If you’ve been paying attention, there has been a Colombian renaissance in electronic music for some time now. You may have absorbed some of the sounds through Quantic’s long-term collaborations with Nidia Góngora (a leading marimba voice and activist from the South Pacific region of Colombia and who’s Cuao LP on Tru Thoughts is essential) or through labels like New York’s Names You Can Trust, Glitterbeat or Llorona Records (from the capital Bogotá). A lot of this music has been in our DJ bags for a while but as BBE artist Bagar aka Tricky D had clocked, there had been no proper compilation of the more downbeat side of contemporary Colombian music released yet so here we are!
Twenty tracks of slow to mid-tempo sunshine grooves, many of them heavy doped-out beats sprinkled in dub, traditional vocals and instruments combined with haunting echoes and synths. The future and traditions colliding in ritual and bass. Perfect for the daytime at festivals when the legs and head are at their most weary; nod and sway time.
Tricky D has lived in Colombia for several years so knows and understands the underground scene intimately. “I realised that there is no compilation of Colombian downbeat music, so I decided to dig deep and get together a collection of dubby, downbeat, minor tuned songs. The result is this collection of 20 spacey, soulful songs recorded by well recognised Colombian artists, many of whom I’ve collaborated with over the past few years.”
Acclaimed artists such as Systema Solar, Jimena Angel and Nidia Góngora are in attendance (as well as Truth & Lies favourite Romperayo - upfront live percussion with bonkers synths sounding like the dirtier sibling of The Mauskovic Dance Band ) and throughout, we hear flashes of salsa, hip hop, dubstep, cumbia, and assorted Afro-Colombian and Caribbean rhythms, a vital coalescence that takes the listener deep into the underground of this troubled but beautiful country. Bella…
Romperayo (photo courtesy of romperayo.com)
Released on 7th June 2019 on CD and Digital
BUY HERE - https://bagarakatrickyd.bandcamp.com/album/colombian-soul