Conversations with Engel Indo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Engel Indo.

Hi Engel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
My story is two-fold, I’m not sure if one would have happened without the other. But both started with me moving to Tucson, after serving in the U.S. Army for almost two decades. At its root, in my heart, growing up, I always wanted to be a musician, my dream was to lead an orchestra of sorts, I never would have imagined that my dream would come true, sort of…

I arrived in Tucson, Arizona around 2008, and shortly after that, I enrolled at the University of Arizona, Go Wildcats, to earn my Bachelor’s Degree in Latin American Studies with an emphasis on Ethnomusicology, which I had the honor and pleasure of studying in Peru, where I was born and raised, at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, in San Miguel, Lima, Peru.

During my time at the UofA, I met some incredibly talented musicians, both, on and off campus, one in particular, who, through his tutelage and friendship, guided me to be where I am today, Mr. Kiki Castellanos, today he is the leader of Vox Urbana, an incredibly talented and original band proclaiming the true stories of people going through issues of immigration and other real circumstances in life through his music and lyrics. He introduced me to a world I always dreamt of, and he inspired me to become a musician, with no prior musical training or knowledge. Most of my musical trajectory had been sitting on a Peruvian Cajón, pretending to be a percussionist, and while I could perhaps keep a beat, I was never really a true musician of any kind, I was merely a military man with a dream of making music.

By 2012, I had two certain truths in me, one was the eagerness and hunger for becoming a musician, but the other one was also an eagerness and hunger for continuing to serve my country, more specifically, my community here in Tucson, Arizona. And most importantly, I had to find a way to make both happen, hand in hand, avoiding conflicts of any kind.

Around this time, Kiki and I, along with other fantastic musicians, and with the support of our closest friends, we started a band called, A Son Y Sol, which was built around the concept of playing the Peruvian Cajón with any type of genre that we could think of, from Salsa to Rock, to Blues, all with Cajón, guitar, and bass, and any other guests we would have at the time.

We started busking on 4th Ave in Tucson, a concept that, up to that moment, I had only seen in the movies or something truly far away from my reality, but I was doing that now, and I was loving it. Later, as we became more popular, we played in most of the more popular venues in and around town. What a beautiful life!

During the day, I was working full-time for a local mental health organization, which allowed me the flexibility of helping a population dear to my heart and professional career, I was serving Veterans. In doing so, I started a Facebook page called, Pay It Forward Tucson, the idea was to connect people in need with people who could help, Volunteers, Donors, etc. This simple concept later became, and is currently, a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization helping Veterans and Low-Income Families, for which I am the proud owner and director, this too, was accomplished with the help of people in my life.

I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of what it takes to manage two completely different lives, what I will say is that, in my life, I have my children, my grandchildren, my music, and my service to the community, and that is who I am and what I want you to know about me.

That is how it all started, and this is how I got to where I am today…

Today, I continue my service to the community through Pay It Forward Tucson, Inc., and I am also now the proud owner and… yes… musical director… of a local band, and I say that humbly, and with the complete understanding that I am only pretending to be, for I still have no formal training nor do I have the absolute knowledge of what such title entails, I simply use this as a reference to my leadership in a band for which I put together, and for which I lead, not as the best or even higher knowledge musician, for I know my own limitations, musically and professionally, but because I had the courage of bringing in musicians with an immense amount of talent and caliber of music; and I get to present them to our fans under a concept I created, Chalako The Band, playing different genres of music from across the world.

This came with a price, however unimaginably amazing, it has come also with a list of heartbreaking circumstances, as per any other band, I would imagine, I have lost friendships, and brotherhood that seemed to be unequivocally enduring and unbreakable, in the service of our craft, I as the leader, have had to make some hard decisions, solely for the benefit of the band, for which I have been labeled in a not so friendly manner, but on the other hand, those who truly understand, or perhaps, have witnessed my musical trajectory have been in support and always attentive to what the bigger picture is and will always be. We as musicians must know that we are here to serve our fans, to love what we do, and to serve our own souls in order to survive and, “To get through this thing called ‘life’”

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
“But the worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself; you lie in wait for yourself in caverns and forests. Lonely one, you are going the way to yourself! And your way goes past yourself, and past your seven devils! You will be a heretic to yourself and witch and soothsayer and fool and doubter and unholy one and villain. You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame: how could you become new, if you had not first become ashes?”

Those are the words of Friedrich Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Unimaginable truth, perhaps, speaks to most of us in times of struggle and disillusion. The intensity in which I swim these troubled waters is perhaps my worst, and best, quality, I tend to ask, and even demand, of myself an incredible amount of progress at the expense of my own circumstances, I have to work a thousand times harder than the normal human being (musician) simply because I do not have the knowledge or the basic understandings of what music is, and so I work extremely, and extra, hard to be at a sufficient or acceptable level of musicianship when I’m around my own band members, and this perhaps, makes me want to expect and demand of my counterparts what I should not. This is not fair to them, or to me for that matter, but that is who I am, as a man of principle, I want to offer the most, every time, all the time, and I expect the same in return.

As I have mentioned before, up to one point, my level of musicianship was sitting on a Peruvian Cajón, pretending to be a percussionist, this changed quickly. Through my musical journey, rather than saying musical career, I was fortunate to be hired as a Latin Percussionist for an already-established local band called Los Guapos. There, I learned quite a lot about the business of music, I was welcomed and encouraged to bring in ideas, and musically, I learned the ins and outs of writing and composing, later I also learned the ins and outs of music recording and production as we were lucky to have three CDs in the market, CDs for which I have also contributed in the writing and composing of some of the songs.

After, a short-lived musical adventure with these top-notch Los Guapos musicians, our lives went in separate ways, not long after, and still craving more knowledge and full of musical ambition, I wanted to continue playing live, and so I enlisted Mr. Richard Verdugo, keyboard player for Los Guapos, and together we started looking for other musicians to start a new band, Chalako The Band, the name came later of course, but the love was already in place. After several different options, Mr. Rob Green came along on Bass and lacked the presence of a guitar player, and after the subliminal suggestion of Mr. Green’s wife, Ms. Linda, and I may be paraphrasing here, but, “Does he think he is a pretty face? He needs to pick up the guitar and learn to play…” She was referring to me as all I wanted to do was sing in our new band.

This challenge was welcomed immediately, and as I remember Rob explaining one day, “His first week he sucked, but the next time he was better prepared…” Again, I may be paraphrasing here, but he was referring to my struggles in learning how to play an instrument I had only had very little knowledge of, the same has been the case for learning drums and currently learning to play piano. The struggles are real and they are really hard, sometimes painful, but most rewarding in the end.

In Twilight of the idols, Friedrich Nietzsche also said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” My biggest and most regrettable mistake may have been that I did not become a musician at an earlier age, therefore, my struggles in becoming one today are my own wrongdoing, I am my own worst enemy for not doing it earlier, but also for never being satisfied with what I am now, I always crave for more. This may not be a bad thing, but is definitely a painful road to success.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work is my life, my life is Music and Service to Community, but most importantly, my reason for living is my children and grandchildren, all three make me who I am today.

My Service to the Community. “Pay It Forward Tucson, Inc.”

A (501)(c)(3) Public Charity and Non-Profit Organization in service of Veterans and Low-Income Families. We seek to complement the already established city, state, and county assistance, in a collaborative effort, with the hopes of eliminating hunger, homelessness, loss of basic human needs, and poverty through the use of donations, volunteers, and resources. We provide assistance with basic needs (i.e., utilities, housing, moving, household goods, food, bus passes.) and also provide a safe environment for at-risk youth utilizing second language education through the use of music, when possible.

Sponsors / Donors
• Tucson Electric Power
• A Family Discount Storage
• Instrumental Music Center

Partners / Collaborators
• Habitat for Humanity, Tucson
• Regional Municipalities Veterans Treatment Court
• La Frontera Center, Rally Point AZ

Pay It Forward Tucson has done so many great things in the community of Tucson and Pima County since its establishment in 2012 and continues to thrive for the betterment of those less fortunate. PIFTucson relies on individual donations and Volunteers to achieve our community efforts. The majority of our funding comes from charity events held on a case-by-case basis. We are always seeking sponsors, Volunteers, and donations.

“The best way to create a real sense of community is by helping others and allowing others to help you, this is our community. Let’s be real!” Engel I.

www.facebook.com/PayItForwardTucson

My Music. “Chalako The Band”

Chalako is an eclectic Tucson band with elements of rock, blues, jazz, pop, Tejano, cumbia, salsa, and bolero, all laid over rock-solid Latin rhythms.

Established in 2018, Chalako brings the flavors of an old Chilean folk song, climbs the Andes to entertain you with a Cumbia from Peru, drops by, and picks up a Pop song from Argentina. From the Caribbean, Chalako’s Cuban-influenced Salsa, and Bachata from the Dominican Republic are as fresh as the waters that surround the islands. While they have a short delay in the U.S. of A., they visit California for some soul-searching tunes by Chicano; to Texas for some ZZ Top’s 70s blues-inspired rock, and 80s Blues by Steve Ray Vaughn. Chalako then finds their way into New York City for some Salsa and Boogaloo rhythms from the 60s and 70s. If you’re not already sweating, we’ll take you to Spain and Italy for some romantic pop songs, and since we are there in Europe already, we pay a visit to Liverpool’s greats at London’s Abbey Road.

www.facebook.com/ChalakoTheBand

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
The best way to support and collaborate would be to be present, to be there, to say, “Hi, how can I help?” And most importantly, to follow through with their interest to support.

Whether it is wanting to help another soul or wanting to write a song together, whether it is to contribute to our nonprofit in many different ways or to jam out in one of our shows, the best way to support and collaborate is to be present.

Come by and say hello, if only through our Facebook Pages, sometimes that is enough, your presence is all we seek, all we need, and all we want is for you to be “Here, There, and Everywhere.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ChalakoTheBand.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/Chalako.The.Band
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/PayItForwardTucson
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChalakoTheBand
• Other: www.facebook.com/PayItForwardTucson

Image Credits
Jeff SpryTime, Serena Ruiz & SR Photography, Aura Vidal, MF Andrews, and Veronica G. Gonzalez