We recently connected with Edmundo Kuri and have shared our conversation below.

Edmundo, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

It is interesting being a creative. No one really knows the price we pay to be able to work in this industry. The countless hours training only to be rewarded with countless hours of flexing our creativity so that we may properly deliver to our clients. And furthermore, the adaptability we must obtain after receiving feedback to change and alter our art to build a world in a collaborative space. I love this job as taxing as it may be.
Now, I was once a bartender at a multimillion dollar restaurant, and yes, the hours were long and the work was hard, but I always knew where my next meal was coming from and never was there the need to take my work home with me. Admittedly, sometimes I miss the comfort of knowing where the next job is, and the relief of clocking out and letting the bar completely go, however, it is these very things that make being a working artist such a grand adventure. That it is impossible for me to plan for my next job because, undoubtedly, some director or video game developer is going to ask for something I would have never thought of… Something I don’t know how to do and this will keep me up at night. I go to bed thinking of solutions… I wake up, finding angles…
So yes, there are times that I miss and wonder about a, “regular Job”, but I’ll never go back.

Edmundo, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born in Tampa Bay to a non-musical family of El Salvadorian immigrants. I never had an example of what it meant to be a musician, never taught the ability to create. However, from a young age, I always found myself vividly aware of the worlds built by music. Much to the dismay of my parents, as wonderful as they are, I picked up classical guitar at a young age and began my creative journey. As I fell deeper and deeper in love, in particular with the vivid imagery evoked by classical music, I dreamt harder and further, convincing myself that this would be my path. My way to live.

I eventually found myself in the professional music scene in Tampa Bay, but with Covid came an absence of work, so in order to maintain my budding career, I turned towards the study of Film, T.V. and Video Game scores at Berklee in Boston. Nowadays, my mission is simple, to provide high quality audio for any and all of my clients, no matter their needs. To express what words cannot express in the form of music for visual mediums while working on teams of creatives to create and build new and unique worlds.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Coming from a family of businesspeople and academics, intertwined in the worlds of mathematics and science, I was the “black sheep” of my family, fighting every single day to prove that I could make this far-fetched dream come true. Now, what the dream was, admittedly, was but an abstraction. I had no example of what it meant to be a true musician. No example of what it actually would require… To me, it was to become a rockstar. So, I sought out a community to incorporate myself into. After years of placing myself far outside of my comfort zone, seeking opportunity, I finally began to meet the real musicians. It was here that I began to finally understand that being a creative person was not the pursuit of being a star but the deep and internal study of the craft of music. The need to tell stories and create environments.

Finally, I earned my first paycheck. I was able to step into the local scenes of Tampa Bay as a professional guitarist and my dream had started coming true. This, however, was fairly short-lived as the onset of Covid 19 had killed the community. All of a sudden, I found myself lacking in gigs and students, but worst of all, I saw those who had taught me, those that I admired, crippled by the effects of the pandemic. Now, thankfully, I am a stubborn person. Now, as unmusical as my parents may be, they are creative, and in this, I am extremely grateful for one lesson in particular. Sitting in contemplation of how to maintain my budding career as a musician throughout Covid, I stayed with my parents for a short while. There is one painting by an unknown artist in my father’s office. It is of a Latin American woman who may or may not be in deep pain, washing her clothes by a river. I would often find myself practicing classical guitar and staring at the painting. One day, I was practicing a piece by Isaac Albeniz, Asturias. My father sat there listening and all of a sudden stopped me. He told me to look deeper at the picture. This was not an elegant woman, nor was she aggressive; I was playing all wrong. He explained to me the possible humble nature of this woman, the deep danger she may be in, and the more and more he explained, the more my playing began to adapt to the painting itself until it matched.

From this moment forward, world-building became my obsession. I ravenously reviewed all of the melodies and harmonies that had been a part of my upbringing from film and video games. The histories of the composers and how they reached the distances they had. Then I noticed one common denominator between not all of my favorite composers but a significant amount of them. They had attended the Berklee College of Music. Now, with quite a hefty price tag, I thought, maybe… maybe not…. But why not try if it meant that I could not only keep my dream alive but stretch and further my own potential?

Three years have passed since then, and I gave my absolute all at Berklee. I made a habit of placing myself far out of my comfort zone, networking, composing, teaching, and gigging, and I loved every moment of it. This led me to where I am today, and it is an amazing adventure. I am constantly being asked to create new soundscapes, new worlds, and new creative ways of implementing music into a visual medium, and I am looking forward to what the future holds.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Composing for media is an interesting journey. It is amazing that the actual composition of music is often the least taxing of my work. I often have to work as a sort of psychologist to my game developers and directors, attempting to extract, not only the how and what of what they are attempting to create, but the why. Often, creatives don’t know how to express exactly what it is that they are looking for in the musical medium, so I have to begin to get to know them. Where they come from, what art they like, their favorite foods, and as I gain a broader picture of my team, I slowly begin to understand what it is exactly that they are looking for. That is my goal, to deliver the exact needs of my teams to breath life into their worlds, and furthermore, to make sure that the music feels as if it is coming from us as a team and not just me. I believe that this process is what truly leads to special experiences that we can provide for our audiences and one of the parts of composition that brings me the greatest joy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://play.reelcrafter.com/5BOaa_XnRFGsUCkRLpSkSg
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wolf_kuri/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmond-kuri-05a94b2bb/?profileId=ACoAAEzZKoYBrYSyQlzibxcF0CV3pT-waDy77S8