Berklee graudate Paul Sanchez releases his debut single

ISTANBUL

Grammy-nominated Ecuadorian trumpet player and arranger Paul Sanchez’s debut single, “Tres Palabras,” has been recently released by Pasion Turca.

The first South American to obtain the Presidential Scholarship from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Sanchez has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Alejandro Sanz, Luis Enrique, Paquito D’ Rivera and many more in prestigious halls and festivals.

In an exclusive interview, Sanchez said he was born into a family of musicians and that his home was filled with musical instruments and people who were in love with music, while remembering practicing drums with his father and sitting at the piano trying to imitate his mother at the tender age of 5.

As the first musician from Ecuador to study at Berklee College of Music with a full scholarship, Sanchez said the scholarship is given to only two international students every year. “I felt very proud to be able to represent my country and culture in one of the best music schools in the world,” he added.

Sanchez is also an arranger. Speaking about what he pays the most attention to when arranging a song, Sanchez says he is very passionate about arranging.

“My main focus is the melody. Like my father used to say ‘Melody is the queen, and we all work around her.’ It means that we make everything possible to make the melody shine at all times.”

He is married to Turkish musician Elif Sanchez. Speaking of the advantages and difficulties of a marriage of two musicians, Sanchez says she is a world-class musician and one of his favorite singers.

“It is a great advantage to be able to work with the love of your life. I feel that this deepens our relationship. One of the challenges is to be able to separate our personal life from our professional life. It is a daily challenge we are learning from,” he says.

Sanchez lived in Türkiye and the U.S. for a while. Now he is based in Spain.

“The movement is something that I love about my life. The cultures are very different. In the U.S., I had the biggest cultural shock because the whole system and relationships are different. Türkiye and Spain felt more like home. People are very loving, and the food is out of this world. The culture is so deep and interesting,” he explains.