At just 27 years old, Dominican Victor Sabi has already spoken in Spanish about “A Promised Land” and “The Long Way to Freedom”, books about two historical figures: Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela, respectively.
Born and raised in Santo Domingo, the young man explained to LISTÍN DIARIO reporters how he managed to be the voice of the 44th President of the United States and the difficulties he faced during filming in the midst of the pandemic.
The casting began around September last year, he recalled, indicating that he was contacted by the project’s production company to dub Obama’s book in Spanish, and sent his proposal, which was recorded in his personal studio in his home. that it was the winner.
News of his roster reached him a month later and started on a tight schedule of recording sessions of up to 5 hours a day, indicating that everything was recorded in the Dominican Republic.
The reason for this is that before work started, the release date was announced in advance, so he and the rest of the team worked on tight schedules.
“We already had a public commitment with the date they confirmed. So we made recordings every day for 4 to 5 hours; They are very intense recording sessions, record one of 45 minutes first, rest, and when you have more energy, move on, ”he assured.
But the closer to the completion date, the longer the working hours became, although they were able to deliver the whole job on time.
Once he started, Victor indicated that he received directions about his work from Los Angeles, United States.
Despite this, he had to assimilate the specific speech pattern of the former North American head of state at specific points in the book, especially when it came to political speeches, clarifying that it is not just a matter of imitating the speaker, but of the words from the author listeners.
The challenges
When Sabi and its producers started the recording process in late 2020, they had to face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and the limitations that come with it.
As one of the main obstacles, he cited the curfew schedule, which affected the hours that could be spent on the study, in addition to the variations they had to implement to meet aspects of the government-mandated health protocol, such as social distancing.
Likewise, he underscored the difficulty of the material he worked with, stating that for an announcer a work classified as “long” usually has about 500 pages at most, a number much less than the “A Promised Land” number. . , which consists of more than 800 pages.
Late response
Many say that the joy parents experience in their children’s success is one of the greatest joys anyone can have, but in Victor’s case, that parental pride had to wait.
And is that with the announcement that he won the match, the warning came that he could not tell anyone about the matter.
The level of confidentiality was due to the fact that the Spanish version of the audiobook was scheduled to be released together with the Anglo-Saxon version on the date of the latter’s worldwide launch.
However, when he was finally able to reveal this achievement to his family and friends, he said that the moment lived was one of “joy”, stressing that because of the scale of the project it was already an achievement, certainly if it was a Dominican.
Identified
Sabi affirmed that the part of the memories of the former US president that most characterized him was when he managed to take control of the Oval Office, after which Obama realized all the work that lay ahead of him, as the leader of a of the World Powers.
“When he became president, apart from everything that had to be done, it was like starting all over again. It was a great achievement, but now I would have to sort through many, many details that were in power … people had high expectations, and I think that was the part that characterized me the most, connecting with that intensity of the moment, ” he said.
Other works
One of the earlier works on Victor’s resume is the autobiography of former South African President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela entitled “The Long Road to Freedom”, in late 2018.
This was a different kind of challenge for Sabi, namely being able to pronounce certain words in some South African dialects, mainly Xhosa, one of the eleven official languages of that country, which is based on many ‘clicks’ at the time of speaking.
In addition to the two previously mentioned, the Dominican narrated two other audiobooks in Spanish: “Dios,” by Reza Aslan, and “Cuentos de locos,” a compendium of stories focused on the psychiatric field of medicine.
He has also worked in e-learning (electronic education), documentaries, commercials, both locally and internationally.
Education
He initially studied at the Otto Rivera National School of Locution, as well as the Brother Creative School, although five years ago, through the same production company with which he collaborated on the narration of Obama’s book, he was able to participate in several workshops with foreign professionals.
His calling
Victor affirmed that he discovered this calling through another: cartoons.
This passion goes hand in hand with dubbing in Spanish, and the young man felt inspired as different generations of children who remembered their childhood through the “dolls”.
His first dream was to create his own cartoon and animate the occasional voice. He studied advertising because this career includes graphic and sound elements, and continues his parallel foray into speech.
His favorites in Japanese animation include One Piece, Naruto, and Boku no Hero Academy, while in the Western film, he mentioned Family Guy, the Simpsons, and The Boondocks.
More projects
In addition to creating his own animated series, Sabi plans to venture into the world of theater and explain that elements of this discipline will help him become a better speaker in communicating with the listener.
Influences
He indicated that his storytelling style was influenced by several figures in his profession, including Mexican Mario Arvizu, actor Morgan Freeman (who has lent his voice for several documentaries and programs), Seth MacFarlane, the creator of “Family Guy”.
At the local level, he expressed admiration for Teo Veras, Reynaldo Infante and Angely Báez.
In terms of animation, he pointed out Japanese Akira Toriyama, creator of the Dragon Ball series, as his favorite.