We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ivan Flores a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ivan, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I drew bits and pieces from all these distinct influences and have used them to create compositions for the last 20+ years of my artistic life. I have composed over 100 pieces, each one being drawn from a personal life experience or one shared with me by a close friend or family. My process is extremely organic – in other words, melodies & lyrics will materialize at any given moment and I’ll have to find a way to record or otherwise capture the idea before it fades. I am a completely self taught musician and do not read or write music in a formal sense. Everything I create is by ear and not written out on sheet music. I became a parent at a very young age, which has been a mostly beautiful experience I drew tons of inspiration from. It was not without its challenges, my primary focus shifted from my budding music career to fatherhood, mostly doing so as a primary sole provider parent. Putting my aspirations and goals on the lower tier of priorities, giving the focus and attention to my son – guiding him through the different stages of life. He is now a first year college student (1st in the family), working and also an aspiring musical artist.
Although there was not a lot of free time for me to focus on my artistry, I successfully wrote, produced and or performed in 14 musical productions. Established the first Latinx-owned Bay Area based, Cumbia record label Discos Resaca in 2017, out of the need to create a platform for local, independent music. Two of the productions won Album of the Year awards respectively; “Y Te Cuento” KQED 2020, “East Side San Jose” Vogue Mexico 2022. My first venture into film was in 2022 with the animated short film “La Curandera Cumbiambera” bringing Cumbia to the Anime world for the first time. The film has been selected to 4 international film festivals winning the “Best Film” honors at the 2023 Latino Feedback Film Festival. In addition to that there have been other compositions of mine used in films, advertisements, and podcasts.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My aim as an artist & culture bearer has always been to engage the intergenerational audience of the Bay Area and California. By creating pieces that can be relatable to the entire family, and moreover the community as a whole. Key themes that consistently appear in my work are; the oral tradition of storytelling and using rustic/classic musical elements from the past to create contemporary work.
Knowledge transfer is also a central focus of my work. Early in my career I was exposed to more experienced international artists (Mexico, Japan, Colombia, Africa etc.) through workshops and other avenues. The impact that had on my development is immeasurable, it has also been mutually beneficial for all involved as I too have shared my network and practices with these same artists as I grew in my career.
My career has taken me through multiple generations of my own life. Having started in my teens and into my 20’s-40’s I see the importance of bringing in artists of all ages to share and learn from one another. With that being said, my desired impact is to expand the reach and bring in artists from all over the world to collaborate, teach and learn from artists within our local community.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Knowledge transfer is also a central focus of my work. Early in my career I was exposed to more experienced international artists (Mexico, Japan, Colombia, Africa etc.) through workshops and other avenues. The impact that had on my development is immeasurable, it has also been mutually beneficial for all involved as I too have shared my network and practices with these same artists as I grew in my career.
My career has taken me through multiple generations of my own life. Having started in my teens and into my 20’s-40’s I see the importance of bringing in artists of all ages to share and learn from one another. With that being said, my desired impact is to expand the reach and bring in artists from all over the world to collaborate, teach and learn from artists within our local community.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
At the end of April 2023 I tragically lost my older brother. He was much more than just my sibling, he had a huge influence on my musical career, introduced me to so many different types of music and always encouraged me to pursue this career path, and even appeared on the cover of my latest album. The impact this has had on my family cannot even be put into words. Unfortunately my work output has slowed since his passing as I focused on providing support to my parents & family. I have regained the strength to pick back up and continue the work as he would have wanted me to.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discosresaca/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4g4ZIEza373v5GXxHOgv9g
Image Credits
Javier Sanchez
