Meet Zapa
Zapa is Miguel Zapata from A Coruña, Galicia in Northern Spain and based in London since 2009.
He is an artist and singer-songwriter with passion for the evocative, lo-fi folk music of the late 60s and early 70s. This is best represented in his 2018 homemade albums Triangle and Images, both released on Vulpiano Records.
Zapa is represented by, and a long time member of netlabel; Vulpiano Records on Free Music Archive.
The Long Trick - Released 2016
The Long Trick was my first LP, which I recorded in my bedsit in Hornsey between September 2015 and February 2016. All lyrics and music by myself except Johnny’s Gone (traditional). Additional musicians include Jacobo Manso on slide dobro and Kenneth Cohen on accordion. Fragment of John Masefield’s Sea Fever on Down Mountain Crown recited by Martin Crawley.
Concept albums have always appealed to me, not necessarily single central narratives, but rather collections of songs that hold a uniform mood or theme.In an attempt to do just that, Triangle starts and ends with the same instrumental passage, and the spoken word is thrown in and between songs that merge with one another. Marilyn Roxie from Vulpiano Records very kindly and accurately described it as a coalescence of everything I’d been working towards over the years up to that point. - Zapa
Triangle - Released 2018
Why triangle? In sacred geometry, triangles are thought to symbolize balance and harmony, but that’s something I only learned later. The truth is that while I was working on the songs that would eventually form the album, I kept coming across all these references to triangles.
On a lecture by the great Buckminster Fuller that I found online, he talks about the threeness of the Universe and the stability of the triangle. Discussing this with an old friend, architect, and designer Juan Lopez de Heredia, he explained how the triangle is the most common shape in nature and the cosmos. Around that time, I also came across an old, tattered copy of Johannes Kepler’s Astronomia Nova full of beautiful triangular shapes and imagery which inspired me for the album artwork. But most amazingly, I was once at my friend’s house; writer Harry Atkins, when I picked up a book of Julio Cortázar’s short stories from his bookshelf and the first passage my eyes settled on was a reference to the triangular shape of an axolotl’s head. I didn’t know what all these references to triangles meant, but I felt like I had to use them for this album somehow!
The songs present an assemblage of influences; the music, films, literature, and spirituality that inspired me to make music in the first place. Beiramar is from the Celtic sound of my Galician roots, to gypsy jazz on Song to a Deaf Ear and bossa-nova on Fly Away. However, my love for psychedelic folk music from the 60s and early 70s is predominant throughout; particularly Donovan, Linda Perhacs, Vashti Bunyan, Clive Palmer, Pearls Before Swine or John Ferdinando/Peter Howell; the guys behind Agincourt and Ithaca, two hugely inspiring records.
As with all my music, Triangle was recorded in my bedroom, often late at night or early in the morning, hence the subdued playing and singing! In order to
give the album more texture I contacted a few musician friends, including pedal-steel guitarist Hamilton Belk, who really took the songs Three Mile Rock
(Labrador) and Two Drums to another level. These are my favourite tracks on the album. My friend Harry reads passages of Cortázar’s short story and some of his own writing throughout the album and my partner at the time, Ariel, was also supportive with a couple of melodies and backing vocals. - Zapa
Images - Released 2018
Triangle was followed a few months later by an EP called Images, which I recorded at my parent’s home in Spain. This release works as some sort of coda to Triangle. While I am proud of the lyrical efforts on that one, I was struggling with depression at the time and inevitably those difficult feelings are present in some of the songs.
Acoustic guitars, vocals, harmonica, percussion, and all music and lyrics by Zapa. Easy Ride features Love Is More Thicker by E.E. Cummings with Fabio Mahia on drumkick and electric guitar for Blue Mist and Images. Dani on sax for Blind Road, and Hamilton Belk on pedal steel for As Time Goes By. - Zapa
I haven’t really made any music since then, as my creative and music interests have shifted quite a bit, but I’m grateful to everyone who inspired me and encouraged me to make these humble songs. This includes Marilyn Roxie from Vulpiano Records for promoting my music online since 2009, and now the Free Music Archive for providing a bit of background for anyone who might be curious to listen. - Zapa
See Zapa's entire FMA Discography here.