South American music and culture magazine

There is something that comes through whenever “folkclor progresivo” artist Pernett releases a track and it’s all too appropriate as we near the start of Barranquilla’s Carnival on February 18th. That something is Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Continue Reading

I arrived at Discos Fuentes studio in Medellin late on Friday afternoon. It was supposed to be a day for Ondatrópica – the new project from Will “Quantic” Holland and Mario Galeano Toro – to pack up their equipment, yet they were still busy finishing vocals on the final track, an original composition from Fruko, one of Colombia’s true musical heroes and no stranger to Discos Fuentes studio. Continue Reading

Barranquilla Carnival is one of the most colourful and intense carnivals in South America and second in size only to Brazil’s. As artist Diego Samper Martinez puts it, the Carnival of Barranquilla is “the ultimate people’s celebration — the merriest, the loosest, true to the free-wheeling Caribbean spirit.” Continue Reading

Carnival season is almost upon South America, but don’t worry – you haven’t left it too late to join the party. See below for last-minute cheap rates on hotels and hostels for four hot destinations… Continue Reading

A special New Year’s treat here in the shape of two new mixes from La Tabaquera – aka the latest project from Rodrigo Caçapa and Alessandra Leão – both celebrating classic Colombian music. We originally featured La Tabaquera’s Peru mixtape a few months ago, and these Colombian mixtapes offer much of the same, i.e. great music from Colombia’s past featuring plenty of cumbia, porro, descarga, salsa, champeta and much more. Continue Reading

Over the past sixty years, the Colombian music genre Cumbia has rocked dance floors in it’s native land as well as the global music stage. However, cumbia has not always been so popular with the music-loving masses. Its early beginnings, found at the mouth of the Magdalena River and the Atlantic Ocean were largely viewed with disdain, especially for its association with societal lower classes. It was seen as a highly inappropriate dance, dating back to Colombia’s colonial past and consisted of a somewhat ‘sexualised’ dance between the sexes. It was a courtship ritual that celebrated the musical, as well as social interaction between people of African ancestry and the indigenous people of Colombia known as zambos. Continue Reading

One of the most interesting groups coming out of Colombia’s nueva cumbia scene is undoubtedly Frente Cumbiero. So far they have released a 7″ on Brooklyn’s Names You Can Trust record label and a collaborative album with Mad Professor, titled Frente Cumberio Meets Mad Professor, which was released on CD and vinyl earlier this year. On both releases they take the cumbia legacy in a more electronic direction, while still staying close to its roots, setting them apart from acts like Bomba Estéreo that have used Colombian music as a starting point to explore new musical hybrids. Continue Reading

Luc Besson has something of a winning formula for action films. Take an unconventionally beautiful leading lady, give her some emotional problems, plenty of guns and loads of baddies to shoot at. Colombiana is no different: Catalaya’s parents are murdered by gangsters, but she manages to escape and grows up to become a competent assassin, one set on avenging her parent’s deaths. The main difference with Colombiana is that this has become Besson’s most controversial yet. Continue Reading

Fatiniza was born in the Colombian mountains of Bucaramanga and raised to the beat of Latin rhythms. As a girl she would scribble down lyrics and hum melodies. These have matured into her debut album, Confusion which will be released in Colombia this July after achieveing success in the Middle East. Continue Reading

It seems Colombia is where the party is at. After featuring a couple of mixes of Colombian mixes only a few weeks ago we already have a new one for you, with this one being a very special collaboration between Isa GT and Lido Pimienta, two of the finest Colombian DJs/producers around. Continue Reading

Last week we brought you the best new music from Brazil. This week, it’s Colombia’s turn and we have an exclusive mix from Caballito mixing the latest electro-cumbia and tropical bass coming out of the country. Continue Reading

Our good friend Fabian Altahona, who runs the Africolombia blog, recently sent us a selection of champetas from the last 10 years. Champeta is the sound of Afro-Colombia and these represent the songs that you would typically find in Colombian cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla. Continue Reading