Support from Gilles Peterson on BBC 6 Music.
“Beautiful” Werkha
LA BOA is a 10 piece Afro-Colombian jazz group with heavy influences from the Antilles islands in the Caribbean.
Like the recent explosion in the British jazz scene being driven by artists like KOKOROKO, Ezra Collective and others, La Boa are driving the bubbling Colombian jazz scene forwards.
Influenced by Colombian great Lucho Bermudez, La BOA fuse traditional Afro-Colombian Caribbean sounds with their original afro-beat rhythms, jazz and electronic sensibilities.
LA BOA’s last album ‘Volumen’ released in 2017 featured Quantic collaborator Nidia Gongora and saw them garner support from Rolling Stone, Noisey, Sounds & Colors and others. They count many trail blazing alternative Latin musicians as fans including Mario Galeano (Frente Cumbiero), Pedro Ojeda (Quantic’s Ondatrópica) and many more.
The group is made up some of Colombia’s finest musicians and is spear-headed by bassist Daniel Michel who is originally from Mexico but for the last 7 years has been living in Colombia. As well as forming LA BOA, over his career Daniel has played bass on tour for Lee Scratch Perry and under the artist name Nairobi he has recorded an album with greats like Mad Professor and Sly & Robbie. As a musician with endless energy he also plays synths and bass for cumbia influenced, techno Colombian buzz group, El Leopardo.
‘Por Eso’ (‘That’s why) blends merengue with Afro-Colombian rhythms and fused with horns, saxophone and synths the track is an upbeat call to resistance and social action around the world.
‘Máquina’ (Machine) is an instrumental track where the hypnotic and infectious machine like repetition of Afro-Colombian beats are fused with elevating horns and a sprinkling of funk.
The Por Eso / Máquina EP is an exciting fusion of Caribbean and traditional Afro-Colombian sounds showcasing the growing Colombian jazz scene and revealing the promise of what’s to come.
credits
released June 28, 2019
