Prezident Markon’s New Singles Round-Up: (Naomi in Blue, Eljuri, Balimaya Project, Beiramaquirna, Vivir Quintana and many more)

August is upon us. It’s my First Lady’s least favourite month of the year: the prezidential garden (closed now to the public) and its environs look like dry toast and as pallid as a seasick sailor. Never mind, I tell her with a philosophical air, you can listen to these new singles from the Latin world and help me sort out the wheat from the chaff. But first I should issue a public apology to Simon Callow the actor, whom I confused with Simon Cowell in my oh-so-subtle put down of The Voice and other such hysterical TV talent shows.

Naomi in Blue: “No Necesitamos Banderas”

The British-Chilean singer and writer, Naomi Larsson Piñeda, was featured in Sounds and Colours a few years ago. She’s back with a single that was recorded between London and Santiago, featuring the rock-solid drumming of Italo Arauz. Naomi in Blue blends the rock traditions of her two countries in her cover of a song made famous by the legendary Chilean band Los Prisioneros to help mark the 40th anniversary of their landmark debut album La Voz de los ’80. One of the most important albums in Chilean history and a cornerstone of Latin American rock, it was heavily influenced by British music and the singer explains how she’s now “flipping that lineage – drawing from my Chilean heritage to shape the music I’m making in London. This track felt like the perfect bridge between those worlds.” And a perfect way to kick-off this round-up.

Eljuri: “Karma”

While on the subject of Latin rock, here’s someone who plays a mean guitar and always sings with conviction. The eminent Cyro Baptista supplies the percussion on this typically punchy track from the singer and activist based in New York, but born in Ecuador to Spanish and Lebanese parents. Cecilia Villar Eljuri calls herself an “artivist”, a courageous voice who has never shied away from committed political engagement. She uses her potent blend of Latin funk-rock to speak for society’s marginalised and to tackle the burning issues of today’s ugly world. The lyrics of the single, I’m told (taken from Asi es el Mundo, a new album scheduled for later this month), warn that the crossing of moral lines will inevitably lead to retribution, and insist on justice in the face of her adopted country’s assault on decency and integrity. “The soul is not for sale,” indeed.

Balimaya Project Meets Discos Pacifica All Stars: “Yo te vi”

Another cultural bridge now… This one between Britain and Colombia: funded by the British Council, Balimaya Project brings together the partnership of Anglo-Colombian musicians and an “all star” band under the aegis of Discos Pacifico made up of Colombia’s Pacific coast’s finest. Together, they create a blend of West African Mandé jazz and Afro-Colombian folkloric music. I loved Balimaya Project’s debut album, so I’m looking forward to the new album earmarked for early September. Calima will be released by Jazz re:freshed in conjunction with Llorana Records and it’s due to be launched at the Barbican on Saturday 27th of that month. Oh you lucky Londoners!

Silvana Estrada: “Dime”

According to The New York Times, this young Mexican singer-songwriter is “the kind of artist who speaks like she’s writing poetry in real time.” I highlighted her previous single back at the end of June and the new track is equally lovely, both taken from her self-produced sophomore album, Vendrán Suaves Lluvias, out in the middle of October. “Dime” translates as “Tell me” and its deceptively gentle exterior hides an internal meditation on anger as a force for transformation. With its orchestral arrangement by Owen Pallett, the song succeeds in cohering a folk intimacy with a cinematic ambition.

ASTES: “Bien Duro”

I can’t remember the last time we had so many offerings from Chile on this page. Here’s a bit of old-school reggaeton tailor-made for the dancefloor by Tomás Chávez, or ASTES as the singer-producer is known to his public. It’s the second single he’s brought out under this name and apparently it marks a milestone in Latin American music production as the first Latin, Spanish-language, urban music track to be included as an official demo project in the Digital Audio Workstation (or DAW, as we all know and love it), FL Studio. You learn something every day.

Hunters of the Alps ft. Thank You Lord For Satan: “Con La Misma Piedra”

Never let it be said that I’m a man who neglects to gaze at his shoes. It reminds me that I need to polish them more often, in the way that I was taught as a child. Here’s a certain Mario Giancarlo Garibaldi, who named his shoe-gazing musical project after the army of the celebrated 19th century Italian revolutionary in honour of his ancestral heritage, and hooked up with a bunch of “shoe-gazers” from Peru with a startlingly weird moniker to re-imagine one of Garibaldi’s father’s favourite Julio Iglesias numbers. Got that? The outcome is this dreamy, melancholic, almost soporific filial tribute. Based in Miami, Garibaldi jr. has a tradition of producing homages to the music that shaped his childhood. Nothing wrong with that – so long as he remembers to polish his shoes.

Beiramaquirna: “Sumindo Suave na Multidão”

Curiously, we haven’t had anything from Brazil – up until now. Beiramaquirna is one Davi Serrano, who sounds as if he, too, has been gazing at his shoes – but with rather more disdain. I love this song’s deep-bass electronic heartbeat, and I wish I could tell you more about its performer other than that he lives in São Paulo, creates music (and complementary visual imagery) at home with synths, drum machine and computers, and his first album, Modus Ofeganti de Beiramaquina, comes out later this month. It could be one to watch out for.

Wayku: “Por La Marginál”

We’ll just pop across the Andes now to Peru… This is a single taken from a new album scheduled for mid-September by a guitarist and researcher, Percy A. Flores Navarro. It might sound like Andean cumbia to your ears, but it’s actually a close cousin, pandilla eléctrica. Originally from Tarapoto in the Peruvian Amazon, Flores Navarro’s ethnographic research among indigenous communities and his experience with the Motilones de Tarapoto ensemble fueled his musical goal to brings together three key threads of popular Amazonian music: the sounds and instruments documented in ethnographic recordings, traditional folk ensembles and tropical jungle bands. The result, ladies and gentlemen, is here before you now in the form of this distinctive single that bodes well for the full album.

Vivir Quintana: “Era Él O Era Yo”

Time for some drama. The Mexican singer-songwriter, activist and former teacher sings (powerfully) on a single taken from her second album, Cosas Que Sorprenden a la Audiencia: a haunting composition in the style of a traditional Mexican corrido that tells the real-life story of a woman who ends up in prison after defending herself against an aggressor who threatened her life. The album, it seems, is made up of nine other such corridos, each a true tale of women criminalised by the judicial system and sentenced to time in various detention centers throughout Mexico for the heinous crime of defending themselves or resisting gender-based violence. Sombreros off to someone who, like Eljuri above, uses her music on behalf of empathy, awareness and all those voices silenced by authoritarianism.

Monica Avila: “Obatalà é Rei”

Sounding a tiny bit like a northeastern Brazilian Nina Simone, the flautist and saxophonist, singer, composer and researcher released this double A-sided single last month. A founding member of Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra and Orquestra Lunar, her music is deeply informed by matters of culture, spirituality and political consciousness – which seems to be a thread pulling together most of the female artists this month and which probably just goes to confirm… something. Both tracks were recorded at home in Rio with her long-time collaborators, percussionist Alexandre Garnizé and seven-string guitarist Samara Líbano, and produced and mixed by the estimable Maga Bo. This side is a spiritual tribute to the orixá Obatalá. Very fine it is, too.

Los Aptos: “Hasta la Eternidad”

Is it just me or is there something a little bit wrong about singers so young crooning about being with someone for the rest of their lives? Get a bit of life first, the cynic within cries. Nevertheless, this is very sweet and seemingly heartfelt. Juan Ortega has a gentle, lilting voice and he’s backed by synths and sugary stuff on a sierreño ballad that will no doubt swell this trio’s burgeoning reputation.

João Selva & Cléa Vincent: “Viens Danser (Voilaaa Remix)”

I think I’d better dance off some of that excess sugar. Actually, this is quite sweet, too, in the way that the two voices, the two languages and the two nations of France and Brazil coalesce on a dancefloor remix of a track from the recent album by the Brazilian singer-songwriter based in Lyon. The deep bass and vintage synthesizers lend it a nice retro Caribbean feel. I think I’d better book an appointment with my dentist now…

Mon Laferte and Conociendo Rusia: “Esto Es Amor”

João Selva and others of his kidney must wonder sometimes what they need to do to garner 1.2 million views in a fortnight – as this “baby”-rich piece of rather delightful tosh has done. I guess they could try starring in a new version of Cabaret in Mexico City’s Teatro de los Insurgentes. The cinematic chanteuse has been strutting her Sally Bowles stuff to sell-out crowds, apparently. Here she teams up with the Argentine singer-songwriter in a homage (it would seem) to 1980s cinema and romantic pop music, the second preview of her forthcoming album, Femme Fatale. Even though the pair of them won’t replace Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in my heart’s affection, there’s something very sweet about it all. Gosh, where did I put that dentist’s telephone number…?

BALTHVS: “Mood Swing (Sinego Remix)”

Here’s a group who have established themselves as fixtures on this page. As they suggest, “Our track ‘Mood Swing’ takes a Deep House journey via Sinego’s sonic vision. Getting the best of both worlds, we’re very happy to have dance-floor ready incarnation of our song.” Originally the title track of the band’s Mood Swing (Principles of Rhythm) EP, Sinego’s new wave electro-Latin signature turns the expat unpronounceable Colombian trio’s signature psych-groove into something, well… groovy and movey.

Haroldo Bontempo & Arícia Ferigato (feat. Paulo Santos): “Santuário”

I think it’s time to wind this up for another month, not with a bang but with something spiritual and sumptuous from another regular here, Haroldo Bontempo. This time he teams up with a local harpist from the singer-songwriter’s neck of Brazil, Belo Horizonte, and with percussionist Paulo Santos, a founding member of the wonderful UAKTI, collaborators with Paul Simon on his Rhythm Of The Saints. Together they create and narrate a meditative walk through the woods towards a sanctuary of water. Immerse yourself, one and all…

May you all survive the apocalyptic heat and make it to September unscathed. Ta ta for now.

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