New Release on Vinyl: Bandejas Espaciales X Sesiones Macarena 360 (Live at the Bogotá Planetarium)
15 September, 2025For over a decade the musical fingerprints of Marco Fajardo, Sebastián Rozo (Eufox), José “El Profe” Vega, Daniel Michel, Juan Sebastián Rojas, Alejandro Cifuentes and Iván Ramírez have been everywhere in Colombia’s underground — tied to projects across Frente Cumbiero, La 33, La BOA, La Mojarra Eléctrica, Tumbacatre and beyond. But when they converge as Bandejas Espaciales, it’s one of Bogota’s most magnetic projects, catching fire precisely when the members’ touring and recording schedules fall into sync.
One of those convergences came in 2024, when the band closed the third season of Sesiones Macarena 360, Bogotá’s pioneering audiovisual platform known for filming bands in immersive 360° video and staging them in spaces that reflect their sound. Under the compositional direction of clarinetist and saxophonist Marco Fajardo, Bandejas performed on top of the Planetarium as the dome lit up red and light constellations flickered overhead. With Camilo Manchego on engineering and mixing, and later mastering for vinyl by Mambo Negro Records, the performance has now been crystallised as a 12-inch record.
Playing out across four tracks, while the 360° session video begins with “Mulatu”, the vinyl reshapes the flow, opening instead with “Gaita Mambo”, an allegory to the great tropical orchestras, with brass lines spiralling into contemporary psychedelia and León Pardo cutting through on trumpet. Pushing deeper into the set, “Capitán” follows, with proto-salsa pushed into experimental terrain, its bassline breaking into percussive shifts and dub-heavy horn passages.
Side B kicks off with “Sombrita”, an Afro-Caribbean tune both tender and insistent, carried by Léon Pardo’s trumpet and spectral vocal turn. The record closes out to “Mulatu”, a boogaloo ballad refracted through Ethiopian scales, nodding to Mulatu Astatke while rerouting that lineage through Bogotá’s underground.
Dub atmospheres, sharp improvisations and a horn section that swings between precision and release run through all four pieces. What makes the record vital is not just the sound but the context: it’s a testament to Bogotá’s collaborative spirit.
Sesiones Macarena 360 captured the performance in stunning audiovisual format, and the fact that it translates so powerfully to vinyl speaks to the strength of the project itself. That Bandejas Espaciales, Sesiones Macarena 360 and Mambo Negro Records worked together on the project embodies the driving force of the city’s underground, especially given the band’s presence is hugely felt but often fleeting, scattered across other projects. Having this alignment captured tangibly on record feels rare, necessary, and genuinely exciting.
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