IN ONE WEEK, BOMBA ESTEREO
TOURS FROM TOKYO TO KEXP & KCRW’S
“MORNING BECOMES ECLECTIC”
Beginning In Tokyo Last Week, Bomba Estereo Has Since Rocked Raucous Crowds
In Berkeley (CA), Portland (OR) And Seattle On Their Debut West Coast Tour
Bomba Performed On KEXP (Seattle) Yesterday And Will Play
On KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" (LA) Tomorrow Morning
UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
Nov. 13 – The Echo (Los Angeles, CA)
Nov. 15 – Beauty Bar (San Diego, CA)
Nov. 16 – Amoeba In-Store Performance (Hollywood, CA) |
Watch Bomba Estereo Perform Their Smash Hit, “Fuego,” On TV In Amsterdam;
The Track Is Also Featured In A New National McDonalds Ad Campaign RECENT BOMBA ESTEREO PRAISE:
“The Bogotá group live up to their explosive moniker with an infectiously
danceable sound that often expands into fairly trippy territory.”
- LA WEEKLY
“Juggling hip-hop, club beats and dancehall, [‘Blow Up’] is
restless and spirited, carefully weaving pop into old world styles.
The sort of album that hits right loud and intimate.”
- SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
“Bomba Estereo... is turning plenty of heads with its song "Fuego," the
exhilarating lead single from its debut album... playfully referring to both
Colombia's burgeoning dance culture and traditional attire in the same breath.”
- BILLBOARD
“Nacional Records is famous for taking on unique Latin
acts, but Bomba Estereo just may take the cake.”
- KEXP (SEATTLE)
“Vocalist Li Saumet embodies both the modern and the
traditional elements of the group: spitting rhymes like Mala Rodriguez
and Zack de la Rocha one minute, singing with the nasal
intonation of tropical singers likes of salsero Joe Arroyo the next.”
-TIME OUT NEW YORK
“Bomba Estéreo is a funky underground talent revealing a genre-busting,
linguistics-defying release with ‘Blow Up’... Lead vocalist Liliana Saumet’s sultry
style is a hybridization of Nelly Furtado with the precision and attitude of M.I.A.”
- URB
Bomba Estereo is in the midst of their debut West Coast U.S. tour in support of their acclaimed release, ‘Blow Up.’ The group recently completed tours across Europe and Japan and has already rocked crowds in Berkeley, Portland and Seattle earlier this week.
Fresh off a MTV Premios nomination for “Best New Artist,” Bomba Estereo is also this month’s MTV Tr3s “Descubre & Download” artist. The video for “Fuego” is currently in heavy rotation at MTV Tr3s and the hit track is also featured in a national McDonalds campaign.
“Fuego” was featured this past summer as an iTunes Latino’s “Song of the Week.” Lead vocalist Liliana “Li” Saumet describes the inspiration behind the track: “We wanted to make a colorful song. It is all about the sun and getting sucked into the world. It’s about being in another state-of-mind.”
Throughout this year, the group has toured everywhere from Ecuador and Brazil out to London and Amsterdam. In early July, they rocked more than 10,000 at Denmark’s prestigious Roskilde Festival.
“These recent experiences have been amazing,” Saumet says. “They’ve literally changed my life. Performing in front of 15,000 people, many who don’t understand what you’re singing yet they dance for the love of the music. It’s inspiring. It made me realize that our band needs to keep growing and building. Every day we need to get better and better while still keeping our musical essence.”
Bomba Estéreo came together as a project organized by Mejia in 2005, forming within the rich underground electronic scene that has become Bogota, Colombia. Recruiting fierce singer Saumet to join the group, Bomba Estéreo developed its sound and electrifying live show.
“The first album was a much more personal and electronic work,” Mejia says. “I recorded it all in my house and invited different people to perform on each track. It was more of an ‘instrumental album.’ So Li and I ended up making 'Blow Up' together, focusing more on actual songwriting and lyrics, all with the cumbia sound at their core.”
The influence of Afro Colombian rhythms and the coastal sounds is especially important to Bomba Estereo’s music. Saumet grew up on the Caribbean coast in a city called Santa Marta. “It’s a small city with a beautiful and mystical force,” she explains. “The indigenous people call it the ‘heart of the world.’ Ever since I was young, I had the opportunity to listen to such a wide variety of music, from local folk music to sounds arriving from Africa and the United States. I think that mix is reflected in our own music.”