It was at the end of 2020 – in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic – when José Freire, better known on the national and international scene as The Oriental10began a journey that would lead him to become one of the Chileans exponents of the urban genre from Los Angeles, California, United States.
With hundreds of listeners on digital platforms such as Spotify and YouTube, the singer from the city of Concepción has just released his new EP, called “Outside of Radar”.
With Chinese eyes and tattoos; from Concepción to Santiago and from Santiago to Los Angeles, United States, the exponent of the urban genre, The Oriental10tells his story. He talks about his migration from Chile to North America; his beginnings as an artist; his life as a father and as a friend of great national singers, such as the leader of “Sosa Mafia”, Julianno Sosa; from one of the most popular founding members of the Shishigang Social Coordination, Well Bulgari and the outstanding musician “The Crab”, former reality show boy who passed away a few years ago and who was one of his main reasons for taking up the art of music again.
He also speaks to us from a place of love. About how he met and built his family in North America with the singer and actress Paula NasChilean-American. An artist who has participated in major Hollywood productions, such as “Fast and Furious”, the Harley Quinn movie, ‘Birds of Prey’, and even participated in the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) in the United States, which has allowed her to meet great actors, such as Will Smith, Leonardo Di Caprio, Al Pacino and Lady Gaga.
Next up… The true story of the “American dream”…
– We are with El Oriental10, an exponent of the urban genre in Chile, based in the United States, Los Angeles, in an exclusive interview for the newspaper El Mostrador. The first thing is to ask you, where are you from? Where were you born and raised?
– Well, first of all, thank you for the invitation; for the space and yes, I am from Conce. Born and raised in Hualpen. Then I went to Santiago to live there when I was about 18 or 19 years old.
– You are Chilean living in Los Angeles, United States, how did you migrate? Tell us, how did the idea of leaving Chile come about?
– Look, it was crazy, but it was like a blessing, because everything came out of nowhere. I went to Santiago for music, you know. I was studying. I remember telling my mom: ‘You know I don’t like what I’m studying. It’s not my thing. I see myself making music.’ So I left school and went to Santiago and there I started to make friends with “The Crab”. But I took a period of about three years where I did nothing related to music. I went to a studio once a week, once a month, every two months… It was like I had lost my love for music. I left between the ages of 18 and 19 for Santiago. So, the friends I made through music became my family and we were all young kids. The typical thing happened: ego problems suddenly; money problems and there comes a time when everything explodes.
– Were you studying a formal degree?
– I was studying Industrial Engineering in Mejillones. I went to an Industrial High School.
– How did your interest in music come about? Wanting to be a singer… That artistic inspiration.
– I think it was born when I was a kid. I have had that bond with music since I was a kid because, for example, when I was a kid I stayed… My mom worked, so I stayed with my grandmother at home and she forced me to go to church. So, I was 7 years old and I started looking for something that I would enjoy doing at church: the choir. But I fell in love with music at school because of a classmate who was listening to a CD. Baby Rasta and GringoI liked music in English. I watched music programs, but I had never heard music like that in Spanish. So when my partner came over, I heard “I’m going to the club for her.”
– Let’s talk a little about your family. About your partner, the singer and actress, Paula Nas. Is she Chilean-American? How did you meet?
– Both. In Los Angeles. We met here after the pandemic.
– You have a little dog, what’s his name? You also have a son; a dog son and a human son.
– No, I have two dog children. I have a partner. I have two dogs, I have “Tuba”, who is my first child. We have the whole family.
Love: The American Dream
The artistic talents of the Chilean-American singer and actress Paula Nas They were born since she was little. Her parents and siblings instilled in her the culture of music.
“My older brother plays the guitar. My other brother plays percussion and I sang and played the piano. So we had a mini band. We grew up with that as a child. We made reels with music. Whenever we could get instruments, we got them out. I grew up with that. I also always wanted to be an artist as a child. As a child I liked screens; I liked to sing. I always dreamed of that. That’s where they got me into modeling. My parents encouraged me and supported me in that from a very young age, you know,” recalls the artist and partner of El Oriental10.
Nas studied acting at the Fernando González Academy. However, when he returned to the United States, his mind was opened to the possibilities and he wanted to dedicate himself to making music as well.
When he was in a studio in Chile in 2021, he was told that there was a Chilean in Los Angeles making music, which he found incredible.
“I said, wow, it would be great to find someone who makes music in the United States, in Los Angeles. It’s hard to find Chileans here. There are very few Chileans here. So it was great to say, there’s another person, because I was working on the music here with a gringo. I was working with a lot of people who make music here. So connecting with someone from Chile… That’s when we started talking. I was in Chile. The relationship came out of nowhere. I came back here to Los Angeles and we got together. That’s when it all started. Since then, we haven’t separated. That was in 2021. A year or so after that, I got pregnant with our son. So, that’s when we started our family.
“I am Chilean and gringa. I was born here in Los Angeles, California, but my family is all from Chile. They are all in Chile. Most of them, because I have family here too, so yes, “Well, I speak English; I speak Spanish. I have both cultures, but I am Chilean.”
“As an actress I have been able to achieve many things. Here I work on different productions. I have agencies that represent me and I have been able to be in huge productions like in ‘Fast and Furious’; in the Harley Quinn movie. Now recently I was in ‘Griselda’. I have met many famous people, and a few years ago I received an invitation from the Actors Guild here in 2022.”
“I participated in the Screen Actors Guild Awards from here and there you can also meet Lady Gaga; Al Pacino There are already a lot of people. It’s cool, because having this other world, as I said before, opens your mind, the world, that things are more attainable, you know, and you know you can do it. Things are right here. Everyone working here next to you… Come on, if the person next to you could, you can too. So, no, cool. I haven’t had a big role or anything like that, but I don’t doubt that soon it will be, but I have been able to do cool things.”
“Well, I started making music in 2019, 2018. Before, I was thinking about how I was going to make a living as a singer, but when I got here, I saw that everyone was a singer. In the end, you could be whatever you wanted. I started making music, and even though I was more motivated by a gringo, I started getting into the rap industry and I don’t know what, and that’s when I made a lot of songs, but my first song that I released has a more gringo vibe. With the people I worked with, that song was all more bilingual. And I said, no, I want to do something more mine: more Latin; more Chilean, and that’s when I started more with reggaeton.”
“When I started, I also had a lot of problems… Maybe because of my ignorance, too. I made songs with producers I couldn’t trust, you know, and they even stole a song from me. A famous one here, a female rapper. I was just starting out, it was great for me. So I said: ‘I’m going to start making reggaeton.’ I’m going to start doing my thing and leave the American scene more or less aside for a bit. Then, one also evolves a lot and I started working with people in Chile and people here in the United States. I recorded my song here in the United States or also there in Chile when I go to visit, but I’ve also had a transformation, because now I feel like I make music that’s somewhere between Chilean and American. It’s like a mix. There are lyrics in English; lyrics in Spanish because that’s how I am, you know. That’s me: Chilean and gringa. So I kind of want to mix that up, because I want to show who I am as an artist. In my career I was kind of on standby for a while. When I became a mother, I didn’t do a performance, I didn’t make any music either. I created songs while I was doing, I don’t know, putting my son to sleep. I would put my headphones on and write lyrics or things like that. I took some time off to be a mom and now I’m back with everything.”
“Well, in Chile I have also been involved in acting projects. I have been able to work with cool actors. We were going to do a series where my parents were Ale Herrera with Julio Milo, but in the end it didn’t happen, because in Chile everything is more limited by the issue of resources; the issue of who puts up the money for the productions. So, in the end that project didn’t come to fruition, but well, in the future there are many projects that I have in mind; that I have open and I hope they come to light.”
“For that reason, I don’t know if I should call it an American dream, but yes, there are possibilities here. There is the opportunity to be there. It kind of opens your mind, you know. There are no limits like in Chile, where it’s like, ‘you’re not going to get to a certain point,’ no, here it’s like there’s no point if you take a risk. You can go very far. Many people have gone far like that; many artists, and from all over the world. Here you can find people from all over the world, other cultures, other visions, other points of view. Also having the opportunity to work with other artists, to have another opportunity, another idea, to be more creative in other ways and for people to not be like ‘oh you’re not going to make it. No, here it’s like ‘yes, you can do it’..
“So in that sense, of course, You could say we are living the American dream.because because We are living the lives we want; we like being artists, so yes,” reports.
EP: Off the Radar
– You are involved in a very important project in your musical career: Your EP, which includes a very relevant collaboration with Ben Bulgari: one of the founders of the Coordinadora Social Shishigang and also with the leader of “Sosa Mafia”, Julianno Sosa.
– In a minute of introspection I say: what am I doing with my life? I mean, do I want to do what you’re doing forever? Or do I really want to do what motivates me, what inspires me, which is music? That’s when I go back and make music and the EP “Fuera de Radar” starts with this song that I dedicate to “El Cangri”. In a certain way, that idea. Like living that whole process, seeing his wife who was soon going to have a baby shower; seeing the mother and seeing that whole process, like the idea flowed to me.
– You were a good friend of “El Cangri”, an exponent of urban music in Chile, a young man who caused a great stir in the public agenda due to his death in the Bolivian desert. He is well known for being one of the first “flaytes” on television with the docu-reality series “Perla” and later with his program “Dash y Cangri”. How has that process been? How was it to receive the news of his death? “El Cangri” died in a very important year, because a lot of things happened here in Chile. Tell me a little about your friendship…
– It was hard, because as I was telling you, for a long time and to this day, my friends are always part of my family. I am not one to have so many friends, but I am one to have good friends. I prefer quality over quantity. So as I was saying, “El Cangri” unconsciously before leaving was the one who left me with that seed of desire to return to music. Without realizing it, I was contacted by an independent label here. They had heard a demo that was created during a night of study after the death of “El Cangri” and they liked what they heard and that’s where we started talking.
– And how did you meet him, do you remember?
– I remember that the first time I saw him in person we went to a studio with the producer who was working at the time. I was going with the idea that I was going to become a singer, but it didn’t come to me. Then I started to be a composer and I remember that there was a video director. They were watching a video and we talked for a while and we went and with the producer that I was working with at the time, we both said: that’s where we belong. We’re going to start working with them, we’re going to make the songs for them and a week later they contacted us. We kind of called him. It was right in the middle of that when ‘El Cangri’ is a hit on Channel 13. Just when the series was booming, there was no turning back. The kids’ lives had already changed completely.
– That year, 2019, is a very powerful year in Chile. Songs by Pablo Chill-E, Cris MJ, Standly, Harry Nach or el Poli lead the streaming platforms. In 2019, many things happened in this country. There was a social explosion and there was also an explosion of the urban genre. The Shishigang movement, also representing with Pablo Chill-E there a social discontent with the system, the State, right? How do you think the urban genre influences society?
– I think it is a kind of voice of the people, so to speak.of ordinary people. There are times when we as young people, I mean, we just want to have fun, but “There are times when we also need to say what is happening to us, you know? From something sentimental to dissatisfaction with how my life is, you know?
Many artists are showing the life they lead because of the life they lived back then, to many people who don’t understand it, who don’t live it, which is like inciting violence and I think that’s wrong, because in the end it’s the way that one suddenly has to say: “Hey, things aren’t right here.”
– Here is a very important point of what you said: The life they lived. In the ghetto; in the population, drug trafficking is very much a part of life. We have to talk about things as they are, drug trafficking, prostitution, etc. For many urban artists, music is their liberation or their escape from perhaps not being involved in those things, do you believe that?
– Completely, music is a ticket out. I realized that I was studying and I didn’t see myself studying. Afterwards I didn’t see myself doing that for the rest of my life. So, imagine for a child who, I don’t know, in a hypothetical case, his father, I don’t know, is in prison; he’s dead, or his mother is not home because she has to work all day. His cousins are out on the street doing their things. So, what does that child see? ‘Eh… My life is going there. Thanks, no.’ And suddenly music appears and it can be your ticket to changing your life And you don’t just see it in children, but in their entire environment, in their entire family. So I think it’s also important to encourage this, you know.
Just like on the street; just like in the neighborhoods there are a lot of drugs and everything that the street entails in music as well. So there is also a need for a bit of education among those who have been here longer and to guide those who come after. For example, I have realized this here since I arrived. It’s very easy to get lost here. It’s very easy to get lost in the sense that you start getting a little bit of fame, a little bit of money and everything appears on your table.. So, if you don’t measure yourself, discipline, discipline, discipline, education not in the sense of studying, education in the sense of what is good for me, how far I can go, you know. This type of education that they say is given at home.”
So you are missing that. So, those who are higher up have to educate those who come down below, which is important to guide.
– I think there is also an issue… Many artists, as the media shows: drug trafficking, the population itself, have taken charge of financing music videos, etc. In that sense, is there a role that is missing from the State? Culture funds perhaps that aim to promote the urban genre, but from the State? Do we see art as financing for these young people?
– If you put it like that and think about it in a way…like from an off-radar point of view, you realize that In the end, the people on the street are giving the money, because no one else is putting it up.. Or not? I mean, it goes beyond a question of someone having to help. I’m not saying that people are doing it like they’re white doves or anything, but in the end they’re doing something that no one else is doing.
So, when things are pending, in general in music, if you notice the bands, so to speak, that are years and years old today are not as famous. Today there are more singers, but before it was the fantasy of leaving the country and thus they could reach the next level, because Chile is still a small country. A country where unfortunately the idiosyncrasy suddenly makes everything, as they say, “turncoat.”
– In the digital age, artificial intelligence, everything has now led contemporary artists to release a lot of singles; to release a song, not to release albums… Why an EP? Where does this logic come from? What is an EP?
– As I told you, I’ve been a fan of music in general since I was a kid, and I always understood that the gringos, the rappers, you know, the band in their songs saw music as a fashion and as a season and each album, each concept that they made was all one. So, when I came here and started working with my music, I said, ok. Release a song a month and every six, seven months end the semester, so to speak, with this ending… This end of the semester was ‘Off the radar’, you know, and all those songs that came out there go under this concept: That is to focus on what You shouldn’t hold on to life so much, because in the end all you have are memories.what is being experienced now and next season will be another concept.
– Let’s get to it, let’s get to it… what collaborations or surprises are coming? Give us a sneak peek.
– I don’t want to give too much light, because projects can fall through, but this next session is going to be pure reggaeton, but reggaeton like that, pure reggaeton. It’s going to be an EP that will close with five or six songs; two or three collaborations and the other one will only carry the reggaeton concept.
– Well, to close this interview, what dream or dreams are you planning to fulfill?
– I would like to be able to give a concert in my homeland and it would be great to be able to organize it, for example, for Christmas. Not everyone has the same Christmas, you know… And there are people who really need a little more joy all of a sudden. It is a very special month. The date is important, not everyone experiences it in the same way; of course, not in the same way. Soa goal, a dream as close as possible is to be able to organize a party in Hualpén, which is where I was born. To my people.
A Ping-Pong with El Oriental10
– Who is your best urban friend?
– Well Bulgari.
– How do you see yourself in 10 years?
– A businessman. I like business. I see myself making music and I continue to be connected to music, but also doing business, you know? In my company and everything related to that.”
– What is your favorite song outside of the urban genre? Any romantic, metal, gypsy?
– I’m a fan of Lil Wayne. He was like my first reference. So when I started growing up I saw it as his style and I said: “Okay, that’s what I’m going for.”
– Which artist do you dream of collaborating with or would you like to collaborate with one day?
– Ñejo.
– Who is your reggaeton singer?
– “Ñejo”.
– Do you have any unknown hobbies that your fans don’t know about?
– I really like watching TV shows and movies. Sometimes I like watching Polish and Austrian films. I love that. Sometimes, if a TV show starts, I get anxious.
– Speaking of which, do you have a favorite movie or series?
– I like the movie 50 Cent, the movie. It tells a bit of his story. I also watched Daddy Yankee’s movie “Barrio Fino” many times.
– Do you like dogs or cats more?
– Dogs. If I could have a dog farm I would have a big dog farm.
– Which female artist would you like to collaborate with? You have a very important collaboration in Chile with “the trap mami”, Loyaltty, but perhaps something more international… With Karol G and/or Tokisha?
– With Tokisha. I feel like it could be something more in line with what I do.
– Underworld?
– Underworld; underworld. I feel like something interesting could come out of it.
– When is a collaboration with Bizarrap coming?
– We are working to achieve things like this.
– What message would you leave to the people who listen to you?
– There are people who follow me; who follow my music who are just like me, because they come from nothing and they cling to their dreams, you know, and I could tell you, not only for those who want to make music, or whatever, but for anyone: everything is possible. I mean, you have to focus. Work. Focus and give it, and give it, and give it. That’s when they say: “oh, it was a stroke of luck,” but you have to work for those strokes of luck to happen.
– It’s the whole artistic process, not so much the result, right?
– Of course, I mean, and enjoy it too. Enjoy the life you are choosing. I mean, if you want to be a doctor and you have to endure seven, eight years of full study, little social life, then enjoy it… Because in the end no one is forcing you.
– What message would you give to teenage boys and girls who want to get into music? Nowadays, it is quite striking, as one of your colleagues, Marlon Breeze, says: “Nobody wants to be a footballer anymore, everyone wants to be a singer, an artist.”
– It is like that and it is also a product of what is sold on social media. Nowadays, many children also want to be influencers. Many children are gamers. So it is already a product of what is sold on social media. Also on social media – as they always say – not everything is real; it is manipulation. What I could tell them is that whatever they want to do in their life, hold on to it. Trust in God and work. No one can turn off the light here. Let no one tell them “you couldn’t go.” On the contrary: Hold on to your dreams. Be your light and keep going, because everything is possible.
– Create your movie…
– Yesterday, so to speak, I was thinking about what would become of my life, and today I am doing what I love.
– Well, and apparently well done, because we have seen you on several covers of La Cuarta and other competing media such as Canal 13, Radio Agricultura…
– As I tell you: Nothing is free.
– To close, how would you define yourself in three words?
– Persevering, consistent and a dreamer. He never stopped dreaming even when he was awake. I think that has been something important in my life: constantly dreaming.
– I don’t sleep, I rest, as Pablo Chill-E says.
– “As you are dreaming it; as you are imagining it; as you are visualizing it: You are going to draw it.”
Link Spotify:
Link YouTube:
Subscribe to the Newsletter Cultivate from The CounterJoin our community to find out the most interesting things from the world of culture, science and technology.
#unknown #story #Chilean #urban #art #family #Oriental10 #California