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Camilo Contreras San Martín BIO

Camilo was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1986. At the age of 3, he got his first acoustic guitar as a Christmas gift from his father. He used to attend his Kindergarten music lessons with his guitar.

When he was 4, he received piano lessons from a Suzuki teacher and gave his first public piano performance at the Club de Jazz. At the age of 9, he also received piano lessons from his cousin Mauricio San Martín, who is a keyboardist and a New Age composer.

When he was 13, he had his second acoustic guitar and received classic guitar lessons for two years and a half, from Fernando Bravo, professor at the Instituto de Música de Santiago. At the age of 14, he made his debut as a classic guitar player in the Universidad de las Americas Auditorium. After that Camilo spent almost two years teaching himself how to play electric guitar and rock music, based on rock albums and concert videos.

Aware that self-teaching was not enough to achieve a high level of technique, he decided to attend electric guitar lessons with Cristóbal Arriagada and Alejandro Silva, founder of the Power Cuarteto. The teachings from both were of fundamental importance for his instrumental technique and musical career.

Since 2005, Camilo has participated in some electric guitar festivals in Escuela Moderna de Música, playing rock and jazz.

In 2007, after attemps of founding a cover band, he decided to form his own instrumental project with some friends and session musicians.

In 2008, debuting as a composer, he gave birth to his first independently produced recording, an instrumental progressive metal piece: Olduvai. The following musicians participated in the recording: Camilo Contreras (composer / guitars), Mauricio San Martín (keyboards), (bass), Felipe Candia (drums & percussion).

Camilo is also running other parallel musical projects.