Not only does Mauricio Lizarazo have a very picturesque name, he also runs a very unusual business. He makes sustainable music. I have a solid background in Corporate Social Responsibility and therefore heard more or less everything about sustainability, but I had no idea of what sustainable music could possibly mean, so I met him for a vegan burger at Berlin Swing Kitchen. That was my first ever vegan burger, by the way.

About Mauricio Lizarazo

Mauricio is the founder of Pachamama Culture, an international project focused on sustainable tour management, live music, and promoting bands and solo artists. He has produced and organised concert tours for projects and bands like Ohrbooten, United Colors of Bass, Lola Marsh, Acollective, Attaque77, Garden City Movement, Systema Solar, Toto La Momposina, and El Sie7e, among others.

After finishing high school in the US, Mauricio moved to Germany to study Business Administration at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster, and he worked there as Product Manager for BASF.  He became a vegetarian in 2003, after pondering the effects of intensive animal farming. During the time he was a student at Münster University, the Mad Cow disease (BSE) started spreading across Europe, and he became aware of the brutality of animal farming and its negative impact on the planet. Since 2008, he has been following a fully plant-based diet.

From sustainable life, to sustainable music

I wanted to know what his family in Bogota thinks about his career and if they are vegan, too.  Do vegans even exist in Colombia?

“My family has been there supporting me throughout my career” Says Mauricio “My dad has always told me to do what I wanted and do it right, with passion and self-confidence. My parents and brothers are not (yet) fully aware of the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. In countries like Colombia, society tends to be very conservative, animal farming has a strong hold on the public’s opinion, and the animal-based food market dominates through the power of extensive advertising campaigns and misleading information to the public. Nevertheless, conscious consumers have been coming out over the last decade, in Colombia and Latin America too. There has been a keener interest in plant-based lifestyles and the information is available for the public to make conscious and informed decisions about consumption and lifestyle.”

I enjoy the huge benefits of my whole plant-based lifestyle.

After moving to Berlin, in 2003, Mauricio joined JuanImashi, a Latin-Alternative band and subsequently started producing music and organising music concerts for other bands as well as his own. That was the start of Pachamama Culture.

 

The Greta Effect

Greta Thunberg has become a key figure for environmentalists worldwide. I met Mauricio before Davos 2019. So we did not talk about Greta then. But we talked about her on the phone, later on.

What does activist Greta Thunberg stand for? How important is she for us?

Greta is a radical activist for the planet. She is driving the public’s attention to climate change action on a global scale. The subject has been out for a while. But somehow, Greta, with her teenage radical position, gets the attention we have needed for so many years, and points the finger directly at governments around the world, that have done nothing or too little about it. Climate change is a paramount issue. We all have to do something about it. In any way we can. Demanding that governments and politicians around the world do something radical about climate change, that they take action in a positive way, is crucial. But also each one of us can create positive effects by changing our lifestyle and consumer behaviour, for the health of the planet and for ourselves.

What is your mission and who are your clients?

Our mission is to produce, co-create and co-manage content to the best use of resources and technology with sustainability and social responsibility, providing authentic cultural expressions and top-level acts across regions and markets. Therefore I have developed a Sustainable Music Model with clear goals to

  • Reduce carbon footprint, resulting in less waste
  • Apply sustainable business practices
  • Create environmental, economic and social awareness
  • Engage and Inspire music fans

We’re working with bands like Lola Marsh, Nosoyo, Ohrbooten, among others. Music Festivals like Fusion-Festival. And developing music experiences like United Colors of Bass. Music venues like YAAM in Berlin.

Our target customers are also Music Venues and Clubs, Booking and Tour management agencies, Live-music Producers/Promoters, Bands, Live-Acts and Solo artists with social responsibility. And also music business suppliers.

What is your vision for your own company?

My vision is to provide a platform for sustainable music.
We are aiming to establish a fully comprehensive platform to produce and co-create content, ensuring sustainability and social responsibility.

You are an entrepreneur. You are dealing with daily entrepreneur life which also means advertising and handling your social media accounts to grow your community. Are you afraid of algorithms?

Not afraid but curious about the power and effects algorithms are having on the technology that influences us and helps shape our lifestyles.