
Prezident Markon’s New Singles Round-Up (Azymuth, Miramar, Raúl Monsalves y Los Farajidos, El Léon Pardo and more)
18 January, 2025Something you can do when you’re in bed with the flu is to check out the latest singles from the Latin world. The pickings are somewhat slim this time around, but there’s enough here to keep the doctor far hence.
El Dusty and João Brasil and Deize Tigrona: “Vuk Vuk Todo Dia”
The pioneer of nu-cumbia from Corpus Christi, Texas, teams up with the Brazilian DJ, producer, songwriter and leading light of the baile funk scene, João Brasil, and vocalist Deize Tigrona for a truly electrifying new single that marks the debut release of Baile Funk Cumbia, a new project fusing Brazilian funk and digital cumbia. It’s a belter for starters!
Los Africanos: “Together People (Pamoja Watu)”
Vampisoul have reissued the opening two tracks by Los Africanos on Side 4 of last year’s wonderful Bobby Marín retrospective as a double A-side 7” single. While “It’s Your Thing” is a Latin funk instrumental version of an Isley Brothers’ recording, this one is considerably weirder: taking James Brown’s “It’s A New Day” as its root and giving it a “Soul Makossa” twist. It’s an infectious combination, though.
Azymuth: “Arabutà”
Now if Azymuth had played more of this kind of thing rather than the wearisome showboating at the O2 Academy in Islington back in December, I might have hung around longer. MOMO. in support, fortunately, was a much more stimulating affair. The new single is a limited edition vinyl-only dancefloor-dub in two parts created by Far Out Recordings’ in-house producer Daniel Maunick. It serves as a preview of the band’s new album scheduled sometime this year.
Miramar: “Incertidumbre”
I featured this retro-sounding “bolero-beat” outfit from Richmond, Virginia, back in October. Here’s the focus track from the new album (Entre Tus Flores) to underline that Miramar seem to be on a roll.
Calle Mambo: “Mambo de Machaguay”
By the sound of it, the crowd were having a ball – and why wouldn’t they, indeed? The Chilean band have been around since 2013, they tour extensively and clearly know how to work an audience with their highly infectious mix of folkloric Latin sounds and urban electronic beats.
Bemti with Haroldo Bontempo: “Quase Sertão”
Haroldo Bontempo is someone who’s becoming a Sounds and Colours regular. On this occasion, he teams up with a player of the viola caipira (a 10-string acoustic guitar) and fellow tunesmith, Bemti, on a song that celebrates the Minas Gerais region of Brazil where they both grew up. Tinged with melancholy, it’s a lovely number about the business of returning to your roots and questioning what still connects you to the place you left behind.
Setenta: “Sa Ki Taw ”
The last I heard of this Paris-based Latin funk outfit was courtesy of producer Joe Claussell and his irresistible remix of “El Bad Boy” from their Materia Negra album. The latest single is every bit as good, a track taken from their imminent sixth album, Apollo Solar Drive. The band describe it as “an Afro-Latin retro-futurist tribute to the sun.” I guess this single comes under that bracket. It’s certainly enough to turn a dance floor into a den of whirling dervishes.
Raúl Monsalves y Los Farajidos : “Fuego el campanero”
Here’s another Paris-based Latin American musician. I haven’t hear news of Raúl Monsalves for a while, but he’s clearly been busy with a new album, SOL, due out on the spring equinox. The new single, which translates as “fire of the bell-ringer” is a taste of what’s to come. The Afro-Venezuelan musician and his band blend indigenous folk-music roots with drum machines and electronic sounds in an original and quirky way.
Gilber T: “Sinnerman”
The traditional gospel song gets a make-over from the Rio-based Brazilian singer, Gilber T. Its catalyst was, it seems, the urban violence and social unrest in Rio in 2020, and much of the track was recorded at the artist’s home. Taken at a slower tempo than usual, it’s an unusual but affecting twist on an old standard.
Luana Flores – “Alumeia (feat. Juliana Linhares)”
This one has been out for some time but it’s never too late for a statement about cultural identity and ecological resistance. Blending traditional north-eastern Brazilian rhythms like forró and baião with modern sounds, “Alumeia” addresses environmental exploitation in the region. Featuring Juliana Linhares, the track is part of Luana Flores’ upcoming album, which reflects the cultural strength of the Nordeste. The music video, co-conceived with activist Yasmin Formiga, follows a magical rebellion against wind farm expansion in the sertão.
Joice Taciana, AlehConvida – “Barraco de Madeira”
It looks like this one was first posted six months ago, but hey… never let it be said that Sounds and Colours doesn’t like to support the youth of today. This young singer-songwriter has a lovely voice and her song, “Barraco de Madeira”, emerged from the AlehConvida initiative supporting young Brazilian talents. The samba apparently reflects the harsh realities of life in São Paulo’s Vila Antonieta. May a successful musical career be hers for the taking.
El Léon Pardo: “La Perica”
We’ll finish with a single from a remarkable new album out later this year by a member of the UK/Colombian Mestizo project. Pardo plays the kuisi and other and other ancient indigenous flutes as well as a very modern-sounding trumpet with equal facility. His second solo outing, Viaje Sideral, achieves another exciting blend of old and new and here on the single, he and his band generate sufficient energy to take off on that titular space voyage
And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen. May I thank you for your time and attention and wish you all the very best of health through the coming weeks. See y’all in February!
Cover photo of El Léon Pardo courtesy of Fabián Bernal.
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