Correspondances carte blanche Martín Calderón, manager du projet Evha. Martín Calderón, manager of the EVHA project. Ville de Papallacta, près de Quito, dans la région amazonienne. The town of Papallacta, near Quito, in the Amazon region. Quito: tropical tempos For the last ten years, Ecuador’s capital has been humming to the sounds of an electro-folk revolution—a movement in sync with its ancestral culture and extreme climate. A musical escapade for the reopening of this airline route. Melancholy is not an emotion you immediately associateHowever, as in most of the world’s capitals, there are a few with South American music. With the exception of Brazil, places packed with thirty-somethings from dawn to dusk, which made bossa nova the bittersweet ambassador of tropical beavering away on their laptops, a cup of coffee at hand, intent melancholy the world over, most sounds from this part of on finishing the project that is sure to bring them fame. the world are, in keeping with the popular view from afar, Ocho y Medio, a cinema named as a tribute to Fellini, offers festive and joyful. Yet in Ecuador, and Quito in particular, a cutting-edge lineup of films from every continent, melancholy is the word that crops up time and time again while serving as a hub, a place of exchange for young artists in discussions with leading figures on the local music scene, who spurn the notion that Quito’s isolation is virtually like a kind of inner armor for what lies ahead, a desire for inevitable. It is here that Sebastián Valbuena agreed to meet sincerity in sync with the music itself, and also in tune with us, the musical man behind the Panico project, whose a climate that can be so capricious that it affects, not without pulsating, intimate folk owes as much to Americans Elliott a certain grace, the creative mood of artists. “The weather Smith and Smog as it does to Brazilian masters Chico Buarque is so changeable here you can experience all four seasons and Caetano Veloso. “Culturally, we haven’t exerted the same in a single day,” says Pedro Ortiz, drummer of the excellent influence as our neighbors, the Colombians, Brazilians group Da Pawn, “and as musicians we’re in sync withand Argentinians,” Valbuena explains, “but there were signs these variations.” of a change around ten years ago. The Internet gave us an opportunity to showcase our work and overcome the Cultural outliers That day was bright and sunny—the rain obstacles created by Ecuador’s particularly isolated status.” could wait for another day—as we sat around a table onThe country is literally located at the center of the world, the minute terrace of a coffee shop in La Floresta. The latter and there is a little theme park that offers fascinating is Quito’s bohemian quarter, popular with artists, musicians experiences on either side of the line separating the northern and filmmakers active on the local independent scene.and southern hemispheres. But in other respects, and in Sometimes nicknamed “Quito’s Brooklyn,” a moniker thatparticular when it comes to culture, Ecuador has always makes regulars smile, it exudes a serenity and quietness that remained apart, off the radar, beyond the reaches of Westerners differ markedly from the electric atmosphere of New York. interested in the South American art scene. 124