Making Movies isn’t the typical Latin rock band; they are not based out of Los Angeles, New York City or Chicago, but rather Kansas City, which isn’t exactly known for its Latin music. Formed in 2007, the band has begun a quick rise. Making Movies has coupled with bands like the Aterciopelados and Caifanes. Making Movies has made a name for itself in the Midwest and now, fresh off their LAMC performance, they are one of the Latin alternative bands to watch.

The quartet—led by singer/guitarist Enrique Chi—has developed from their early EPs into a mature modern Latin rock band that still incorporates the traditional sounds of Afro-Cuban and salsa thanks to salsa percussionist Juan-Carlos Chaurand. In a year when more and more Latin bands are being mentioned in non-Latin publications, Making Movies could be the next band you read about in publications like Fader and Paste. Blurring the language and music barriers with bilingual lyrics and a sound that can please both the plaid-wearing indie kids to the rock/salsa-listening Latino. I caught up with guys right before their World Music Night performance at Momo’s, a set that left those in attendance very impressed.

Tell me about your experience at the Latin Alternative Music Conference.

Enrique: Well, we went up there (New York City), we were lucky enough to get some free passes. We went to see The Pinker Tones at Central Park. La Maldita, the Ozomatli show, then we had a showcase in Queens at el Antigua, which is where a lot of the smaller bands were playing, it was good experience; it was cool to see all the networking, there's a definitely a lot of crops of progressive Latin bands all round the nation.

You were supposed to be at Pachanga Fest, but that didn’t work. So is this your first time in Austin?

Enrique: Yeah, this is our first time in Austin. Unfourunely, it didn’t work out at Pachanga. It's been a bad year for money for everyone. We were really excited to be a part of Pachanga; hopefully, we will be part of that next year.

Tell me about your guys' influences. And what are you listening to now?

Enrique: I think my biggest influences are things I grew up listening to at home, so my mom loved listening to dance music, so like salsas, cumbias, merengues. She loves merengue, and I think listening to that and coupled with my dad who played guitar, he loves The Beatles, pink Floyd and of course Carlos Santana. That combination of music is my biggest influences. New bands, I like this band called Delta Spirit; they are really cool  and we got to do a show with them. I listen to Ruben Blades. He has a new CD.

Yeah, that song “Las Calles.”

Enrique: Yeah, "Las Calles" is an amazing song.

Juan-Carlos: For me, I grew up mainly listening to Latin stuff; I didn’t grow listening to rock. Of course my dad listened to The Beatles and stuff like that, but it was mainly like Mexican folklore and mariachi music. And then when I was about 13 I started getting into salsa, merengue. That’s how I started to playing salsa music, so those are mainly my influences of music, from anywhere old salsa like Buena Vista to more modern salsa like Victor Manuelle and Gilberto Santa Rosa. Right now it's mainly the same thing, these guys started getting  more involved into the indeed rock and stuff like that, so imp still trying  to..  I love music so imp trying to take it all in. So those were my influences when I was younger. Mainly Latin stuff

Brendan Culp (drums): Just as Enrique was talking about things that you listened to at home, growing up my dad and mom, but mainly my dad listened to Led Zeppelin. But I was introduced into salsa music by Ruben Blades. I really like Calle 13. I think the rhythms on that are really neat and unique. Current bands, Mute Math, they're from Missouri, so close to home.

Brendan, you being one of the "non-Latin" band members, were you hesitant to join the band at all?

Brendan: No, not at all. Actually, I thought it was really neat. I have always liked the rhythms because, as a drummer, complex things are awesome and intriguing and now to be able to tackle that is exciting and fun, so there was no hesitation

Now the name Making Movies, I know comes from a Dire Straits song is that correct?

Enrique: Yeah, okay, it comes from a Dire Straits album and it just kind of like I always saw it around the house and the Dire Straits was the first thing I remember liking in music. I was in Panama, and I didn’t speak any English, yet I loved one of there songs, so every time I hear it I get really excited about hearing it. So that was my first musical memory, so seeing that record at home, I always thought "that looks cool" on a record.

Live at Momo's / photo by Miguel Angel

What was the initial reaction in Kansas City? How did you sell yourselves to club promoters? “Yeah, we're a Latin rock band.”

Enrique: It took a while, but luckily we had a lot of friends supporting us, so that helped us out. Once we got the ball rolling, being the only thing happening in Kansas City helps to, cause then to the Latin radio stations and Hispanic radio station and even the English media, we're one of the few Hispanic things they can talk about. There are a few traditional salsa bands,  but that’s not really hip or new. That’s a cover band, so we're about it going on, so we get a lot of coverage. So it helps us out

So has the Latin scene boomed or has it stayed the same since you guys started?

Enrique: It's grown. We started bringing shows, kind of promoting shows, so we brought Alejandro Marcovich from Los Caifanes to Kansas City and we did a tour with them and we where the backing band, so we learned all the Caifanes songs.

You played with Aterciopelados, what did you take from that experience?

Enrique: Wow, a lot; the main thing I took was, they have a very open-arms attitude with there audience, even though they are Grammy winners and all that crazy stuff. You know they don’t mind meeting any fans. They are so down to earth with us and we have played with some other famous people not down to earth at all.

Juan-Carlos: ...to where I was able to play with them

Enrique: They asked Juan-Carlos to jam on stage with them

Wow, jamming out with Los Aterciopelados...

Juan-Carlos: Yeah, just the kind of people that are very open-armed people.

The new album, In Deo Speramus. What exactly does it mean and where did come from?

Enrique: A couple of things, there is a lyric in one of the songs I say “If it's in God we trust,” which is what it means, “I'm worried for us.” And it's kind of a little bit of a statement on what I felt about what was happening in the country at the time. But then, it's both ways so it's kind of an attack on that. And on another side of it, it’s the reality that everything  kind of came together for the band in kind of a neat way. So maybe there is something out there that’s directing everything; I don’t know.

I’m starting to notice more Latin bands, not just come out with English song or English album, but now they are starting to use bilingual lyrics, for instance Monte Negro. I know you do the same thing. When did you start experimenting with that?

Enrique: Right about the time Brendan started playing with us, we were experimenting with both languages because for me my life has been in both languages since I was I was 6, so it felt natural that music should be like how I talk to people. I talk to some people in English and others in Spanish.

In the song “Tormenta,” you mention “la patria,” in reference to being Panamanian. Are people aware of your band in Panama? Have you played in Panama?

Enrique: We have not played a show in Panama. I went down there for a quick promo run; I did a radio interview down there. We are very blessed that I had a good friend in Panama, Omar Alfanno, who is a songwriter who wrote a lot of hits for Willie Colón. He has written a lot of Marc Anthony’s hits, everything from the '70s Fania Records stuff to all the way up Marc Anthony’s new record. I befriended him, so we want to make a run down there and start it down there.

What’s on the horizons for Making Movies, Where do you see this band in let say three to five years?

Enrique: We're gonna go home for a couple of months, because we need to make a music video. Then in October we're going to do a whole West Coast tour, so I think we will come through Texas. That’s the immediate future. Where I see this band in three to five years is touring national and internationally and being home less and being away more.

You mentioned a West Coast tour. Now,  Arizona, are you going to just hop-skip that state?

Brendan: Well, we'll maybe accidently drive though there

Enrique: We might hop-skip it.

What are your thoughts on all that is going on in Arizona?

Enrique: I disagree with what they're doing. I don’t necessarily have so much with the fact that they have a law that you have to show your ID. That’s not even what bothers me or the racial profiling, because an individual cop can choose to do those things. What bothers me is, this land is for a certain type of human being and we want to keep it that way cause places like Texas and Arizona have only been a part of the U.S.A. for 150 years, 1850. And even the war that chose that line, Abraham Lincoln said this is a vanity war; I don’t want to live in this country if we make a war like this, and that’s the reason why certain type of people are allowed here and certain type aren’t allowed here. I think that’s bullshit. Yes, I think people should be here but they need to be given the option to live here legally 'cause there is not one land or place that is for a certain type of person, you know what I mean? It's as  silly as when the Old Catholic rights said God has given this land to this people, so you are allowed to kill everyone else. It's almost that silly.

Is there anything more you would like to add?

Enrique: The only thing is, I feel we have a little bit of a responsibility as Latinos in this country right now to kind of be a voice and to be artistic. And we have some friends in San Antonio that are very involved in the community and teaching 'cause a lot of the underprivileged Latinos that come here aren’t aware that you can have an artistic life. And we feel it’s a responsibility and we're thankful for people like Austin Vida and for any of the progressive Latino media. So if there is anything I would like to add, it's just for the people that are doing it, keep doing it and  for the people that aren’t, this is the time.

Former Los Abandoned frontwoman Pilar Diaz returned to Austin to in May to peform at the third annual Pachanga Latino Music Fest at Fiesta Gardens. The Chilean-born, California-bred singer-songwriter's sound is a bilingual fusion of different genres, from tropical to folkoric indie. Diaz was also performing in support of her self-titled debut released in early 2009.

Austin Vida teamed up with local video producers Blastro to bring you an exlcusive on-camera interview with Pilar Diaz. In the interview, Austin Vida senior editor Angela Maldonado asks Diaz what she has been up since Los Abandoned broke up, her unique estyle and her music video for "Ilegal En Estyle." Watch the interview below and be sure to check out our other Pahanga Fest video interviews and live videos. Watch Pilar Diaz's live performance from Pachanga here.

Photo by Mari Hernandez taken at Pachaga Fest 2010.

Pilar Diaz has the kind of style and talent that could make a person cry. As the former frontwoman for the now disbanded Los Abandoned, Diaz would work a stage within an inch of its life. She delivered the band’s high energy bilingual pop-rock with such fervor that it’s no surprise she would wear leotards and old school Reeboks for shows. Now as a solo artist, the Los Angeles-based Diaz still rocks the stage, though in a more layered, singer-songwriter way. She did so at this year's Pachanga Fest in May.

To capture the performance, Austin Vida teamed up with Blastro to bring you exclusive live video of Diaz's performing "Tu Y Yo," "Piñata" and more from her self-titled debut solo album. We also shot an exclusive on-camera video interview with Pilar Diaz which will be online later. 

Photo by Mari Hernandez taken at Pachanga Fest 2010.

Nacional Records recording artist Pacha Massive was one of the national Latin alternative touring acts performing at this years' third annual Pachanga Music Festival. The group's signature funky bilingual fusion of dub and electronica with Latin rhythms, like cumbia and palo, was a perfect fit for the festival. Pachanga Fest also marked the first time Austin got a chance to see Pacha Massive's new female vocalist, Monica Rodriguez, who is also a member of the New York City indie group Zigmat. 

To capture the performance, Austin Vida teamed up with Blastro to bring you exclusive live video of Pacha Massive performing "Get It On" and "Pachangueando" from the debut album, All Good Things. "Take The Wheel" is off of their latest release, If You Want It. We also shot an exlcusive on-camera interview with Pachan Massive which you can see here.

Photo by Chantel Clopine, taken at Pachanga Fest 2010

Pacha Massive - Exclusive Live Performance

Austin Vida teamed up with local video producers Blastro to bring you an exclusive on-camera interview with the band. In the interview, we talk about If You Want It, the band's unique fusion of sounds and how they came together. We also meet their new lead female vocalist, Monica Rodriguez, who is also a member of the New York City-based group Zigmat. Watch the interview below, and stay tuned for more of our Pachanga Fest videos, also co-presented with Blastro.

Pacha Massive - Exclusive Interview

Are you ready? Well, are you? Because we don't think you're ready for what Austin Vida has in store for you.

Last week we brought you an exclusive video interview with Los Amigos Invisibles. The video featured brief clips of the Venezuelan legends' soldout headlining set at Antone's. But we thought, why tease you with five-second concert clips? Austin Vida is about pleasing, not just teasing.

So we, and our friends at Blastro, decided to upload an hour-long video of the band's crazy concert at Antone's. That night, the line of people who couldn't get into the soldout show was around the block. If you weren't there that night, be prepared to experience one of the funkiest, booty-shakingest Latin alternative bands of all time.

Photo by Mari Hernandez

Los Amigos Invisibles - Exclusive Live Performance
Watch Music Videos at www.blastro.com

The third annual Pachanga Fest took place on May 22 at Fiesta Gardens in East Austin. In what was a fantastic day of celebrating Latin music and Latino musicians from all walks of life, Nacional Records recording artist Bomba Estéreo was a perfect fit to close the festival. With vibrant energy and an electric stage presence, Li Saumet and Simón Mejía proved why they are the "it" band in the Latin alternative world this year, having received praise from both Latino publications and mainstream media. Not a single soul in attendance wasn't captivated.

To capture the event, Austin Vida teamed up with our friends at Blastro.com to bring you exclusive live concert videos from Pachanga. The following is a 18-minute concert video of Bomba Estéreo's headlining set. Songs include "Elegencia Tropical," "Pa Ti," "Raza" and "Feelin."

Photo by Mari Hernandez, taken at Pachanga Fest 2010

Los Amigos Invisibles are no stranger to Austin or to Austin Vida. The venezolanos by way of New York have played South by Southwest, a headlining show at Mohawk in 2008, ACL Fest in 2009 and most recently a headlining show at Antone's in March. After a career year in 2009 in which their Nacional Records debut, Commercial, received a Latin Grammy for best alternative album and winning over legions of new fans.

Austin Vida teamed up with local video producers Blastro to bring you an exclusive on-camera interview with the band. Since the Amigos are avid record collectors, we thought what better way to welcome the guys to Austin than to take them to one of the best locally owned record stores in town: End of an Ear. Watch the interview below, and stay tuned for our Pachanga Fest videos, also co-presented with Blastro. If you like the live footage, Blastro also filmed openers Ocote Soul Sounds that night. Watch that footage: click here.

It sounds like a weird reality TV show premise: What happens when you mix a metal guitarist, an acoustic singer/songwriter, a hip-hop emcee, a jazzy drummer, an alt-rock bassist and a psychedelic turntablist?

What you get is the band Este Vato. What connects them is their love of Latin music and their belief in spreading cultural education and pride through song. The Austin-based Latin fusion sextet has only been around since late 2008, but they've caught our attention early and often with their infectious live show and approachable every-man demeanor.

As the band members' diverse music backgrounds suggest, Este Vato is a versatile group that can deliver a mellow cumbia, a raging protest tune or a catchy rock en español number. These sounds and more are captured on the band's self-released, self-titled debut CD, which can be purchased at their shows or on Bandcamp.

The band is composed of the Reyna brothers, Rocky and Oscar, who grew up in a musical family in Hebbronville, a 5,000-population town in South Texas. Their father, a Tejano accordionist, was a big influence on the brothers getting into music. In Austin, the Reynas met local singer/songwriter Ricardo Lara and Laredo-bred emcee Feliciano "Chano" Lopez, as well as veteran drummer Frank Ramirez and DJ Rey Treviño.

I recently talked to Este Vato about trying to make it as a young Latin band and returning to play shows in their hometowns of Hebbronville and Laredo.

Concert photos by Isabel Salazar. Promo photo provided.

With your various musical backgrounds, how did the Este Vato sound come together?

Ricardo: It's just like minds. We're all into music. If like minds come together, they're going to produce something. Background doesn't matter.

Chano: I think we have a general idea of what we try to do as "Latin fusion." So there's a Latin element that connects everything. But on top of that, we have rock, reggae, hip-hop.But whenever we make music, it's whatever we feel.

Ricardo: It's a lot of feeling. We can go into a song and think "It sounds like this" but then, you know what, it actually sounds like this. We just kinda let it flow; don't force anything.

Rocky: Basically, everybody comes together and, individually, they do what they do. Ric is a singer/songwriter, so that's what he brings. Chano brings hip-hop. Frank's drumming style is real jazzy, real intricate. I listen to everything: rock, Tejano cumbia. My brother brings Slash. [laughs] The Guns 'N Roses influences. Everyone brings what they have to the table.

You're a young band, around a year and a half old. With so many influences, it must be a challenge writing songs. Do you ever bump heads?

Chano: Not that it's really a challenge, but yeah, we try to fit stuff together and sometimes stuff doesn't fit. We want everyone to have their piece, you know what I mean. We compromise, I guess, without really talking it out.

Ricardo: We're not really stepping on anybody's toes. Nobody really has an ego in this band.

Rocky: Except for Chano, who likes to show up fashionably late.

[group laughs]

Ricardo: Prima donna.

Chano: I came from Cedar Park for this.

Ricardo: And I came from like 10 minutes farther than that.

You added another member recently, too.

Rocky: Dean, the conga player.

Ricardo: I met him at Qua. [laughs]

Fancy Qua? I didn't expect that.

Ricardo: Yeah, he was doing the drumline. You know the Captain Morgan Girls and all that? He was doing his percussion thing. I listened to him. He was playing along with whatever music was playing.

Like over the sound system, not a live band?

Ricardo: Yeah, just hip-hop or whatever music they play there. I was like "Hey, man, I have this band, Este Vato. Check it out." And he's kinda been tagging along since.

He was that good at Qua.

Ricardo: He just sounded really good.

Chano: He was playing to some Lady Gaga.

I know, right? "You made Lady Gaga sound good. If you can do that, you need to be in my band." Let's talk about the music. A lot of the lyrics are political or at least socially conscious. Was that an intentional decision from the start?

Chano: I don't think necessarily political, but we definitely wanted to say something.

Ricardo: It's not all about booty-shaking and how much money you have. We ain't got no money.

Hey, most of those dudes who sing about that don't have money.

Chano: It's just stuff that pertains to us; it's reflections of our background and our culture. At the same time, it's supposed to be fun though. There's a lot of issues that aren't getting addressed, really. There's a platform for me to say that stuff. A lot of people would say, "Well, that kinda music is dead," but it's not.

Rocky: I like to think of it as educational dance music. [laughs]

Speaking of educational, you guys have a song that references the Kennedy assassination.

Rocky: "Balaso." That's Ric.

Ricardo: Basically, it's just talking about how he was murdered in front of the world to prove a point, saying if you defy the government, we can kill you.

Chano: We both wrote those lyrics and collaborated our viewpoints, and I think the one thing we both share in common is the ties to our upbringing. I remember growing up in Nebraska. Kennedy was a hero to my grandmother because he was the only person at that time who was standing up for equal rights, as far as someone who could actually do something about it. And even he got taken out. His legacy carries on, and that's what the song is about.

Let's talk about the challenges of being a young band and a Latino band in Austin. How did you guys get gigs early on?

Rocky: I already had experience booking shows through my other band, my rock band Exeter. I had connections with talent buyers and bar managers. We actually got invited to our first show, which was with Bombasta at Flamingo Cantina.

Ricardo: Bubba Hernadnez and Los Super Vatos.

Chano: Subrosa Union.

Rocky: At that time, we only had five songs. I told the guy, "Yeah, we'll play. We'll open up because we only have five songs. This is literally our first show" And so we played it. The crowd loved it, thank God.

Frank: I'd only been playing with you guys for a month.

Chano: I was blown away, kinda like really taken by surprise. From that first show we played, it was nonstop after that. Especially in Austin, where it's oversaturated with bands. But I really saw a difference with being a Latin band over being of a rock band. No one really cares, unfortunately, if you're a rock band. You gotta do something crazy or be completely different in some way. And, I mean, we were different, but...

Just being you, a Latin fusion band from South Texas, makes you different.

Chano: I was like "Whoa, this is really crazy." We went from that first Flamingo show to playing a nationally sponsored tour by Remezcla and MySpace, where they were advertising the show every time you logged into MySpace. And playing with Girl in a Coma. To us, just a couple weeks before that we were at their show, saying "Wouldn't it be awesome if we played a show with them." And then a few weeks later, we were there. It's fun, man. It's cool.

Rocky: In the beginning, it's always more of a popularity contest. Like who has the most friends, because that's really who's gonna be going to your shows at first. The only way you're gonna progress further than that is if you create a buzz. Look at Ghostland Observatory, Alpha Rev. Those bands created a buzz in Austin, and unless you do that you kinda plateau. That's really the bad part of being in Austin. It's a cesspool of bands, and you have to set yourself apart.

How do you create a buzz, though?

Chano: With us, it was our friends at first. But see they would bring a friend. And they tell a friend. And their friends' friends. Word of mouth is pretty much it.

Rocky: Everywhere I go, I tell people about my music and most of the time, I bring it up. We'll be talking about, like, "Ugh, I just ate Whataburger and my stomach hurts." "Hey, I play in a band; you should totally check us out."

[laughs] You guys are still young as a band. I'm sure you have goals. One-year, two-year goals. What do you want to do in the next couple years?

Rocky: One thing I do want to do is collaborate with local and regional artist. Like doing a collaboration with Maneja Beto or Hadyn Vitera, or other performing artists. Just making it interesting.

Chano: That's one thing that's been cool. We've played with hip-hop artists and rock bands.

You guys play a lot of Red River rock venues. Not a lot of Spanish or bilingual bands do.

Chano: Yeah, exactly. It's funny how there's kind of a crossover. I mean, they don't know what you're saying, but they're feeling the music. We've played at Beerland with crazy, off-the-wall bands.

Rocky: Like psychobilly bands.

Chano: We make these friendships with these bands. The camaraderie is one cool thing about the Latin scene too. Bands like El Tule, Maneja Beto, La Guerrilla. They're always looking to get us on the bill and vice versa.

Oscar: We've played in front of audiences that we might not have otherwise.

You have the Red River crowd covered. But have you thought about getting into discotecas on the east side to see how your sound goes over?

Chano: We haven't tried, but we want to try. We wanna definitely play shows in San Antonio. We definitely want to get more of the east side exposure. We don't really want boundaries.

You guys go home and play shows in Hebbronville and Laredo. What's the reception like?

Rocky: The one show we played in Laredo was for the Brown Impressions Lowrider Car Club's anniversary. They liked us there.

Chano: Laredo is a bigger town, so they might like your stuff but they're not gonna show it, because then they'd be going out on a limb, you know what I mean? They'll be standing there with their arms crossed, but they're standing there still. In Hebbronville, we played a festival down there, and there were old-school Tejano guys totally blown away that we were doing something they could identify with, but they were blown away by having a DJ spinning records and scratching.

Rocky: The fact that we're different, I think they appreciate that. There's a lot of talented musicians in Hebbronville. I only wish they would get a little more creative and kinda expand and do their own things. I think that's what they appreciate from us. They can't go to our shows in Hebbronville and sing along to our music because they don't know our music. It's not cover songs.

You're not performing old standards. It's your songs.

Rocky: It's cool that they go out and listen to it and like it. Even if they're not singing to it, they're dancing. And that's even better to us. Hopefully next time we go down there, they'll get to memorize our music, learn it and sing along.

Simón Mejía is the musical mastermind behind Bogota's hottest Latin alternative act, Bomba Estéreo. The Colombian electro-tropical fusion act blends its nation's namesake rhythm, the cumbia, with pulsating bass, hip-hop beats and the spitfire flow of charismatic emcee Liliana Saumet. Their highly energetic live shows have made Bomba a staple of the Latin American and European festival circuits. This summer, they'll be adding the U.S. summer festival circuit to its list of accomplishments, playing Bonnaroo in June and headlining at Pachanga Fest in Austin on May 22.

I sat down with Mejía during South By Southwest to find out what makes him tick and how he went from playing guitar in Metallica cover bands to being the trend-setter of hip Latin dance music. Much a reflection of their on-stage personalities, Mejía was cool and methodical during the interview, while Saumet was fidgety and fully of energy, often sitting down and getting up and even singing at one point. If you haven't heard their stuff, I recommend picking up their U.S. debut album, Blow Up.

All photos by Ajay Miranda
Taken at Levi's/FADER Fort, SXSW 2010

Bomba Estéreo started off as a solo project. How did it become the band it is now?

Simón: More than a solo project, I was working with DJ Fresh from Bogota and a friend of mine who does visuals. It was like an electronic visual project. We sometimes invited, in live shows, some emcees. It was kind of more like a soundsystem. And then after that, we split and I kept working solo and made the first album, Volume One, and then I met Liliana.

How much time elapsed between recording your first album and meeting Liliana?

Simón: I worked like eight months on it. I did it at home. Then I met her and some months passed, and we began making the songs for the second album. We rehearsed it live. And after playing a year live, we took them to the studio and recorded the second album.

How did you get into music?

Simón: Since I was a kid, I was in music. I took piano lessons when I was a kid. Then I played guitar; I had some rock bands.

What kind of rock bands?

Simón: No, first, I had metal bands. We did Metallica and Slayer covers. Then I had another rock band; we did The Cure covers. They were just school bands. We played, but it was nothing professional.

Just kids messing around...

Simón: Messing around. But with Bomba Estéreo, I like got serious into it.

That's a totally different route, though, going from Cure covers to this Latin/electronic fusion of Bomba.

Simón: It was part of a process of discovering computers and music software. Before that, I was more into guitar-playing. And then I began to discover computers and software, and I began to do music production. Also, I started being interested in Colombian music, traditional Colombian music. Sampling. One thing led to another, and it came out doing this project.

A lot of the Bomba Estéreo sounds are traditional, like the cumbia. When you were in school, did kids listen to that music? Or was it not cool?

Simón: No, it was definitely not cool. It's not popular. For example, in Bogota where I'm from, it's not popular because Bogota is up in the mountains and this music happens originally in the coast. In the coast, it is popular in the holidays. In December, there's always musicians playing that music in the streets and singing. But in general, it is not cool to listen. It is like music for old people. So it's not so cool; so what we're trying to do is take that music into a wider audience and make it cooler. It's like rescuing that type of music and showing it to young people.

Do you think you've made a difference with that younger audience?

Simón: Sure, sure. For example, when a young person listens to folk music, just folk music, it may seem boring. But if he listens to that folk music and it has a little bit of hip hop, a bit of a beat and a guitar, and then you see it live and it has some rock elements, people say "Wow, what is this?" You say "This is cumbia" and they say "I thought cumbia was from towns with old people." And they go "Wow, cumbia is cool." And then it becomes trendy and people begin to look for cumbia and research. So we're very proud of that.

Why did you get into this kind of music? You could've made any kind of music you wanted, not just cumbia.

Simón: I don't know. I got into salsa. And like salsa led me to listen to Colombian salsa, and Colombian salsa led me to listen to Joe Arroyo, and Joe Arroyo is not only salsa but he uses also folk elements. So a whole new musical universe opened. But I grew up listening to rock music and disco; I never was close to folk.

Is that what city kids listened to in Colombia? Rock music?

Simón: Yeah. American music, mostly.

[lead singer Liliana Saumet sits down next to Simón]

You guys have lots of confidence on stage. Did you always have that stage presence or did you have to work on that?

Simón: Well, the show we've been doing, we've been doing it for one year, so it's pretty solid.

Liliana: And we learn from every city; every audience teaches us something new.

You guys have played all over the world for different kinds of crowds. What have been some of your favorite shows to play?

Simón: Roskilde Festival in Europe was great.

Liliana: We did a town in Ireland.

Simón: Cork, Ireland. It was strange because you never imagine yourself—you play Colombian music and you're from Colombia—playing a town in Ireland. So when you get there, people don't talk Spanish. But they feel connected.

Liliana: They were crazy; it was strange.

Simón: They get into it.

Awesome. Are you recording any new material?

Simón: Yes. We're working on a new album to release it by the end of this year.

Your U.S. album is called Blow Up; your single is called "Fuego." So what's the message behind Bomba Estéreo?

Simón: More than a message, it's just giving people a positive vibration with the music and with the lyrics. It's not a particular message, but just that folk music and African music and all dance music is about getting people into dancing, which is positive. It's a way of forgetting our problems and being together with some positive energy.

Bomba Estéreo is scheduled to headline at Pachanga Fest in Austin on May 22. They will also play an in-store performance at End of an Ear on May 23. Watch their music video for "Fuego" below.