Making Movies drummer, inspired by his dad, creates music opportunities for KC youth

Editor's Note: This interview is part of an ongoing Star series highlighting Kansas Citians from historically under-represented communities and their impact on our region. The series builds on The Star's efforts to improve coverage of local communities. Do you know someone we should interview? Share ideas with our reporter J.M. Banks.

Professional musician Juan-Carlos Chaurand has been playing music all his life. The second generation musician watched his father, a drummer, play music and that led him to pick up a pair of drumsticks himself. Specializing in assorted forms of Latin music, Chaurand and his band, Making Movies, has toured globally and played all around the country. At home in Kansas City they started a nonprofit to teach kids how to play music.

Earlier this month, Chaurand sat down with The Kansas City Star’s culture and identity reporter, J.M. Banks, to talk about Latin music, the difficulties of being a full-time musician, and the importance of music education.

Banks: Can you tell me about your background and upbringing?

Chaurand: So both of my parents are from Mexico. My mom was born in Mexico City but grew up in Kansas City (Missouri) and then my dad’s from a town called Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco. He grew up there, but once he married my mom he moved to Kansas City. I was born and raised here in KC up North.

How long have you been playing music?

I grew up playing music all my life. Professionally I’ve been playing for about a solid 20 years. My dad was a musician and a drummer so music has always been a big part of my life.

What’s your favorite part about music?

It is just a huge part of our culture. Music is kind of almost as important as food for us and for me specifically. I’ve always been surrounded by music. It definitely has taken me to a lot of places. I’ve traveled all over this country because of music, so I’ve been able to learn so many other things based on this sole fact that I get to tour and meet all sorts of people. It would be tough to survive without it or imagine a life without playing music.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your work?

I’m just thankful for the opportunity to play music, share my gift and enjoy the time doing it. I get to share my creativity with people all over the place because music connects us. I get to go out and be on stage and give a piece of me to the crowd and feel their energy responding back.

What styles of music do you specialize in?

I’m a Latin percussionist so I specialize in Latin music. Anything from Latin rock, salsa, cumbia, to meringue. But I like to play a little bit of everything as far as different music genres. Everything from funk to soul, R&B. But Latin music is my bread and butter.

How important is the drummer in the Latin music landscape?

It’s the heartbeat. It is the rhythm and tempo, which is everything when it comes to Latin music. All those rhythms stem from Africa and those rhythms are ancient. Those rhythms are very holy and they’ve been around forever so I kind of like to keep the essence of that.

What’s the most difficult aspect of being a full time musician?

I guess that all depends on where you are in your stage of your career. Because it could be money, traveling, or touring if you have a family. I feel like there are certain things that could be difficult for some people and not a big deal for others. For me, traveling and being away from my family is tough and grueling. That is probably the hardest part for me, but besides that everything else is fun.

Can you tell me about your band?

Yes, we have been playing together for 15 years and it’s called Making Movies. That has been my main band. I have a couple other projects I have been a guest on, but Making Movies is my main band. We are a mix of Latin music with influences from everywhere and everything that we kind of grew up with. So a little bit of rock, a little bit of soul and a little bit of psychedelic, and It is all our own original music.

Do you have a particular milestone or memorable achievement that stands out to you in your journey so far?

So we got to meet one of our musical heroes, his name is Ruben Blades. He is a salsa singer from the 70s and he was with this conglomerate called Fania All Stars in New York. We actually got to collaborate with him and one of the songs we worked on ended up getting nominated for a Latin Grammy. So that was a huge deal for us. That is what probably stands out the most so far.

How do you think your work impacts the community and those around you?

Our band started a music camp about 13 or 14 years ago to see if there were any youths wanting to learn how to play music here in the Northeast (Kansas City). We got some kids from the neighborhood and it started off as a week long program. Obviously that wasn’t good enough and it became an ongoing thing year after year. Now it has become a nonprofit organization called Artist Mentorship and it has been serving the youth as an organization for five years now. Now the program is in schools and we have served over 500 kids throughout the years. We want to spread our wings and go throughout the Kansas City metro and beyond.

Do you have a personal motto or philosophy that guides you?

Just be a good person. Just be nice, be kind to yourself, be kind to others and I feel like things will kind of fall into place that way.

What are some of your goals and plans for the future?

I don’t have any specific goals. I think I just want to be able to play music for as long as I can. You know, whether that be locally, nationally, or internationally. I want to be able to create different projects with other musicians.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to follow in a similar career path?

If you don’t love it, don’t do it. If it’s not your passion and it’s not something that you think about all the time, then I would say find another craft. Being a musician, you know, being an artist in general is not easy. You have to love it, not just want to love it. You have to work at it and you have to keep working at it because it’s a grind. It does take a moment for you to get somewhere, but you have to be patient. You can’t get discouraged.