They say sequels are never good. But it is a mistake. Or so it seems after listening “Cumbiana II”, the new album by Carlos Vivesin which although it works with the traditional musical matrix of the amphibious cultures of Colombia, it is far from being a typically traditional album.
“Cumbiana II”, in fact, was recorded between Colombia, the United States and Puerto Rico and is the second album born from the expansive and unprecedented exploration of Carlos Vives, to make modern music based on percussive and melodic sounds of ancient Colombia.
“In our music, you can’t talk about fusion,” says Vives. “It already started as a fusion, we didn’t take rock out of nowhere, we got it by electrifying our original drumming and singing as we speak.”
Vives traced the origins of cumbia to the ancient wetlands of Colombia on the Magdalena River, the source of indigenous rhythms that would later merge with the songs of African slaves and the sounds of instruments brought to America by Spanish settlers, who would suffer infinite evolutions while traversing the dance floors of the world.
On multiple Latin Grammy Award-winning “Cumbiana”, Vives pushed the possibilities of these original fusions further than ever, defying stylistic and geographic boundaries and leaping freely in time.
For “Cumbiana II”, his fifteenth studio album, Vives found a conceptual starting point in the middle of the 20th century, when the fledgling music industry first introduced the recorded sound of Colombian groups to the capitals of the industry. Latin American music, like Mexico. and Argentina, generating a new sound in these countries and a current of cumbiera.
The result is 14 new songs that may seem like unlikely collaborations, but that’s just before you hear them. It includes a song with Fito Páez that Vives called “Babel”, a name that refers to the biblical tower of lack of communication.
And the list of artists who accompany it is more than interesting, since includes Camilo, Ricky Martin, Pedro CapóBlack-Eyed Peas, Play-N-Skillz, Mau y Ricky, Irish-Colombian singer Katie James and Dread Mar I, among others.
Tracklist of “Cumbiana II”
Alone
Cinerama
Old ball with Camilo
Lonely Mountain with Chocquibtown
currambera
Nice song with Ricky Martin
Babel with Fito Paez
Payment with Pedro Capó
Kisses anytime with Mau and Ricky and Lucy Vives
My guitar in love with Dread Mar I
In the jungle with Katie James
Looking for the Horse (tribute to Johnny Ventura) with Milly Quezada and Jandy Ventura
Teke teke with Black Eyed Peas and Play-N-Skillz
Fatherland with Cholo Valderrama and Clemente Mérida
Source: Qmusica
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