It occurred to me that, in the 2+ years that I’ve been blogging for CHUD.com, I haven’t taken the time to present you with music from my often ill-reputed birth land, Colombia. A missed opportunity, I believe, since this site is a wonderful venue to discover things never seen or heard before.

I must confess that I’m not very patriotic. Therefore, I don’t regularly listen to Colombian music, but there are great exceptions.

So let this be a small selection of modern Colombian music, focused on rock, rock fusion (with folklore), and electronic, containing songs from a few bands that I like, and songs that I like from bands I don’t quite care for.

Sidestepper – Deja
Led by british producer Richard Blair and accompanied by a number of very talented Colombian musicians, Sidestepper combines Colombian tropical rhythms with electronic. This is one of my favourites.

Bajotierra – La Policia del Amor
Ignore the non-video. It’s the only version I could find. This group is from my birth city, Medellín.

Parlantes – Aguacate
Another one from my birth city. A friend of mine was obsessed with this band. I was fascinated by this song in particular, as it uses avocadoes as metaphor for the youth of Colombia in relation to regional warfare.

Goes – Esperarlo
Another favourite of mine, the video for this song is proof that great music videos can be created with a simple consumer camera. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the video. But here’s the song.   To listen, click on the “Goes – Esperarlo” link instead of the play button.

 

Conector – Damquiel
Conector is a side project from Hector Buitrago, one of the founding members of one of the most important rock bands in Colombia, Aterciopelados. My eyes fill with tears every time I hear this song and particularly every time I see this video, and I’m sure exactly why.

It is so unapologetically Colombian in the best possible, most beautiful way that it makes my cold, unpatriotic heart fill with joy.

Aterciopelados – Baracunatana
As I mentioned before, Aterciopelados is one of the most important rock groups in the history of Colombian rock. This song is from 1998 and fuses rock and folklore. In fact, I think this is a cover very old Colombian song.

 

The Hall Effect – Aim at me
This is one of the national bands with the most international projection, and not just because they sing in English.

Velandia y La Tigra – I’m Burro
I learned about this band by accident last year, when they performed on a televised awards show I was watching because I was distance stalking a douchy musician I wanted to kill (don’t ask). It’s a very interesting project, fusing funk, rock, and folklore from Colombia’s central region.

Carlos Vives – La Tierra Del Olvido
The three golden children of modern colombian music are Shakira, Juanes, and Carlos Vives.

Calos Vives fuses rock and vallenato, one of the most Colombian of Colombian rhythms, which happens to be the one I HATE the most. However, this man miraculously makes me like it.

Shakira – Ojos Asi
I do not like Shakira. It has nothing to do with her music, and I’ll tell you why: back in the days when Shakira had black hair, people used to tell me that I look like her. Even in Australia, when I was in film school, I was told by a group of people on a public bus that I look like her. But what truly made me not like her is that before film school, while studying advertizing, one of my classmates told me and other classmates that he had a dream about me bellydancing for him, like Shakira. So now I’m severely traumatized and cannot hear that woman’s voice without thinking of the mockery that ensued because of that guy’s dream. Thank god she went blond.

But damn it, I love this song and I’m not ashamed of it.

Juanes – La Camisa Negra
Not a big fan of Juanes (I don’t dislike his music either), but this song is all kinds of awesome.

Nepentes – Lento
My gods, do we have hard rock. If you say this is VERY inspired by Rage Against The Machine, I’ll say you’re probably right. But it rocks!

The Mills – Babel
Once again, sorry for the non-video.  This group was the best discovery I made from that time when I was distance stalking the douchy musician I wanted to kill (again, don’t ask). I love this guys.

So now, I leave you with this very small list of Colombian music, for your consideration.

Hope you enjoyed it!