William Benavides

The music of William Benavides is a reflection of his cross-cultural experience moving to Canada from Colombia in 1998. His music is deeply rooted in the Latin American folk and pop music he grew up listening to; artists such as Silvio Rodriguez, Mercedes Sosa, Caetano Veloso, and Pedro Aznar. William however, expanded his window of influences when he moved to Canada, opening his ears and interest to streams of jazz, funk and rock, as well as artists such as Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and Bill Evans.

William graduated from the Recording Arts Program at Columbia Academy in 1999 and created his own label Somos Music Inc. Together with his brother Miguel, he also formed the bands Candelaria in 2001 and Somos Collective in 2008. Respectively with each group he self-produced and released “Equilibrio Emocional” (Emotional Equilibrium) in 2003 and “Todo Fluye Así” (Everything flows As Is) in 2009. With both bands, he performed at numerous venues and festivals, including the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival. William’s interest in recording and production led to his involvement in the CD production of other artists such as Miguel Valdez’s (Omara Portuondo, Afrocuban All Stars) Puro Son, Tanga’s “Simmer & Serve”, Ian Smith’s “The Accordion through the Marshall stack”, Fito Garcia’s “Mi bajo rumbero”, Tanya Evanson’s “The Memorists”, and many others. He also took the jazz program at Capilano College from 2001 to 2003 and studied guitar with Bill Coon.

Until now, William’s songs have spoken about everyday life and the many shades of love, but more recently, he has been exploring themes of self-discovery, spiritual growth and living in the present moment. His compositions are simple and direct, yet sophisticated melodically, rhythmically and harmonically.