Hot Press was fortunate enough to spend a few days at this year’s Red Bull Academy, which took place in Barcelona (previous locations have included Toronto, Seattle, Sao Paolo, Cape Town and Melbourne). One of the highlights of the event was the appearance of reggae legends Sly and Robbie, who have collaborated with such iconic figures as Bob Marley, James Brown, Grace Jones, The Rolling Stones, Sinéad O’Connor and Bob Dylan.

After playing a superb concert at Place del Rei, the following day the duo took part in a fascinating interview in the Academy HQ, a converted textile factory in Sant Andreu. Among the subjects on the conversational agenda were Sly and Robbie’s collaborations with the aforementioned musicians, as well as their advice for Academy participants.
Indeed, attendees had a unique opportunity to witness their studio technique first-hand a couple of nights later, when the pair – accompanied by their band – dropped by one of the Academy studios for an impromptu jam. Some students even partook in the session, making for an intriguing and highly enjoyable meeting of musical styles.
The Academy was a major attraction in itself, with all manner of activity taking place over two floors, including a broadcasting studio (home to Red Bull Music Academy Radio, which goes out live from 7 to 10pm daily for the duration of the event), installations and art exhibitions. One feature which proved an endless source of fascination to both musicians and non-musicians alike was the Reactable, an electronic instrument operated by moving and rotating physical objects on its luminous round table surface.
The Reactable was developed by a four-strong unit working within the Audiovisual Institute of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, and one of the team responsible for its creation, Sergi Jorda, was on hand to give a lecture on the development of the instrument. Such is the attention the Reactable has attracted that early in 2007, Jorga and his team were contacted by Bjork, who enquired if a modified version could be developed to withstand the rigours of touring.
The team were receptive to the request from the Icelandic singer, who duly utilised the new model of the Reactable each night on her Volta world tour. Elsewhere at the Academy, Hot Press took in the interviews with Digital Mystikz member Mala, who gave an insight into the dubstep scene, and ambient house guru Joel Martin, who – in collaboration with Matt Edwards – releases records under the name Quiet Village. A former film editor who worked on The Beach, Martin’s day-job is with a label that specialises in reissuing hard-to-find film soundtracks. He treated us to some wonderfully eerie music from a rare print of Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead, which, though similar in style to cult Italian prog outfit Goblin (who did score a European version of the movie), was in fact written by an English composer.
As if all that wasn’t enough, there were also club gigs around the city on a nightly basis, featuring such distinguished groove technicians as Mark Pritchard (who has released music on Warp), Ninja Tune’s DJ Food and SuperCollider man Cristian Vogel. Pritchard and Vogel were also part of the studio team at the Academy, where they offered their advice to students, some of whom got the opportunity to air their tunes at the club dates. One such participant was Galway’s Rory Donohue, who, along with techno artist Niall Mannion, flew the flag for Ireland at the event.
A two-week celebration of music, the Red Bull Music Academy remains firmly on an upward trajectory. Long may its success continue.