The way I met Bibi was another crazy, but true story. Believe it or not, everything started over three years ago, the very first day that I showcased my guitars to the public at SCAD’s Out to Launch (O2L) 2014.
Back when I was in school and participated in this event, I was able to meet one of Nike’s former creative leaders, or as he likes to call himself “Kayatlyst”, Kevin Carrol. We exchanged contact info and three years later this connection led me all the way to Portland and meeting Bibi McGill at her studio.
To give you a little more info about Bibi, she started touring as a guitarist for Pink, La Ley and Paulina Rubio between 2001 to 2005, which later led to an audition that got her a spot in Beyonce’s all-ladies band: The Sugamamas. As Beyonce’s lead guitarist and musical director for over eight years, she was able to tour the world and play in the biggest stages, including Glastonbury Festival and even the Half Time Show of the Super Bowl on 2013. Currently, Bibi and Beyonce are in an indefinite hiatus, as Bibi is pursuing new musical horizons as an independent musician and DJ, as well as touring the world as a yoga instructor.
Coming back to the story of how I met Bibi, it was a crazy series of events that got me there. An email, after phone call, after phone call, after a bunch of texts, finally got the Gallo Guitars page in front of her. After she looked at it, she now tells me that she fell completely in love with the way the light changed according to sound and all the possibilities we had to collaborate on a bigger project. She also explained to me, how she incorporates “vibrational medicine”, into her yoga and music practices, and how all of that resonated with my artwork. Nevertheless, for a musician of her caliber, it was completely necessary that she had the chance to play the guitars, to test them and see if they met up with her standards. Now, this is what took me to Portland a few weeks after. This entire trip twas quite an adventure, but I will tell you more about it on a later post.
When I got to Portland, I was able to have a 2-hour meeting with Bibi at her studio. It was early in the morning, but we had to make it work as she was going on an 8-week tour the week after. While at her studio, we were able to discuss music and several other ideas. She was able to play two of the guitar demos from my Artist Signature Series: “The Soul Runner” and “Aurora”. As she played the first one, I was very excited, yet nervous about what her reaction was going to be. Then, when she grabbed Aurora, this is when it all made sense to me. I could see the reaction in her face as she played, and then it was delightful to hear all the positive feedback she had for me and my Gallo Guitars.
After demoing, we sat down and chatted about new ideas for collaborating together, which, btw, to this day I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to be at that very spot at that very time. It is just an unbelievable feeling that words cannot describe!
As our meeting got to an end, we rounded up our ideas. The first thing I did to make our collaboration official, was to have Bibi take one of my demo guitars on tour with her, so she could try it on a bigger stage and give me some feedback of how it accommodated to her needs. Also, once I get enough feedback from her, we are looking to build her a bespoke Gallo Guitar, completely customized to her playing needs and featuring my original artwork. Finally, we’re going to continue to work on other projects together, but this is something that we will have to share with you guys later in the future.
Now that I’m back in Boston and Bibi is on the road with one of our Gallo Guitars, I cannot wait to share all of the things we’ll do together. Today, I am very pleased to introduce Bibi McGill to our Light Up The World Project and cannot wait to see her on stage vibrating higher!
To read more about Bibi got to our -Light Up the World- page on this link.
– Jose Gallo –
Bibi McGill at her Portland studio with "Aurora", a Gallo Artist Signature Guitar.
Bibi Mc Gill's guitar solo during Beyonce's I Am World Tour.
(YouTube)