Profiles: Richard Córdoba | Proimágenes Colombia

Richard Córdoba has worked as a composer, soundman, music producer and as the sound designer of musical documentaries, short films, feature-length fiction films, documentaries and TV series. Born in Santa Clara, California, he has spent his life living between New York and Colombia, and is currently based in Panama. He is a composer, plays the saxophone and flute, and is sound engineer. He is also a member of the technical council of the Cinema 23 – Fénix Awards in Mexico, responsible for selecting the best music of documentaries and works of fiction and has served as the head of selection and as a jury member for this category since 2015.
 
Currently, Richard Córdoba is working on the sound design for the 10-episode Bolivian HBO series La Entrega, directed by Gory Patiño for HBO. His other recent projects include his involvement in the direct sound for the musical documentary Yo no me llamo rubén blades (Ruben Blades Is Not My Name) – directed by Abner Benaim and co-produced by Cristina Gallego, Ciudad Lunar Produccionesand Caracol TV – and the sound design of the feature film Río Sucio (Dirty River), directed by Gustavo Fallas of Costa Rica.

Córdoba began studying music at the Boys Harbor School of Music in New York under Rolando Briceño (1983-1993) (Mario Bauza's Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Henry Threadgill Society Band, Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra). He studied composition and orchestration at the Mannes School of Music in New York (1986-1987), jazz arranging with Peter Yellin (1989-1993) (Joe Henderson, Bob Mintzer Big Band, Tito Puente) and was part of the Long Island University Big Band, where he blended traditional Colombian folk rhythms with jazz.

He was part of a number of ensembles in New York City such as the Posdata Project led by Ivan Benavides (Block, Sidestepper) and worked with Adam Holzman's Brave New World (Miles Davis, Wallace Roney, Groover Washington Jr.) as a programming and mixing assistant. He has composed music for the La MaMa theater in New York (2002) and for 9 Windows of the Colombian director and choreographer Federico Restrepo, featured at the 2003 Spoleto Festival in Italy. In Colombia he has produced radio programs, video art (Orgatek), has worked in TV music production (Ángel de la guarda Mi Dulce Compañía) and on institutional videos, and has composed the music for the commercials of a variety of different brands.
 
In 2004 he moved to Colombia where he started working on composing and producing soundtracks. His first project was with the film La sombra del caminante (The Wandering Shadows, 2005), the debut feature of director Ciro Guerra. As a soundman, he started recording live music for the documentary Arista son by Libia Stella Gómez in 2006 this experience led him to specialize in recording music along with direct sound where the musicians are interviewed while playing their instruments live in front of the camera. As part of these experiences, in 2012 he did location recordings of the sacred songs of the Mamos of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta for the documentary Aluna by Alan Ereira, a production of the BBC. In 2016, he also did location recordings of the artists Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Michel Camilo for the documentary Playing Lecuona.


He has composed the music for several feature films, documentaries and short films including Mama Koka - Die Krieger Des Kokain (Mama Coca - Warriors of Cocaine, 2012) by Suzan Sekerci, Azul Intangible (Intangible Blue, Mexico, 2012) by Eréndira Valle and Andrés Sánchez and Demonios tus ojos  (Sister of Mine) by Pedro Aguilera, which premiered at the 2017 Rotterdam Festival and won the Film School Prize at the 2017 Málaga Festival.
 
In 2014 Córdoba produced and recorded the soundtrack for the feature film Mexican Gangster under the musical composition of Andrés Sánchez Maher (Mexico), winner of best original music at the 2018 Ariel Awards. In 2015, he was invited by Bertha Navarro to serve an advisor for the 6th Film Music Workshop (VI Taller de música para cine) alongside composers such as Peter Golub, Leonardo Heiblum, Eduardo Gamboa, Gus Reyes, Leoncio Lara Bon and Andrés Sánchez.
 
Last updated: September, 2018