyecto Uno habló con Andrea Silva en Backstage acerca de la fusión del merengue con el hip hop, desu timidez a la hora de sacar a bailar a una chica lo llevó a cantar merengue, cuánto se demoraba las canciones en darle la vuelta al mundo cuando no había internet y como fue el proceso de canciones como el tiburón, 25 horas y mucho más.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
From this moment on a new backstagewhere the only restriction is that everyone can
enter. It opens the door towhat is not seen in the entertainment industry.
The moment to pass the lights,the cameras and the microphones to the

(00:28):
batage, because Nelson shoes the projectone that chooses to talk to you,
what an honor how you are.All right, thank you, Andrea.
The honor is also mine to behere with you, for you certainly see
project one has marked us as generation. It is suddenly history the first times

(00:54):
not only of you as a group, but first times of us as a
generation also that we had at partiesfor my project one is mini teak.
He' s friends, it's a great time and if we talk
about project music we talk about unforgettableexperiences or before you start the daring you

(01:18):
had to mix meringue with hip hopand how you came up with that wonderful
idea. Yeah, look at that. In the nineties there was so much
musical richness around and good for usfor this mixture, because we were based
on different times. The clear hepawas born in the 1980s on a commercial

(01:42):
level. On a commercial level andwhen we started to enter the recording studio,
we were collecting what was being harvestedmusically, much merengue, that there
was house music, there was heppup and everything in his rage. So
it was a very organic way totake those rhythms that you were consuming,

(02:08):
you were enjoying it. One wentto the discotheques to consume all that music
and it was very rich at thetime of one to express oneself musically and
take each of those elements that onewas enjoying so much to do that musical

(02:29):
daring, as you mentioned, andit was very interesting and very risky,
but very nice to do what wedid look And it is that, obviously,
we have to talk about the storyand what happened at that time,
because while we were with our friends, with our Rmax chair enjoying the ameniteca

(02:51):
in our homes, which was untilvery early, until ten eleven at night,
at that time, because zero Internet, the distribution of the music was
more difficult or more like monle awaythan we now say that you, as
a group and as a group leader, how you lived it, because it
expanded so much and how it wasvery interesting. That' s right when
you put out a production, well, you started one for a local house

(03:16):
in New York, to be moreprecise. And then, of course,
because those songs or songs one wasexpanding in different countries. So, for
example, to say something, theshark comes out in the three, but
it doesn' t get to benumber one until ninety- five in Spain,

(03:38):
for example, in Mexico, butit was already two years old,
that is, but rolling because itwas going from one country to the other.
He went out here first, thenthey took him there or a few
days they came, they listened,they bought something, they took him,
they went to some disco, theyput him in. And that was the

(03:58):
big difference that now left one,because it brings something out worldwide and in
an instant and is shared, butbefore it was very difficult, very slow.
But I think that gave him,I don' t know, something
special to the songs that now youlisten to a single this week and in

(04:19):
two weeks the other comes out andone more week comes out of the other.
And here we were kind of takingthe time. But it was because
of the organic form that the musicwas also being distributed. Of course and
it makes me curious because surely notonly the way to put the music outside,
but the way to consume it wasdifferent. And suddenly feel that immediate

(04:41):
feedback. When you said this isalready a success, it was when you
stood on a platform, yes,yes, definitely, once we did an
experiment and recorded a cassette single withthe first two songs we had where we
went to Manhattan, to a parkwhere a lot of people were going in

(05:04):
their cars to play music and westarted giving him the cassette single. Every
person we saw there, then peoplewould come, stop their music, play
the cassette and start listening to thatsong in all the cars that were parked
in the park and it was wonderful. Then you also had that experience like

(05:25):
that wow. That' s howit feels like the illusion of being,
that is, playing with people.But yes definitely, when we realized that
it was a boom, especially inSouth America, it was an equator when
we arrived at a presentation that wehad no idea of the audience' s

(05:47):
welcome and when we saw everyone singingthat is, the song that wasn'
t the single even, and theystarted to sing the first one already one
looked and said wow, what's going on, something that crazy,
because it had a magic and likean innocence when it came to making the
songs, like there were influences,obvious musical genres, but they were then

(06:10):
suddenly the question is you knew whatyou were doing, you were magnifying it
or you were enjoying it. Wewere enjoying it, because the truth is
we had no idea it was goingto work. One was applying several,
i e, he was taking severalpieces from different musical classes that were not

(06:34):
necessarily aimed at mus to one toa Hispanic audience. Even to this day
there are people who come up andsay buo, I didn' t know
that that song had a piece ofthis one, which is a classic of
the seventies of the eighties, becausewe were doing it in a way that
we had a lot of fun,but we didn' t really know that

(06:57):
it was going to stay so longand go and that it was going to
make that musical boom, which wasgoing to spread for generations and for decades.
Neo there is an anecdote that Iwant you to please tell us,
because I think sometimes, from thevery fears or suddenly of what you think
is not a fortress, you endup doing it. And I was listening

(07:18):
to you that because of your shyness, someone at some party I' m
telling you like you weren' table to get some girl out of meringue
dancing at your 15th birthday. Andthat became the world' s number one
exponent and the benchmark of meringue hiphop Tell me how shyness becomes a fortress
and a referent in total challenge.That, that did happen to me,

(07:46):
it happened to me when I wasa kid. I remember very well.
And from there, because I didn' t want to dance, I didn
' t want to. I hada party and I went into the kitchen,
I stayed in the room and Ididn' t want to dance until
I beat those. I don't know that shyness and strengthen it.

(08:09):
I too, of course, peoplewho have known me since that time are
not only surprised to see me,for example, dancing, but singing,
because, like Caramba, I wasgoing to sing if I was so shy,
and I did it through a certainrebellion already in school, I would

(08:31):
say that, after my first lovefailure, it was unilateral and then I,
like I wanted to be strong,wanted to do the ah I don
' t care about me, Imean, I don' t care about
anything myself and then I started takingthose risks. Ah well, I'

(08:52):
m going to sing, I startedtaking a singing class at school and actually
I was pushed to sing because Istarted playing the guitar in a like in
a there was a Latin talent festivalat school and to me, as a

(09:16):
result that I was playing the guitar, was that they asked me if I
could sing and I said yes.But yes. It was a very risky
step and a huge challenge. Whatdid you think in those moments, I
mean, it was fundamental something punctualthat you say. It was a before
and after for me to be ableto get on a stage or to lead

(09:39):
this group and leave shyness, becausenotice that we, while you were making
music, were falling in love,that is, it was like the first
swallow, not with the people therein the neighbor of the school and you
are already living other things. Butwhat was fundamental to you saying I'
m going to fulfill my dreams,or what you impulse Someone told you something

(10:01):
else. You saw someone I startedthat position at the time. If I
have two key people there, afriend named Carlos de Jesús, who is
the one who tells me, hewon' t let us run away and
sings because I' ve heard yousing, just like when we were going
to parties or something. He saidyou can sing, and I did it

(10:22):
because he asked me to, andthen it was me Since I was a
kid, I wrote poetry, butI didn' t know how to write
a song. Then I also showedthat poetry of my friend and told me
that we could do the songs.Then I started. I taught myself how

(10:43):
to transform lyrics into melodies. Andhe was very important to me, because
he gave me the confidence to sayno you can do it. Well,
you can dial when we' resinging ok mark a two three and start
the orchestra. He told me youcan do it. And that' s
how I started doing it. Andlater, with the role of Jesus,

(11:03):
who is my childhood friend. Hewas the birthday girl who told me she
couldn' t dance when she wassix. He saw the anxieties he had
to want to make Merengue. Hewas making house music and I, every
time I told him a crazy idea, he was saying ay, why don

(11:26):
' t we put a little bitof such thing and he would come clear
ready, let' s do itand he would listen to me and he
would tell me at the end ofthe day they said good. You and
I are the music producers of thesesongs and I said wow. I don
' t know how to put aconsole in my hand, but I said
no. You, you don't know how to shake hands with a
console, but you have a lotof ideas and without those ideas these songs

(11:48):
wouldn' t have come out likethat. Then I owe you the truth.
That push to Carlos de Jesús andPavel de Jesús in the musical.
Don' t notice how important theenvironment is for people around you who talk
to you a lot, moose inthe ear and name something fundamental that I
love to talk about and it's like creative processes, because you said

(12:09):
you wrote poetry, you' rea poet, but when writing songs I
don' t know what your creativeprocess was like to create fears like twenty
- five hours a day, theshark Another niht Not what that creative process

(12:30):
was like when it came to describingthese fears that you left us forever caramba.
Well, already on the shark wereanecdotes that happened. One would take
a bit of certain situations and startwriting them down. Another Night was more

(12:50):
than everyone, reflecting, then,the breakup of a relationship you had and
writing about it and the same rolewas also convincing me that that song could
be interesting and could work in theband. I thought not, because I
didn' t have, as Idon' t know, that party energy

(13:15):
to qualify. And in twenty-five hours, because I was inspired,
it was in a song of agroup that I like very much, that
is the Andrés family of Fernando Echavarría. And then there, in that song
called Marcela, the song had apart that said of the sun to the
moon. I have so many hoursto give. Twenty- four isn'

(13:41):
t enough for me to give youthen I kind of stayed like that I
said ah but if twenty- fouraren' t enough, then twenty-
five, then I started. Itook a pencil, it was a pen
and a paper. I began towrite this wonderful story about what it was
like to feel something so special thatreflected more than twenty- four hours of
love. And so it is borntwenty- five hours. There' s

(14:07):
a very special line that says,that says how it is we' re
going to have a girl as wellas you and I laid down decades with
a girl named Marcela and let's remember that Marcela is called the song
in which I inspired myself to writethat song. So that' s a
very special song for me. Lookhow much story Nelson, how many songs

(14:30):
I hear, that is, Iwant to hear now project one every day
of my life when they told methat I was going to talk to you
and when you' re going tocome to the stereo picnic and I really
want those who are not, becauseI am not in love, I feel
like falling in love and singing thatsong and singing it to me And these

(14:50):
lyrics that obviously not only make usfall in love, but sing, dance,
and that' s what' sgoing to happen at the stereo festival
picnic in Colombia. Please tell meabout the relationship and affection that Colombia has
for you. Why Colombia is soimportant and why it is so important to
be in a festival that brings togetherall the musical genres that connect us.

(15:11):
In addition to how important it isto be here, to you wow Look
at the relationship with Colombia. Thetime is coming before I dream of stepping
on Colombian land. My parents hadColombian friends, we were going to parties,
they were toasting us. I wasstarting to listen to songs, like,

(15:37):
say, tell you about me fructosestream. Mommy Era had forty-
five of the prisoner, for example, of this little one and something special
was already being built with Colombia.I always wanted how I don' t
know how to know Colombia in Merenguewas used a lot, so taking Colombian

(15:58):
songs and returning the snacks. Whenthe opportunity of us first arrived in South
America, we visited Ecuador, wevisited Venezuela, Colombia, we had not
arrived and one wondered to Peru whythe music we like already because we had
already visited Ecuador many times, manytimes Venezuela and not a single Colombia.
When it starts with a visit andwe' re going to do a TV

(16:26):
show and that was Jorge Varón's show, I remembered very much that
I saw the stars like this onthe stage behind me and it caught my
attention and so it all started andlook towards that moment where they didn'
t know us in Colombia until now, in the twenty- four and being

(16:49):
invited to a festival of such greatmagnitude that I have followed for a long
time and that I never thought tobe part of it as with grouping,
because it' s kind of Iwould say of like a tribute to our
legacy and our love for Colombia.So it' s a relationship that'
s going to be consecrated and it' s going to get to an even

(17:14):
higher level when we have the blessingof participating now on March 22. The
truth is that I am very excitedthat you have thought of us, among
so many important groups, so big, so diverse musically and that the project
one has its corner. There.For me it' s all honor look
the party is going to be awesome. I believe that honor is for us,

(17:40):
as an audience, to be ableto enjoy you without any doubt,
and we carry it in our hearts. The pecnic stereo, of course,
raises his hand in the whole world, in live music. It' s
a live festival and we want ita lot and we want to see you.
Obviously, with project a good one. You have a new song,

(18:02):
too. Since you don' thave all that, you have to go
and see it, and you haveto enjoy it as well as the classics,
and we' re so glad you' re back on stage. Thank
you, thank you, Andrea,for me, for the group, because
this meeting will be very exciting.Yeah, we keep making music. As
you mentioned, that was the mostrecent song we released and now, in

(18:26):
the middle of the year we're going to focus again, already to
make new songs. There are alreadyseveral ideas floating in our heads and we
will complement them very soon. Hey, if we talk about new music,
already to let you go, youcan' t ask yourself what' s
going on with the music today,with a frcho, with a Carrol g

(18:48):
with a Bad Bonn, and whynot collaborate with these artists that we grew
up and with the current ones.Yeah, that was a good idea.
I think that we, as alwaysbeing part of that musical that they lived,
were interesting after, suddenly, interactingin something musical, we are always
open to any possibility. We haveseen how many, like many artists of

(19:15):
this genre, are also entering themerengue, as several have observed on social
networks that sing project songs. OneI' ve seen a valving there singing
the shark in stories that Gracie Maybaiasings anover Knight and it was very cool

(19:37):
to do it. It was anice way to commemorate these thirty- five
years that we are celebrating and thatwe are celebrating now. I think it
' s the way. Like artists, I think today they could also from
their place. That' s whata personal opinion is. He has a
responsibility to bring in people who haveinspired them and who are referents in the
world. Nelson Zapata I loved talkingto you, I send you a hug

(20:00):
and I see you on the stereopicnic Thank you, Andrea, a pleasure
to share with you, Thank youfor the time, Thank you I send
you a giant hug wherever you aregoing. Thank you.