Friendship sometimes takes the exact form of a podcast. In our country we hear it in cases like Weekly Deformed, Almighty or Here there are dragons , also in others like Nobody knows anything , Modern life or La Cultureta. In all these cases, the complicity that is installed between the members of that show is spread and passes through the headphones to get directly to the exact center of our brain, where scientists from the University of California in 1998 found what they called "the source of sense of humor. " Certainly a privileged place. One of the latest podcastsConcha Podcast , an independent Argentine show with the voices of Laura Passalacqua, Dalia Fernández Walker and Jimena Outeiro, is able to hybridize a sense of humor, feminist awareness and taste for life . A space for dialogue from the feminine that reaches millions of audiences and fills theaters in Argentina.
How and when is Concha Podcast born ?
The podcast comes out at the end of 2018. We are friends and we had a WhatsApp group called Concha Alert (due to an anecdote that Jime tells in the first episode of the podcast) . For a time, we used to get together every week for a beer. The idea of doing the podcast is born in those talks that we enjoyed so much. We felt that there was something interesting in the way we shared what was happening to us and in the topics we touched on. In addition, we realized that having passed (for several years) the 30s, we had on many issues a more mature look, we could laugh at certain issues, which 10 years earlier would have made us drown in a glass of water. In a bar one night, Dal said, "Shall we do a podcast ?", And there it all started, like a game. Actually, we became aware of what Concha Podcast is as it happened. There was never a plan or a design.
Why do you define yourselves as "phallic women"? In this sense, what kind of feminists are you?
We use the term based on what the yin / feminine / receptive - yang / masculine / active energy principles symbolize to describe that we identify with an active, desiring, independent, expressive attitude of not expecting things to be done by someone else. The three of us always work hard and each one found her own role of authority and power in spaces full of men. We are in the process of recognizing ourselves and facing our own machista conditioning. We realize how feminist we are as we talk. We could say that thanks to Concha Podcast we are much more feminist today than when we started doing it. Now that we read it, is it a macho statement to define ourselves as phallic women?
Well, I think not, of course. I think they were already friends before tarot, if I'm not mistaken. A great complicity emerges that spreads to the other side of the podcast.
Jime and Lau we met working as producers in an advertising agency and with Dal we met studying tarot and astrology in their esoteric store / school, where Jime later started teaching tarot as well. We are very confident between the three of us, we know that we can say absolutely anything and that we will never be judged; and maybe that's what's contagious. At the same time, we are very different and genuinely interested in what the other has to say. The repercussion that Concha Podcast has is a beautiful surprise . We never imagined that this would happen. It started as a game and we believe that today it continues to maintain that spirit.
Many times it seems that conversational podcasts are less brainy and everything comes up spontaneously. In your case it is like this?
We have no script! We have a talk a few days before recording in which we talk a bit about the chosen topic. From that moment, and in some mysterious way it is constellated, it manifests itself. Things are starting to happen to us that are related to the theme of the episode. In the studio, the conversation starts and we have the plucking on the subject at hand. Some themes give more depth and we get more serious, others end up being more fun and light. But, since there is no script, it depends 100% on what happens at that moment. What we record, as it comes out, is published almost unedited. For example, we went to record the episode about Concha Católica, and we thought we were going to rant against religious dogmas and tell funny anecdotes, but an episode of existential questions ended up coming out. We never know what we are going to say and we really enjoyed that.
You know that shell in Spanish is something else ... Why that name?
Yes, in the first episode of the podcast we talked a lot about the word "shell." In Argentina, concha is the expression of lunfardo for the vagina. Before the podcast , we didn't use it as much and it had not-so-positive connotations. For example, saying "conchuda" to a woman was an insult. When we were talking about the name of the podcast we tried by all means not to call it Concha , but we couldn't help it. At first, the word generated discomfort, it sounded rude and shabby, provocative. And that's how we felt, too. Now we believe that the name and trying to avoid it, and the discomfort we are going through is part of what happens with the podcast and how it is transforming us. Now the word shell is no longer so controversial. It became a word that contains us, brings us together, that we associate with desire and with pleasure.
How do you choose the themes?
There is no forbidden topic, you simply have to pass the filter that interests us and we feel that we can contribute something from our experience. We are fixing the topics based on what is happening to us at the moment. We have a long list of songs but we are selecting from four to five and we make short seasons. The only objective of the chapters is that they are good, first for us and we know that if we enjoy it that will be transmitted. Everything that happens is quite spontaneous, we have no methods or strategies. We are doing and things are happening. In creative terms, in general, we are always quite aligned and if any difference arises, it is discussed and resolved by majority vote. But in general, it always flows.
It seems that in the podcast you tell everything about yourself and there is no shame. How are couples and family doing?
Jime was always about telling more from his own from the beginning, but Dal and Lau at the beginning we did not expose ourselves as much, the confessional trend was increasing, and in times of quarantine we started to do weekly episodes live on Instagram much more. For now, it does not generate conflicts in our relationships, the truth is that we do not say anything that we do not want / can count or that those we want do not know. Not that we count everything. To Jime, who is the most exposed, for example, old loves are written to him, to confirm if he was talking about him in that comment or anecdote, to give or ask for explanations about it. Most of the time, these ex -post exchanges are good. With families it is different in each case, but we leave it to their discretion, if they want to listen and expose themselves to that information about us, it is at their own risk ( laughs ); There are all the episodes hanging!
The podcast is a tremendously intimate format, for individual consumption on most occasions. You, however, do live shows . How do they live and prepare each format?
The live episodes were born when you began to feel that a community was being generated around the podcast and the need arose to meet us with our audience in person. We originally thought of them as episodes with an audience . But of course it is very different to be the three alone in an intimate conversation in a studio to try to have that same intimacy with more than 300 people present looking at you. Each live episode is different, as it happens to us in the studio. We are learning and adding or changing some things. We always do it taking care that we can enjoy it a lot, because that is what Concha Podcast is for us, about pleasure. With the help of Nicholas Silbert (our director of shows ) we were adding some elements that transform them into a show. When the public is there, they make us want to interact, they also tell us what they feel, and we also have a good time.
The end of the live show is especially energetic, isn't it?
We have a closure that is in the process of finding a definite shape, but right now it works and we end up way up there! So much so that we extended one of the shows at the end of 2019 and added a party so we don't have to leave so fast! At the beginning of March we had to cancel our biggest show in Buenos Aires because what was happening with the covid-19 was foretold. It was a super difficult decision because the mandatory quarantine in Argentina had not yet been decreed, but we knew that it was a risk to gather 600 people in a room, and we canceled. We will do it again when everything returns to normal.
I imagine that the podcast is financed through these direct, but, is there another type of income from advertising or exclusivity with any platform?
We financed the first year of the podcast ourselves. As we start doing the shows , first we invest in making the shows great, and we do use the remaining money for project expenses. We are quite careful of the independence and intimacy that make us be able to do Concha for pleasure and freedom ; and we believe that that is also what resonates to our audience; But yes, one of the intentions for 2020 is to make Concha a more profitable project and start associating ourselves either through advertising, or some agreement with a brand or platform. We were having some conversations and exchanges, but we still haven't closed anything.
Would you like to do some live s how in Spain?
Yes, we would love to! They write to us to go there. Moving from Buenos Aires was part of what we wanted to do this year, to do some shows in the interior of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, and the desire to go to Spain is always there. The measures in relation to the covid-19 stopped us the plans of live shows anywhere in the world, but as soon as we can go we will be delighted.