Bomba music full#

“Raizal musicians live in the middle of that. Mejía explains how Colombian folklore music was born from nature, in the lungs of the Earth, like El Amazonas or the Magdalena River.

Mejía is enthusiastic about Colombia’s new leftist president-elect, Gustavo Petro, and Vice President-elect Francia Márquez -the country’s first Afro-Colombian vice president- as environmental protection was a main goal of their campaign platform. In a country with so many problems and where the environment is under constant threat, the group felt they had the responsibility to use music as a tool of activism to save what Mejía describes as the real treasures of Colombia -“its jungle, its paramos, its water”- all of which has been inspiring the group’s recent music. “We connected with making music at a deeper level beyond just entertainment,” he recalled. Mejía’s solo project, Monte, was born of a need that started with the “awakening” of Bomba Estéreo after they recorded an album in the Sierra Nevada. “Liliana (Saumet) wrote the lyrics (for “Ojitos Lindos”), and the music is from Tainy”-the 32-year-old Puerto Rican producer also remixed Bomba’s song “ To My Love” and made the link with Bad Bunny happen. “We dwell in a limbo of genres that gives us a lot of freedom,” Mejía said. “Art has nothing to do with money, at least for me.” “Sometimes I feel they are only doing it for the money, and for me that affects art in a bad way,” He explained. He finds Bad Bunny’s music interesting because it still has that street and rap essence, but he also feels most reggaeton artists seem to be more focused on the business side of making music. And by its number of plays on Spotify, the new summer hit anthem seems to be “Ojitos Lindos”, Bomba’s collaboration with Bad Bunny on his Un Verano Sin Ti. Recently, Bomba Estéreo released the song “Síganme los buenos,” in collaboration with Colombian rock scene pioneers Aterciopelados. “Our sound is neither too experimental or too mainstream, which gives us the chance to play in very different universes,” Mejía explained. He also thinks that along with Santa Marta-born Li Saumet, Bomba Estéreo’s lead singer, they developed a sound that -while still similar to “ Fuego,” their first smash hit- has a uniqueness that makes artists from very different genres want to collaborate with them. Today it is still difficult, but at least there is a way.” “When we started, it was not easy in Colombia to have a musical career if you didn’t do vallenato, salsa, or reggaeton,” he said. Monte, Mejía’s solo project, now drinks from the Pacific Ocean, exploring the sound and myth of marimba.Ībout Bomba Estéreo’s legacy, Mejía says he is proud of being part of a Colombian generation of artists like Choc Quib Town, Systema Solar, and Pernett that helped paved the way for alternative music in his country to thrive and have international notoriety.

The band’s signature sound came from drowning electronic beats in waves of champeta, cumbia, and bullerengue, music that originated near Colombia’s Caribbean shore. If you think about the music that this Bogotá-born musician has created with Bomba Estéreo for almost 20 years, the water sign makes sense.

Bomba music full#

When there is a full moon, it changes me-I feel its influence.”

“It goes out, looks, and if it sees any kind of threat, it goes back in. “I totally have the personality of the crab,” says the Bomba Estéreo founder and band leader, moving his hands like pincers. Simón Mejía’s zodiac is Cancer -his birthday was just a few days ago- and while he says he doesn’t pay too much attention to horoscopes, he does feel he has a lot in common with his astral animal. Simón Mejía of the Colombian band Bomba Estéreo (Courtesy of Bomba Estéreo)