[Interview by Negrura]
Urku Llanthu is a one-man-band of DungeonSynth / DarkFolkMetal from Quito, Ecuador. Pablo Mesías a.k.a Atuk Urku Llanthu is the artist behind it, is an experience musician who formerly with bands such as Acracia, Nekropsia, Blasfemo, etc. The debut self-titled album was released in November 2020 through own label, Takiri Prod. Ind.
Hail! Please introduce yourself who talked on behalf of Urku Llanthu?
Greetings from Ecuador. Immense pleasure to keep in touch with Negrura ov Himnos Rituales Fanzine from a distance a big hug to its readers. Who sends this message Atuk Urku Llanthu (Pablo Mesías) on behalf of Urku Llanthu, it is a solo musical project framed in the musical genre DungeonSynth / DarkFolkMetal.
What motivated you to establish Urku Llanthu? What do you want to accomplish through this project?
Urku Llanthu was born in 2018, it is a solo musical project framed in the musical genre DungeonSynth / DarkFolkMetal, which officially comes to light in 2020 with its first self-titled debut musical album in a special edition limited to 30 units in physical format (DigiPack); rescues ancestral places, rites, customs, taking as its main basis the use of the Quechua dialect originating in this Andean region. This creation and musical origin accompanied under the genre Dungeon Synth & Dark Folk Metal with the additional use of indigenous musical instruments and its main base the piano. Thus giving the form and mystical atmosphere on which Urku Llanthu is based.
Please elaborate more about your musicstyle and what really influenced you, musically and soundwise?
In principle, the main base in the Urku Llanthu is developed is the DungeonSynth genre, maintaining an archaic aesthetic, which will try to describe various ancient places with sound and environmental effects. Fused with Dark Ambient & Folk Metal, thus providing this form and musical framework Urku Llanthu (DungeonSynth / DarkAFolkMetal) while adding string instruments, percussion such as the leather drum and traditional wind instruments from the Andes such as the Quena and Zampoña in conjunction with the main base that is the Piano. Mortiis, Burzum, Bathory have been direct influences, in my teenage years, in conjunction with musical works such as King Diamond, Tiamat, Moonspell. In addition to the strong Andean instrumental musical current, with characteristic and ambiguous instruments of the region.
What are the themes/topics and messages you deliver through your songs?
The musical framework as well as the artistic creation route as a whole created to highlight the immense ancestral atmosphere in archaic places; motivated towards knowledge and research on the topics rooted in our culture, language, beliefs and especially the Andean worldview, the force towards the hidden and latent energy that surrounds these immense thoughts, acts and ancient rituals. Thus projecting the dense bruna that gives birth to Urku Llanthu.
Provide some information about your debut self-titled album “Urku Llanthu”; about the songwritings, recordings etc?
The first musical work is officially released in 2020 with their first self-titled debut musical album in a special edition limited to 30 units in physical format (DigiPack). The name of the band is based on the typical Quechua dialect of the original and ancestral peoples of the Andean region. ‘Urku Llanthu’ in its English translation means ‘Mountain Shadow’ and in the same way the artistic pseudonym ‘Atuk Urku Llanthu’ in its conversion has the meaning of ‘Mountain Shadow Wolf’. All this framing and musical creation under the record label and independent production that bears the name. Takiri Producciones Independiente established in Ecuador and which in turn is owned by who represents Urku Llanthu.
Are there any specific ideas you put in this first album?
The form and vision that gives rise to this first sound creation, ranges from the wealth in ancestral knowledge of the native Andean peoples, the immense attachment to the cosmos and the spiritual scheme in the daily path that the human being travels sheltered by these beliefs. Hence, under that mantle accompanied by the extensive territory full of mountains, forests full of a lot of mysticism, it provides the right time and place for what I share musically in each of the tracks and this first album to emerge.
Let us know something about your label, Takiri Producciones Independiente?
Under the need to form a more homogeneous group that provides full support, Takiri Prod. Ind. was born in turn. In order to be a great support from the artistic and musical creation side, as an independent recording studio, as well as in the printed and audiovisual idea in a professional way and with the seriousness that the Urku Llanthu environment generates. Arriving like this in this way with immense simplicity and commitment to be the right complement for what my own ideas represent.
08- Please explain anything about your new singles; ‘Yawar Uya’ and ‘Sakra Ruku’?
Continuing with the musical context of Urku Llanthu, these first two tracks that are officially created this 2021 that in the following order are titled ‘Yawar Uya’ and ‘Sakra Ruku’; which in turn will be part of the new musical album projected for the beginning of the year 2022, have a strong roots in their form and style towards the funeral rites that are also an important basis of the beliefs of our culture, in an idea about the trip that also It comes after the existential passage of being, and which are rites that until now are forged in the minds of those of us who are part of this region, about the hidden universe that is forged about that great astral travel and its various edges.
Are you in preparation for releasing a second album? What can we expect for your new full-length?
This new album, soon to be released in the following year 2022, makes a strong remembrance of the rites and customs towards death and everything that converges in this environment, the way and way of celebrating it, the important ancestral context of it, that path that each one of the living beings will take at some point and as the spiritual way is a source of great importance towards that great journey. Taking up that idea and creating a musical reminder that strengthens this idea in each new song, I also mention that in this new album I add musical instruments that vary a lot because they are part of this region. Also varying in the audiovisual presentation of the tracks that are on the air and those that will gradually arrive on the following dates.
Salutant Urku Llanthu. May success be with you! Some of your last words?
My deep gratitude, an honor to share this first approach with you and the readers of Himnos Rituales Fanzine. Wish for you a great path and work of diffusion. Enthusiastic about the professional and serious work with which they carry out their information. In the distance send them a big hug, invite them and welcome them to be part of this universe and the Urku Llanthu family, more updates and news will arrive soon. Expect this new album loaded with a lot of mysticism and darkness. The energy and the shelter of the cosmos will surely continue to shelter our way and we will maintain a next contact in this serious and cordial way. Alli Ñan, Alli Kallari.
atukurku@outlook.es
atukurkullanthu@gmail.com