The experimental music festival Astro Artian was held in Gernika on 14 June, as part of the festival. Among others, Gora Japon, Ainara Legardon, Colombinas, Al Karpenter, Amorante, Bazterrak, Miguel A. The protagonists were Garcia, Loty Negarti, Oier Iruretagoiena and Inazio Escudero. In addition to the festival and music, the Arto Artian platform took advantage of the fair of books and other materials, facilities, projections and popular food to present its new website and its renewed catalogue of experimental music.

What is the narrow line separating music from noise? Can the voice or the word and its phonetics be music? Is artistic creation the noise that emerges with the objective of creating sensations and sensations for listeners? To answer these questions we met with Ibon Rodriguez, Aitor Loty Negarti and Oier Iruretagoiena, founders of the Eten music group and members of the Arto Artian platform.

Besides participating in the organization of the festival, Loty Negarti makes improvised electronic music, using poetry, word and phonetics. Oier Iruretagoiena, for his part, is closer to sound than music, and includes artistic installations in his proposals.

“We invite all the groups we have included in the catalog to participate in the festival. Some failed, like Akauzazte, but most gave us the yes,” explains Aitor Loty Negarti. “Most have been groups in the area of Bilbao and Bizkaia,” he added.

The festival brings together very different creators: The musician Iban Urizar, aka Amorante, makes a solo singing, accompanied by the guitar. It obviously has nothing to do with Loty Negarti, improvised electronic music Miguel A.Garciaren, or with Al Karpenter's rock hopes. Another example is the vocal improvisations of Ainara Legardon. It uses the sculpture, sound and facilities of Oier Iruretagoiena. “The experimental music label is always there, but nobody takes it for themselves. However, more than the musical style, it unites us the way we do things. We are creators who are outside the music industry, perhaps because the industry itself has left us out,” says Ibon Rodríguez.

Innovative, breakthrough and courageous projects have room today, out of the chaos in the music industry.

Many of the creations that were shown at the Gernika festival were site specific, that is, visions adapted to the characteristics of the place. A concert at the Gernika war bunker. “The historical, acoustic and other characteristics that space has influence the direct ones,” says Ibon Rodríguez, “even more so if they are based on improvisation.” The creators' involvement in the festival was total, as it was organized with little money. On the other hand, those who took the USB key to the festival were able to buy the full Catalan at Arto Artia free of charge.

Beyond the supports

The Arto Artian platform is itself a catalogue of experimental music. At first it was the idea of the musical groups Akauzazte and Gutural, “but time has led us to other areas, nor do we know what Arto Artian is,” explains Ibon Rodríguez, laughing, “We know what it is not. We have been inventing ourselves according to the needs.” It emerged as something practical with the objective of creating a network of musical groups. “Musical production has changed a lot in recent years. The physical support itself has practically disappeared and there are no problems of distribution anymore. But we have to work on visualizing these groups.

So things like that, the Arto Artian platform works mostly on digital support. The website has been renovated so that the musical heritage can be accessed and accessible to anyone who wants it. “We want the web to also be a space for debate, especially for the groups that produce it in this way,” says Ibon Rodríguez.

“It’s another thing, how much commitment the musicians who have decided to put music on the web have to the platform,” said Aitor Loty Negarti. “The function of the web is, fundamentally, to bring music together in the catalog and give way to creation,” adds Oier Iruretagoiena. All references in the catalogue can therefore be downloaded free of charge. The relationship between amateurs and creators will be “more direct”, says Ibon Rodríguez, “since whoever wants a physical specimen will have to contact the creator.”

The goal of the Arto Artian platform is to manage the legacy of these experimental or small music, “and we want to connect this heterogeneous group, which is not the scene, but which could be,” says Loty Negarti, “for the web to be its tool.”

Astra, necessary structure

There is work of newspaper library, concerts, creation and acquisition of musical heritage, in short there is a lot of work to invigorate and make visible the musical groups included in the catalog. The platform Arto Artian aims to be a space for the dissemination of avant-garde art, making available the digital version of the physical disks, but also making live recordings, as explained by Rodríguez: “We will hang the recordings of the concerts made by the members of the platform. On the one hand, to spread what is happening on today’s scene, and on the other, to see what it is doing today in 10 years’ time.”

In 2006, the Arto Artian platform was created and its first presentation was made at the Astra arms factory, which had not been transformed. “I find it wonderful how Astra has been created, how it has been transformed and how it is managed in a participatory way,” said Ibon Rodríguez. And from Aitor Loty Negartu, he added: “The Astro Artian festival has received the dimension of Astra. As an infrastructure, Astra is wonderful, offering the ability to do three or four concerts at the same time. It is a free place, an excuse to leave Bilbao...”.