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

Papá del Panasuyo is the second album from Venezuelan Sr. Mendez. It’s an album that shares a certain aesthetic with Mr Pauer’s Soundtrack, released last year by a fellow Venezuelan. They are both full of light grooves, Pacific rhythms and electronic flourishes. The main difference between the two albums is the more rootsy production of Papá del Panasuyo, as well as Sr. Mendez’s voice, which features on almost every track on the album. Continue Reading

Following on from the first part of our Best South American Albums of 2010 are numbers 10-1, meaning our favourite album will very soon be revealed! [Just scroll to the bottom if you want to find out.] It’s been extremely difficult choosing, so difficult in fact that we had to move all the compilation albums we hoped to include to a new list, just so we could fit more great albums in. As always, please let us know in the comments what you think about our choices. Continue Reading

We really couldn’t be any more thrilled to have the presence of Humberto Pernett on Sounds and Colours. In recent months we have covered Choc Quib Town, Bomba Estereo, La Mojarra Electrica and Systema Solar, all of whom have been helping to shape the sound of Colombia by mixing traditional rhythms with elements of pop, rock, hip-hop and other latin elements. However, perhaps none have managed to create as distinctive a new sound as Pernett. After releasing five albums Pernett has already gained a reputation as a unique performer, producer and writer, mixing cumbia, soul, folklore and a multitude of Colombian and Latin rhythms with his own unique voice. In what might be called the “progressive cumbia” or “nu cumbia” movement Pernett has to be one of the front-runners. Continue Reading

This is a disc of two halves. Predominate throughout is the kind of Latin/reggae/hip-hop groove that Manu Chao is famous for, even perhaps sounding more like the rougher yet more dynamic offerings of his early band Mano Negra, but its the first half of the album which truly goes for that hip-hop groove, scatting on the laid-back camaraderie that The Fugees perfected in the 90s, not too far from their Colombian counterparts Choc Quib Town. This is especially the case on opening tracks “Bienvenidos” and “Mi Kolombia,” two catchy as hell pacific belters with Jhon Primera and Indigo sharing vocal duties, the latter of which with his own joyfully addictive delivery. Continue Reading

A new craft is winging its way through the sonic solar system, built from creaky amps and sleek laptops, powered by dayglo Caribbean sun and the brilliant pulse of street parties, and steered by hip-hop Afronauts from one of the globe’s new music hotspots.

Welcome aboard Colombia’s Systema Solar, the funkiest Technocolor hip-hop and DJ crew/Latin sound system ever to be pulled by donkey or graced with slammin’ beats. Uniting Afro-Colombian roots with rap, scratching with Afro-Latin percussion, and unstoppable dance grooves with a live video mix, Systema Solar has landed on the world stage with Systema Solar (ONErpm.com; October 14, 2010), the perfect intro to Latin America’s coolest musical-visual collective.
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System Solar are one of the heaviest groups coming out of Colombia at the moment. They call themselves a ‘collective’ and this couldn’t fit them better. Each member is involved in all kind of enterprises but bring their expertise to the table for Systema Solar. What results is an modern audio-visual treat with it’s feet firmly stuck in the tradition of Colombia’s sound systems. These systems, which began to appear on Colombia’s Caribbean coast in the 50s, are known as picó’s, a word derived from pick-up though no-one really knows exactly why it was chosen. Some say it was because of the pick-up truck that people would arrive to parties in, others said it was due to the action of picking-up the needle before playing the next song, and others still say it was a name of a particular portable record player.
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