Among the narrow streets of Sevilla’s Casco Antiguo<\/strong>, surrounded by ochre buildings with hints of yellow, Ilan Amores, a Buenos Aires native born in 1992, pulls out a small digital camera from his pocket and starts filming. \u201cSay hello,\u201d he smiles, capturing the moment. The silver, worn Canon camera has accompanied him since his first tour with the Argentine punk band, Argies<\/strong>. \u201cI bought it at a market in Italy many years ago, and since then, I record everything, wherever I go. Memories are preserved better with the camera<\/strong>,\u201d he muses as he strums his guitar, heading toward the bohemian Alameda de H\u00e9rcules.<\/p>\n \u201cI am in a state of happiness that I think is unnatural for human beings,\u201d he admits. This sentiment is understandable, as Amores finds himself in Spain, about to embark on his first solo European tour. Just last week, he traveled in a tour van with his idol, Manu Chao<\/strong>, and over the weekend, he performed \u201cBar La Perla<\/strong>\u201d alongside his compatriot Gaspi<\/strong> at La Velada del A\u00f1o V<\/strong> in the Estadio de La Cartuja<\/strong>, serenading an audience of about 80,000 people. \u201cThe experience with Manu was a complete surprise. I didn’t even know what La Velada was until two weeks ago. An artist’s life is very pirate-like and buccaneer… until things start to go well.\u201d<\/p>\n Amores\u2019 musical proposal defies categorization, merging traditionally sectarian genres into an unexpected marriage of cumbia, rock, and punk<\/strong>\u2014the latter being one of his most vital roots. The outcome is a deeply emotional and dense cumbia that blends the Monterrey<\/strong> style with the villera<\/strong> sound of suburban Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a stigma attached to cumbia and punk, as if those two genres shouldn\u2019t intersect. They\u2019re like forbidden loves,\u201d he explains. \u201cBut then I thought that the most punk thing you could do was to cross that boundary<\/strong>. You can\u2019t escape cumbia; it\u2019s part of our DNA in Latin America. There comes a time when, as a musician, you get fed up not understanding it. It has its own language and musical richness, and I said, \u2018I want to learn that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n So where does this passion for punk originate? \u201cIn Misiones, the city where I grew up, I had a neighbor named El Naipe. He was a crazy kid: he had tattoos, played drums, and listened to punk,\u201d he recounts. \u201cHe gave me some cassettes with The Clash<\/strong>, Die Toten Hosen<\/strong>, and the Ramones<\/strong>. It was the coolest thing in the world, but also music that invited you to be a part of it. It resonates well with the rebelliousness of a child feeling like the entire world is against them. He introduced me to a whole reality and a social consciousness<\/strong>, and that\u2019s how I became very close to punk,\u201d explains Amores, who had already been playing guitar and drums from a young age.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise, then, that he soon became involved in bands. He started with Euforia<\/strong>, which lasted “two rehearsals.” Following this were Anarqu\u00eda<\/strong>, formed with friends when he was about 13 or 14, and later Cara Rota<\/strong>, which was more serious. \u201cMisiones was a good place to rehearse dreams,\u201d says Amores, who later returned to Buenos Aires to study drums. There, he would join Argies as their bassist, a band that would take him around the world and shape his visceral perspective on music.<\/p>\n However, his path shifted when he discovered the power of songwriting as a narrative tool: \u201cOne day I heard Andr\u00e9s Calamaro<\/strong>, and I realized what it meant to write a song.\u201d Alongside Chao and Calamaro, his inspirations include Pete Doherty<\/strong> and Joaqu\u00edn Sabina<\/strong>. \u201cI really like the imagery of the singer\u2014half poet, cursed, pirate, buccaneer. All these people take their role as a singer very seriously, just as I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Between questions, he strums a few chords on the guitar resting in his lap. At one point, he begins playing \u201cBar La Perla,\u201d attracting the attention of a waiter from the caf\u00e9 who pops out to listen. His rock aesthetic contrasts sharply with the delicacy that emerges as he plucks the strings of his Gibson<\/strong>. The tattoos etched on his skin serve as ink through which his experiences are documented, from which the lyrics of his songs now flow.<\/p>\n In 2017, he released his first solo album, UNO<\/strong>, followed by Chico Chico<\/strong> in 2019, during which he also adopted that name as a new artistic identity. \u201cWhen I started as a solo artist, I didn’t want to put my own skin on it; I wanted to hide behind something,\u201d he admits. Chico Chico<\/strong>, he explains, originated from a bar in a village in Corrientes<\/strong>, where he went to record the album. \u201cWe recorded in a wooden cabin, with the microphone hanging from the ceiling, next to the beach. After asking for inspiration from [the pagan saint] Gauchito Gil<\/strong> upon entering the town, I wrote the whole album that weekend, surrounded by friends,\u201d he recalls. There was \u201ca lousy little bar called Chico Chico, and a friend said, \u2018Call the album that name.\u2019 Soon enough, they started calling me Chico Chico.\u201d<\/p>\n The album was released, and a year later, someone from the village contacted him to share that Chico Chico had actually been a beloved local fishing man and musician who had passed away. \u201cHis brother opened the bar in his name. They said his spirit was in the river where we wrote the songs<\/strong>,\u201d he reminisces.<\/p>\n However, it was time to shed the mask\u2014there was a Brazilian artist with the same name\u2014and present himself to the world as Ilan Amores, despite his reservations: \u201cI don\u2019t want to imagine that so many people could know me, because you start trying to please everyone, and that\u2019s a very bad ship to board.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he gained new followers over the weekend, Amores is not interested in sacrificing his essence for visibility. \u201cI take very seriously everything I worked on to get to this moment, to not renounce it, while maintaining a spirit and trying to be authentic,\u201d he conveys, radiating the good vibes<\/strong> he is known for. \u201cCumbia accompanies me, cumbia cares for me, and this high boat will take me to a good port.\u201d<\/p>\n