profession: press/publicist
works with Iron Maiden, Tarja Turunen, Stratovarius, Rata Blanca, a.o.
based in: Buenos Aires, Argentina
In countries like Argentina, many of the branches of the music industry are relevant precisely because of the number of women who work in the field carrying out projects, and managing artists, record labels, entertainment producers, and media, among many other specialities. They are not only the medium to succeed locally and nationally but also set an example for other colleagues within the global music industry.
It is known throughout the world that Latin American audiences are very passionate about the music they adore. Artists like the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Megadeth, Die Toten Hosen, and even Madonna, have captured their passage through Argentina's spectacular concert registrations to showcase the passion of the Argentinean crowds living and breathing the music. Argentinian fans are known for their passion for music, a trait that also characterizes the work ethic and attitude of music professionals in the country.
Metal is her passion.
Gabriela Sisti, better known as "Gaby", has been part of the Argentinian metal music industry for over 20 years. She has become a household name as a press and personal publicist, not only for national bands but also for bands from Europe and the United States.
She started working when she was 16 at Halley, a well-known and popular rock and metal club in Buenos Aires city. It was there that she got introduced to heavy metal, an environment that until that moment was totally unknown, but that immediately became her new passion. It was thanks to groups like Hermética, (a legendary Argentinian metal band) and Iron Maiden - to which she dedicated her first tattoo when she was a teenager, and of whom she is still a fan to this day - that Gaby fell hard for the Metal scene. She recognizes Marcelo Cabuli as the greatest influence in her career and identifies him as the person who taught her how to perfectly build a career within the genre. Marcelo is the founder of Nems Enterprises, a Latin American metal record label, founded in 1987, which works and has worked with great bands of the genre such as Angra, Saxon, King Diamond, Manowar, Helloween, Tarja Turunen among many others.
She won her place and respect in the industry with her personality, and by standing up for the right thing when something was not right or was out of place.
Over the years, Gaby developed her work in the field in many ways: catering, marketing, security, and press - and she would have been willing to grace the stage, too. She worked with great bands from her country like Rata Blanca (of which she is a personal publicist since 2005), as well as international bands like Stratovarius, HammerFall, Megadeth, Gamma Ray, The Dead Daisies, among many other bands with whom she has formed a relationship not only of work but also of friendship. From the beginning on, she knew how to gain the respect of her colleagues, and while she accepts that she has a strong character, she also recognizes that it was not easy at times, just because she is a woman. In areas such as tours where many things are shared, the coexistence between genders often did not achieve that basic respect between human beings, and there were situations where she was labelled by her gender. However, Gaby never allowed herself to give in to doubts or insecurities. She won her place and respect in the industry by making it clear what factors make up her personality and putting a stop to anything that did not feel right or was out of place. That attitude, and her commitment to her work, also led her to gain the trust of great artists.
For 20 years now, Gaby is the press and personal publicist of Tarja Turunen.
Since 2000, Gaby has worked as a press and personal publicist for one of the most talented and incredible singers of the metal scene, Tarja Turunen. She is an artist many of us only know from the professional side, but of whom Gaby speaks with deep respect and great admiration. She tells us about the beautiful and warm person she is, something that for her has become a great inspiration on a human level, besides feeling great pride in being able to work alongside the Finnish singer for so long.
Just like Gaby, there are hundreds of people who work to make a concert happen. It is important to clarify for those who do not know, that the production of an event is not only the execution of the assembly, the show begins four to five months before, many times up to a year. From the logistics to the sale of tickets, the show must be an unforgettable moment for the public, and that responsibility is not only of the band but of all the people who work behind the show. For that to happen, it is fundamental that the place where the show takes place is full, and for the tickets to be sold, the public has to know what is going to happen.
That part is the hardest, and at the same time, it's the part Gaby enjoys the most. She cites as an example the last Iron Maiden show in Buenos Aires in October 2019, a show she started working on an entire year in advance. Although it was a band that had already visited the country more than ten times, only one show had ever made it to sold-out status. However, thanks to the passion of the fans and the effort of all the professionals who made that show possible, the band filled the entire stadium of Velez Sarsfield.
80% of the staff working in event organization and music production in Latin America are women.
Gaby believes that 80% of the staff working in event organizations and music production in many Latin American countries are women. In Argentina in particular, large events and festivals are coordinated by women in areas such as press, production, marketing, and artist logistics. This is due to the fact that women have a more organized level of empowerment at the time of performing, of course, this is not related to a gender issue or anything like that, but to an attitude issue. It is not in vain that she tells us that whoever manages the famous Brazilian festival "Rock in Rio", (known as the largest festival in the world) in the production part is a woman.
Gaby defines music in general as the engine of her life, the passion she feels for what she does is impossible to put into words. She has stopped going to family reunions, birthdays of friends, she has stopped doing pleasure trips because of her commitment, respect, and love for her work. Perhaps some people find it hard to understand but are comparing it to the fanaticism that someone may feel for football, or for cars, or for millions of other examples - but the music generates a sense of freedom within her. Between laughs, she confesses to us that she does not know how to do anything else but what she does, so she cannot imagine her life without music.
