Interviews

Portugal based imprint Canopy welcomes Brazilian artist Lontra – real name Guille Katorzi - to the roster. He is about to release his ‘Money, Money EP’ this week. We take a moment to have a chimneyside chat with the main man.

Thank you for taking the time to talk. Where are you this moment and how are you spending the day?

Hey, it's my pleasure. I'm at home getting ready for a short trip to Brazil to visit my family.

Please can you introduce yourself to our readers.

I'm Guille Katorzi, Brazilian musician, producer and DJ. I've been making music for over 20 years and about five years ago I became very interested in producing afro-disco. Fast-forward to 2025, I'm very proud to launch Lontra, a brand new and exciting musical project where I can explore live-feel instrumentation, collaborate with great musicians and make feel-good music with a tropical flair.

Where are you based?

I’ve been living in Bogotá, Colombia, for almost 8 years now.

What is it you love most about the city in which you live?

The friends I made here, how people love to party, the mountains I’m lucky to see everyday, and the deep-fried highly-affordable street food.

How is the health of the music scene where you are?

Kind of shaky right now, depending on your musical taste. Like in many places, mainstream music has really taken over what used to be an underground club scene, with Reggaeton on the forefront, that or ultra-cheesy or ultra-fast electronic music, which makes the good old 122bpm house-y vibes almost archaic these days. So for older folks like me, the scene can be a bit 'meh’ these days. On the plus side, there’s an interest in providing more intimate experiences through up-and-coming listening bars and there’s a cool vinyl-driven community of DJs who still put on great events with great music. In terms of live bands, there are really good ones, but it seems most people favour going to a couple of very expensive arena or stadium gigs a year than to support local talent on a more regular basis.

How is the health of the music scene generally in your opinion?

There’s an insane amount of great music today, if you sit down and dig deep; and an ever increasing amount of noise, fads, pseudo-DJs, AI music, etc. It’s quite easy to ‘make’ music today, and it has never been as difficult to ‘sell’ it. So, I don’t know, it depends on how you see it and the expectations you hold.

Who are the icons who have inspired the music that you make?

It’s hard to make afrobeat and not mention Fela Kuti, so definitely Fela. Also, Ebo Taylor, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, William Onyeabor, Kiki Gyan, the list goes on. The greatest thing about the greatest is that you can always come back to them and hear it in a different way, learn a trick or two, be inspired. Among the modern producers that have inspired me, I could mention: Voilaaà, Bosq, Captain Planet, JKriv, Yuksek, Opolopo, Joi N’ Juno, to name a few.

How did you come to meet Emmanuel and the Canopy crew?

A couple of months after recording in France with Sir Jean, and as soon as I had good quality demos, I immediately thought of Canopy. I had recently bought their first release, Africa My No.1, and it was on my turntable all the time. In a moment of extreme confidence I thought to myself "there’s no way they won’t like Money, Money”, and I messaged Emmanuel (Sumosui) and introduced myself, we spent a month or so chatting and getting to know each other. When I ultimately asked whether he wanted to sign any of the four tracks (or none!), he said “all four in a beautifully packed vinyl record”, and here we are, around 18 months after that first message. I couldn’t be happier to launch Lontra’s first record (and my first ever vinyl) on such an amazing label.

Why did you feel the label was the right home for your release?

It just felt right. The incredible music it has been putting out, the fact that it’s a new label, the fact that Sumo actually listened a dozen times to the demos, and was interested in me as a person/producer, you know, not rushing to get the work done and move on to the next, that all contributed to it. For me, looking at Canopy’s catalogue and seeing the high-calibre roast of producers there (Opolopo, Captain Planet, Bosq, Kiko Navarro), not to mention the legends it reissues, I really wanted to be part of the club!

Give us an overview of your new release.

It’s a 4-tracker EP, with me writing and producing each song, trying to give them some distinctive features, which were then made a hundred times better by the amazing vocals of Sir Jean.

A1 Money, Money is an afro-disco workout with catchy lyrics and jazzy Sax solos.

A2 Life Is Movement has a contagious rhythm driven by a firey guitar riff. A more straight forward arrangement for total party vibes.

B1 Mysterious is slow-jam afrobeat journey with soulful ‘so-in-love’ vocals and lots of trumpets!

B2 The Lyon and The Hunter is the more club-ready banger, it hits a little harder than the others in my opinion.

How long did it take to come together? Did it flow easily, or did it take some time to perfect?

I recorded the bass and guitar riffs of Life Is Movement in April 2021, and started talking to Sir Jean in July that year, so yes, it took a while. The other tracks were produced in 2022-23, with Jean’s vocals recorded in the summer of ’23 in Lyon, France. Then it took me around 6 months to perfect the arrangement and dial in the exact sound for each instrument. For me the actual composition is usually done in a couple of days, then the sweat is actually over sound design, fine-tuning all the programming, working on the arrangements, mixing, and so on.

Tell us a about any other artists - Sir Jean - involved in the release.

Lovers of this type of music can’t deny that ‘Spies Are Watching Me’ by Voilaaa feat. Sir Jean is a head-turner of a song. After spinning it to death in my DJ sets I then went on to listen to Sir Jean and the NMB Afrobeat Experience and ‘wow’. I then put my mind on making a few songs that he wouldn’t resist wanting to sing on, and it worked. We recorded the four songs in two sessions in his hometown, Lyon, and also had a chance to just hang out, take long walks and catch some live music. I’m truly thankful for that.

I was also really lucky to have one of the best trumpet players in Colombia, Andrés Castrillón, come to my studio to record on a highly improvised tune I was working on, which then became Mysterious. The song is that long mainly because Andrés is so great I didn’t want to cut short all the beautiful things he gave me for the song.

Do you tend to take some time – after you have made a track – to leave it alone for a while to evaluate?

Yes, that happens naturally as I have other jobs and sometimes things get busy DJing or doing studio work for other artists and there’s only so much music one can hear in a day/week.

Do you find the feedback of others is important to you in the production process?

Only in the very last stages, mostly while mixing. I have come to believe that artists shouldn’t get much feedback, you know, just do the work, at some point call it a day and move on to another. If you’re lucky some people will like it. But yes, at the mixing stage of this EP there was valuable feedback from Canopy’s close network of producers, which ultimately led me to send the tracks to David Baluteau (aka Joi N’ Juno) for the mix down and the result was something I could have never achieved on my own.

What are some of the challenges in putting out music currently?

Everything is a huge challenge for an independent self-funded producer. For me personally, it’s time and money to produce great music with great artists – haha, that is every producer’s dream. But seriously, I love it and I cannot live without this. The real challenge though after it’s all done is to get people to listen to it – and to pay for it? Let’s not get into that. ☺

What drives you to create music do you think?

There’s no greater feeling for me than to lock in a funky bass and guitar groove, create the beats that will drive them, have horn players improvise on them, and all that. It’s just an incredible buzz.

What other artists do you think are making great music right now?

Rah and The Ruffcats out of Berlin is the latest great discovery, amazing soulful afrobeat. My good friend Jimena Angel has a great record coming up on Partyfine, totally worth a listen, the first two singles are lovely. La BOA and Romperayo from Bogotá are my favourite live bands right now. And pretty much any remix/rework Aroop Roy puts out is fantastic.

What was the last record you purchased?

Rush City Reworks on the Colombian label Ritmo Terco. A great DJ weapon for electro, deep house, acid vibes enthusiasts.

What has been a highlight of the last year for you guys?

Personally, finishing this EP and releasing it, I wasn’t able to think of much else (music wise) until now.

What can we expect next from Lontra?

I’m currently working with a couple of Afrobeat singers on a few of tracks I wrote earlier this year, which also have some serious horn sections and drum breaks in them. I’ve also been working on new music inspired by Electro Calypso and Soca, still not sure what will come out of that, but do expect more fire from us.

Check out the latest release from Lontra.