Greater Babylon coverage is funded in part by The Argyle Theatre, where Broadway comes to Babylon. Click here for tickets to ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Nov. 7 – Jan. 5.
The dream began at his family’s dining room table in Santiago, Chile.
A young Pablo Araneda intently watched and listened to his father Guillermo finger tap to the beats of Latin American rock and Chilean folk music. He would mimic his dad, while adding his own flair.
Not satisfied with only the table, Araneda explored the entire house, looking for ways to tap in sync with the beats and sounds of Santana, Los Jaivas and Violeta Parra.
“I carefully and enthusiastically watched my father tap on the table to the music, and he encouraged us to do the same,” said Araneda, 51, a celebrated Chilean world music artist and instrument maker who is set to perform on Long Island next week. “I started to tap everything. I’d tap different tables. I’d tap the pots and pans, and the floors.”
Eventually, he grabbed two sticks and began tapping the drums. He was the drummer in a high school rock band; the singer was an American exchange student.
At the end of his high school days, his passion for music gave way to practicality. He enrolled in college and studied commercial engineering for six years.
From 1997 until 2011, he maintained a successful career as a commercial engineer. He also temporarily became a restaurateur, operating a vegan restaurant in the hipster town of Valparaiso on Chile’s coast.
However, following the death of his mother, Maria Eugenia, from breast cancer in January 2011, Araneda grew compelled to make a significant life change. He left his job as an economic analyst for the regional government in Chile, closed the restaurant, and turned to his first-love, music, for healing and therapy.
The transition led him to explore ethnic musical instruments, first learning to play them and then creating them.
“After my mom passed away, I wanted to start down a new path. I didn’t have certainty about what to do,” said Araneda, who operates Inspira Musical Instruments out of his home workshop in Algarrobo, a Chilean beach town. “As I was on my journey, I connected with ethnic musical instruments. Finding music was healing and therapeutic for me. It inspired me to help others through my music.”
Araneda established Inspira in 2012, and has since made and sold more than 1,000 instruments to customers across South and North America, as well as in Europe. His craftsmanship focuses on melodic percussion and includes wooden and steel tongue drums, spiral chimes, meditation chimes, and flat and tubular bells.
He incorporates his handmade instruments into his performances and sound healing events, as well as handpans, gongs, crystal singing bowls, Native American flutes, kalimbas and frame drums.
In creating these tools for meditation and sound healing, Araneda said he aims to help people achieve a state of calm and self-awareness.
“My goal is to facilitate a space for connection within yourself and with others, generating peaceful and positive energy. I hope my music stirs something deep within, awakening what lies dormant in listeners,” said Araneda, who is also part of the world music band OniriK, which has performed at numerous festivals in Chile.
Upcoming sound healing events in West Babylon and East Meadow
Araneda’s introduction to Long Island is set for Sunday, July 28, at Always-at-Aum Yoga School in West Babylon. Together with his sister, Andrea, a Miller Place registered nurse and medical massage therapist, Araneda will host a sound healing and self-massage event at 6 p.m.
The event is part of a summer workshop series to honor the “sacred feminine.” Admission is free.
The brother and sister duo will hold a similar event on Friday, Aug. 2, at Blue Lotus Wellness in East Meadow. You can sign up to attend by clicking here and tapping the “workshops/events” tab.
