We recently connected with Eva Català Sánchez and have shared our conversation below.

Eva, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I remember spending hours when I was a kid just listening to music, dancing to it, and imagining I was one of the artists playing in the song. When, at 6 or 7 years old, my mom asked me if I wanted to learn to play an instrument, I had no doubt about it – also, luckily in my hometown (Valencia), it is very common that children learn music after regular school, even in the littlest towns.

I started, then, learning music and I chose percussion as an instrument because when the teachers were coming to show us each instrument before deciding, I saw that the percussionists were the only ones that were playing together, as a band, and I found this very fun and closer to the music I was listening to.

When I was 12, I had to do an audition if I wanted to keep studying at the conservatory. At that time I was not practicing much because I liked to do many other things -and mainly spend a lot of time with friends-, so my teacher -that knew me well-, at some point told me he didn’t think I was really interested in music, asked me to consider if I wanted to take the test, and to really commit to it if I decided I was going to take it. That was the crucial moment for me where I stopped and started seeing clearly that I really wanted to be a musician. After that, I never doubted.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a freelance musician, currently based in Madrid (Spain) and working mostly as a performer in live shows, gigs and recording sessions. I play in many different projects of a variety of styles (jazz, world music, pop, alternative…), and I am also working on my own personal project, Eva Català Group, where we perform my originals.

I have studied both jazz/modern music and classical/contemporary music, which made me start collaborating with numerous national and international artists pretty soon. This combination of education and experience developed my versatility, which I think is my strongest point. Not only because of the variety of musical languages that I know, but also because I can play many instruments. That is, for example, very in demand in recording sessions, because there’s only one person needed for different tasks.

All of this has also made me look for a unique sound as a performer, but also as a composer and arranger in my music, narrowing the gap between modern jazz, flamenco, Latin-American music and contemporary classical approaches.

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

I believe music is one of the strongest tools to create a feeling of collectivity. I have been always interested in music being born before verbal language, born from the same human necessity of communication and instinct of being part of a community.

Even before being actively interested in all this, I remember myself as a kid choosing percussion as an instrument because I saw the percussionists at my music school were the ones that were playing together the most. I felt how powerful music can be when you perform it along with others, and how powerful it is for the audience or the dancer, that are part of the performance as well.

For me, sharing music and thoughts with new people appeals to my open personality, and since I was a kid, that desire to connect through music has made me eager to create new projects with different people, find masterclasses, see other people’s performances, collaborate with artists from other disciplines… Now, when I perform and especially in my personal project, I am always willing to break the boundaries between the performers and the audience, which are part of the same experience.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In my opinion, art is mostly meaningful when it’s experienced by artists and audience in the same event, as a shared experience. Therefore, promoting live experiences in any kind of art would be, for me, game changer. Sadly, I think we are witnessing the opposite: less focus on live events (which are also not accessible for everyone, and should be) and more into promoting online plattforms and social media, which we can only experience as individuals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.evacatala.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evacatala10/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eva.catala.7/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-català-sánchez-578a13246/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EvaCatala

Image Credits
Pic 1: Begoña Solís/Condeduque Pic 2: Gracia Gata Pic 3: Marta CV Pic 4: Begoña Solís/Condeduque Pic 5: Irene Santamaría Aguilar/Irene Aguilar Tamarit Pic 6: Aida Redzepagic Pic 7: Irene Santamaría Aguilar/Irene Aguilar Tamarit Pic 8: Javier Ruiz Txin