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// Bomba Estereo 
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Fuego!
2010 was a big year for Bomba Estereo. Bogota’s favourite electro-cumbia outfit went global, with the international release of their album Estalla (Blow Up), a dizzying tour schedule and an MTV Iggy award for “Best New Band In The World”. Their remix EP Ponte Bomb drops this month and the new album is due out this spring. Meanwhile check out the clip of their showcase at Womex and read our interview with singer Liliana Saumet.
How did Bomba Estereo get together?
LS: It all started one day when Simón Mejía, an old friend, invited me to sing over an instrumental track he was producing. I’d never dreamed about becoming a singer! But there was great chemistry in the studio and it all came together really fast, in less than an hour we had made ‘Fuego’, one of our most popular tracks now. Nothing was pre-planned. I never really plan things, I just tell myself you mustn’t be afraid to try things out. Maybe that’s why it works!
Bomba Estero - Fuego
So you became part of the new wave on the Colombian music scene…
LS: Over the last ten years, there’s been a new movement on the Colombian music scene. It was really born in the techno clubs, which mixed cumbia with electro. People recorded tracks and gave them to DJs to play at parties, and it became really popular. Today, there are various groups making this kind of music. Some are more connected to the rhythms from the Pacific (like Choc Quib Town and Systema Solar) and others use the sounds from the Atlantic coast (like Pernett). We all contribute to the movement, and bit by bit we’re changing the musical landscape of Colombia.
So it’s a way of bringing your culture alive?
LS: By mixing cumbia, electro, hip hop and ragga we’ve stirred up an interest in traditional music among the young generation. It’s like when you try to get kids to eat their vegetables, you have to make them tasty! So yes we are contributing to the preservation of an identity and heritage which is part of who we are. Our audience has gone beyond the club crowd now, you get kids with their mums at our shows in Colombia!
How was the media reaction in Colombia at the beginning?
LS: For a long time, our music wasn’t played on radio stations at all – it costs a lot to get radio plays…But we had a better way – the internet! It’s not limited like the radio, it’s wide open and you can reach a global audience. Our tracks were available on the internet long before we ever released anything on CD.
Colombia is still pretty unknown to many people…
LS: Yeah, I’m fed up with all the clichés attached to Colombia. All anyone knows about our country is that it has the best cocaine in the world! 90% of the tourists seem to come for the drugs and the women…It’s such an incredible country, the culture and nature are so rich. Colombia has everything – it’s beautiful, friendly and it’s not expensive. I invite everyone to come and see for themselves!
Bomba Estereo, global ambassadors?
LS: Thanks to the Californian label Nacional Records, our album came out in the US and Canada. I remember one day in New York I went into a restaurant and they were playing our music! I freaked out, it was a great feeling. Now we’ve toured all over…Latin America, the US, Europe…And we’re still busy making things happen ourselves, like we always have, we have an independent spirit you know, and that’s never going to change!
Watch: Bomba Estereo – Live at Womex, 2010
Bomba Estereo - Estalla is out now on Polen
US/Canada: Bomba Estereo - Blow Up is out now on Nacional Records
The remix EP Ponte Bomb is out 18 January 2011
Download: Bomba Estereo on mp3.mondomix.com
More on Mondomix:
Dancing In The Dark – New Cumbia In The New Colombia
Systema Solar – Bienvenidos Video
Quantic – Colombian Visions Chart
Réjane Ereau
// ALSO
- Pernett
- Bomba Estereo
- Black Man’s Cry - The Inspiration Of Fela Kuti
- City Sounds : Bogotá, City Sounds: Bogotá
- Maga Bo, Tracks
- New Awards for World Music
- Dancing in the dark, Dancing in the dark – New cumbia in the new Colombia
- Quantic and his Combo Barbaro album launch tour starts Friday 5 June at the ICA
- Fair Play Campaign - Call For Video Entries
// ALL BOMBA ESTEREO'S INTERVIEWS
Fuego!
12/01/2011
// DISCOGRAPHY
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Estalla, Vol. 2 (Album)
Bomba Estereo, Vol.1 (Album)// LINKS
RELATED ARTISTS
>> William Cepeda
>> Plena Libre
>> Mexican Institute of Sound
>> Johnny Pacheco
REPORTS
>> Dancing in the dark
// CONTACT
Polen Records (Label)
Calle 95 # 13-52 Bogotá COL Local 2
Send an email
Bomba Estereo's Website
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