You gotta love a band that names itself after siblings that do not exist, and beneath a reputation that does not match anybody within the band. A minimum of I do.
I have been a fan of the edgy sonic traditions of the Meridian Brothers for some time now, and jumped on the likelihood to carry the duo’s area age cumbia direct from Bogotá, Colombia to the Tiny Desk. And band chief Eblis Alvarez didn’t disappoint.
Proper from the beginning, the band’s cumbia-infused grooves floated beneath nearly otherworldly digital keyboard sounds in “Guaracha U.F.O.,” ultimately incorporating Alvarez’s signature, sly “I do know one thing you do not”-style vocals. It is simple to be tricked by the eccentricities of the instrumentation and the offbeat vocal stylings, however Alvarez is a person with a imaginative and prescient, utilizing his huge information of Colombian folks and pop music to do issues like pay tribute to an imaginary salsa band that by no means existed, as he did on its final album.
Issues had been very actual in the course of the group’s flip behind the Desk, as he and his band challenged the viewers to carry alongside what they knew to fulfill him in his world of recycled beats — performed by his devoted crew of Colombian musicians — off-kilter vocals and imaginative storytelling lyrics on “¿Dónde Estás María?”
He and his band pulled off a strong model of “Bomba Atómica”, a kind of calling card that speaks to Alvarez being influenced by the wealthy historical past of Colombian cumbia and surf rock guitar, for a music that’s primarily a frantic warning of the top of the world. Alvarez acknowledged the viewers’s appreciation with two raised fists, as if to have a good time how the true world dipped their toes into his realm of the imaginary, and everybody was higher for it.
SET LIST
- “Guaracha U.F.O.”
- “¿Dónde Estás María?”
- “Bomba Atómica”
MUSICIANS
- Eblis Javier Alvarez Vargas: guitar, keyboard, cello, vocals
- Alejandro Forero: keyboards
- Cesar Quevedo Barrero: bass
- María Angélica Valencia Sanchez: saxophone, percussion
- Mauricio Ramírez Echeverri: drums
- Alejandro Araujo Larrahondo: percussion, vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Felix Contreras
- Director: Kara Body
- Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
- Artistic Director: Bob Boilen
- Collection Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Kara Body, Sofia Seidel, Michael Zamora
- Editor: Michael Zamora
- Audio Assistant: Brian Jarboe
- Manufacturing Assistant: Ashley Pointer
- Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
- Tiny Desk Group: Suraya Mohamed, Maia Stern, Hazel Cills
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
- Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
