TESTIMONIALS
I am not a trained musician. I do not read music. However, through Emilio’s support I was able to approach sound intuitively while simultaneously learning about the work that goes into sound production and engineering.
I have witnessed Emilio critically engage with practices of creation, cultural production and music-making. He is always searching for ways of expanding his critical thinking and field of expertise. Emilio has always voiced an investment in sound production and design methodologies.
Emilio and I have continued to connect on the understanding that we are both deeply invested in the intersections of aesthetics, politics, ecology and ethics within cultural production and social-relations.
My dear friend Emilio, my word right now is GRATITUDE!!! I want to thank you for your sensitivity, commitment and professionalism.
+ Roberto Muniz
Being Comfortable With Sensing Leaning Into And Embracing Difference” was released last year in December. It is a 31:11 track, a music piece that takes you into an ethereal universe on which the Andean music is highly present. The composition was fully improvised, it uses sophisticated pattern generation and melodic transformations in an improvised and live way. Portal’s approach to philosophy on this track, in particular, is about the origin of racism, speciesism and general distinctions. There is a history of violence that comes with the need of humans controlling the land, animals and each other: Emilio Portal is interested in engaging and breaking it down in philosophical and musical terms. Wouldn’t the world be so much better if every and each one of us embraced the difference, comfortably?
I have known Emilio for many years as an artist and arts enthusiast supporting music creation projects and all forms of arts activation. Emilio is very generous with his time helping artists in the studio to record albums and develop ideas towards large-scale collaborative projects. We have worked together on festivals, exhibitions, albums and digital projects of many forms and scopes.
Emilio has a passion for sound and the technology that accompanies listening and sharing audio. This goes far deeper than music recording as the connections that Emilio finds through sound often become larger, more philosophical discourses connecting people and ways of the world together. These same discussions often engage into sustainability, environmental actions that take our ways of recording, listening, hearing and sharing and consider how mediums and messages can be intertwined. Emilio is an audio wizard that explores areas of music that others cannot understand including redefining musical technologies to capture spectrums that usually remain unannounced.
Hi Emilio! My partner and I caught about an hour of the set you did with Elyse and friends - not to sound dramatic, but immediately upon entering the space I felt a shift, and left feeling like I was filled with light and buzzing. Want to thank you all for an incredible show, can only describe it as being exactly what my soul needed 🤲.
+ Veronica K.