Salsa, the word, slips off the tongue as effortlessly as hips sway, and beneath its silky surface is something infinitely rich and complex: uptempo Latin fusion music and dance styles bearing far-flung Afro-Hispanic influences. More than a genre, salsa today is a culture and a philosophy — a principle of artful mingling across space and time.
The musical and migratory waves that propelled salsa from clubs in San Juan, New York and Havana somehow converged in one place in the 1960s: Cali, Colombia, which became the self-proclaimed salsa capital of the world. So it’s no coincidence that Cali salsa seeped into the futurist-electro-rock music of another Colombian band, the Bogota-based Meridian Brothers, who are back in Miami for the first time in a decade — and only their second time ever — to play a free show at Miami Beach Bandshell presented by Rhythm Foundation and Tigre Sounds as part of the Tigre Global Sounds Series.
If he had just three words to describe their sound, Meridian Brothers founder Eblis Álvarez says they would be, “Parallelism, Multidimensional, The Past.” Yet the band’s discography spans eras — past, present and imagined future. Embodying salsa’s eclectic nature, the Meridians have concocted their own sonic identity — in a quasi-mythical “music laboratory” often referred to by band members — from an amalgamation of roots salsa, Colombian cumbia, futuristic tropi-pop, psychedelia and Afropop.
They can knock out politically charged, rhythmically swinging songs such as “La Policía” — which nods toward mambo-based boogaloo music — and psychedelic space rockers such as “Metamorfosis,” a sci-fi-inspired vision quest. In an era of booming remixes, there’s nothing quite like this refreshingly original band whose Instagram followers include Altin Gun and Ritt Momney. Though fans of Colombian-bass DJ KillaBeatMaker may also enjoy the Brothers’ electro melodies.
Offering a glimpse of the set list, Álvarez says it will inlcude “Metamorfosis” as well as “Guaracha UFO,” “Bomba Atómica,“ “Puya Del Empresario” and “Los Golpeadores de la cumbia.” “We’ll play our latest repertoire, together with some old songs,” he says. “It’s a pretty solid show, very groovy.”
This article originally appeared in PureHoney Magazine. Check them out here.
