*This is not a review. This is telling it like it is, a college musician, writing about other musicians, in college.
The idea of “Before They’re Famous” is a simple one—although the task requires a breadth of music appreciation, an exceptional amount of time spent digging through Facebook pages and a great deal of patience as the communications major crams night and day to play the weekend show at the local watering hole—the end goal is to bring an undergraduate underdog from playing in sticky clubs and dive bars to the where the big dogs eat.
“A brotherhood. A Tribe. A Herd that will be Heard.”
The band out of Berklee Cordelia and the Buffalo is taking the Boston world by storm, bringing a self-described “tribal rock” fusion to taunt and titillate the local music scene. Their just-right eclectic psychoticism of instrumental exoticism and ear-bliss is enough to open the mind of any listener, drawing influences from Bjork and similar artists.
Houston-born Mexican/American front-woman powerhouse Cordelia Vizcaino caught up with TCC on the influence of her Tex-Mex roots and how she met up with the “Buffalo” at the Berklee College of Music.
“We met at Berklee College of Music. I set out from Monterrey, Mexico to find the perfect combination of musicians that would bring the sound I’ve been working on to life,” said Vizcaino. “Somehow, piece-by-piece, it started to come together, and somehow created a tribe with people from Mexico, Japan, Venezuela, Norway and Alaska that forged the soul of an indie-electric-rock breed of sound—and the Buffalo was born.”
Cordelia started up as a singer-songwriter pianist as just Cordelia, but eventually fell in love with electronic production and music design where “The Buffalo” was brought to life.
“Here is where I learnt to trust my music and let it take me wherever it must.”
CREDIT MANDATORY PHOTO BY TIM SNOW/evenko
In her bright eyes, the band’s moniker of ‘Buffalo’ has a symbolic basis as a powerful force of nature, considered sacred in many Native American Cultures and as a necessary source for well-being, comfort and survival. Throughout her life, music has represented everything that is a Buffalo, including that of traveling in herds—or bands.
“My 'Buffalos' are all those people, musicians, engineers, fans and those that have believed and joined in us to aid in keeping ‘The Buffalo’ alive,” said Cordelia. “An entity that represents all those who have joined the Herd will be Heard.”
On being a musician that also has the additional stressors of nagging professors and papers on papers, Cordelia and her yak seem like they are holding up okay, albeit the challenge of attempting a double major while remaining connected to the social sphere of a music project.
You get to practice in the real world what you are currently learning in the classroom, Cordelia says.
Cordelia and the Buffalo have two music videos in the works for their songs “Free” and “7th Sea,” as well as the possibility of a new EP.
“You should support a college musician because against all odds, they have put their entire hearts in making your heart feel good with their
music, no matter what. You have to make peace with the idea of not getting more than five hours of sleep every night, but once you do…oh, there is no stopping you.”
Join the Herd here