Sara Ontaneda is an Ecuadorian composer, arranger, vocalist, and pianist.  She has trained in classical, Latin, and jazz styles.  She currently majors in Contemporary Writing and Production at Berklee College of Music, where she has been studying voice, composition, and audio production.  Sara has also gained experience as a music director for recording sessions.

“Ñaños means siblings in Ecuadorian slang. The word has quechua origin (indigenous language). The first part of the song, the “A” section, is a reminder of when my siblings and I were kids and we would play together. In the next part of the song “B” section is about  how we start to grow up into individuals. We slowly start to separate from each other.

The “C” section, where the music starts to get slower is about how our lives take a turning point. We each end up in different places of our lives, and in different parts of the world, but we still have the memories (a return to the “A” section, like children playing).

I really like the word “ñaños”. I always use this word with spanish speaking people, and they never know what it means. The word is pronounced “Nianios.”  It’s a word very specific to my country. We use this word only with our siblings or very close friends. My brother and my sister were my inspiration.”

Callie Huber is currently a Songwriting major at Berklee College of Music. She has a background in music, film and theater, and studied acting and filmmaking at the School of Cinema and Performing Arts. She envisions a lifelong career interweaving music and the visual arts.

“Sara told me the story behind the composition: it’s about being young and innocent then growing apart and then coming back together in the end.   From there I began to gather some wild shots of various springtime images (flowers, birds, etc.).

The butterfly mask and the floral dress represent innocence: when the music drops the dress and the mask fall too.  When the girls are climbing the tree, they are “growing apart” until the are completely separated and no longer seen in the same shot together until the end when they are reunited.

For the film I used three different cameras.  For the stop motion I used my Nikon D60. A few shots were filmed with a Samsung point and shoot, but most of the film used a Nikon D5000.  My hope is that the film creates a visual dance to the beautifully composed music.”