KRAAK FEST 2025 HIGHLIGHTS: Carme Lopez

The Galician bagpipe is a central part of your music. When and how did you learn to play the instrument?

The bagpipe was my first instrument. I started taking bagpipe classes at a cultural association dedicated to traditional music and dance in a town near my home when I was 8 years old. From that moment on, my interest in the instrument grew, and later I began studying this instrument at the Conservatory, finishing my higher education degree in 2017 (in Spain, music studies are divided into three sections, with the last four years being equivalent to a university degree).

Perhaps related with the previous question, could you tell us more about your work as a teacher and researcher of traditional Galician oral music? For example, what exactly is your research about?

My education, in addition to being musical, is also related to teaching and, in practice, since I was 20 years old I have been working as a teacher in different organizations: associations, schools, etc. in subjects such as bagpipes, traditional singing or introduction to traditional music for children, among others. Another pillar in my education has been research. After a master's degree and a doctorate where I studied the vocal repertoire of a specific Galician village, I have entered the university field, where teaching and research are combined in my job. I am currently a professor in the Music Department at the Faculty of Education of the University of Santiago de Compostela, so now my teaching work focuses on the musical training of future teachers, and in research I always try to link traditional music with teaching, gender perspective and ethnomusicology.

You’ve released music as Carmela and as Carme López. Do you plan to continue using both of these monikers?

The use of two different names in my work was born out of the need to differentiate between two different but related genres. On the one hand, as Carme López I make experimental music with the Galician bagpipe, an instrument closely linked to tradition, although in this project there is no reference to traditional music. On the other hand, in Carmela I do make traditional music, in this case sung music. Furthermore, in the live performance of this last project I work with two other musicians (Camille Hedouin and Sara Méndez) so it transcends myself and is also based on their contributions and criteria. Therefore, at least in the short term, it is likely that I will continue with this division of names.

You’ve been inspired by the approach of minimal composers like Éliane Radigue and Pauline Oliveros. Is that the mine of music you find yourself listening to the most?

My basic background up to this point was based mainly on traditional music, especially Galician, but as a Galician bagpipe player I was not comfortable with the predominant type of interpretation for the instrument, I had been looking for new ways to express myself for some time, especially from a gender perspective. For this reason, when I thought about recording an experimental album I needed to access clear examples of how to work music from the subtle and calm change typical of these types of music, I listened to them from a detailed analysis during and for a time to integrate processes, since my compositional and interpretive experience was based on “classical” forms based on melody and structure, so these references were absolutely necessary to be able to create Quíntela’s music. Until now I did not usually listen to much experimental music but since the recording of the album it is true that this type of genre, especially drone but also field recording, make up my regular playlists.

Carme Lopez on Bandcamp/Instagram

Carme plays KRAAK Festival 2025 March 8 at Het Bos in Antwerp ~ tickets do be going fast, check em out this way!