MIA MORETTI CELEBRATES THE SOUNDS OF COLOMBIA’S ENIGMATIC PACIFIC COAST WITH DEBUT EP “TAMBOR”

 Recorded on a chance trip to Colombia, TAMBOR features a trio of tracks that celebrate the deeply soulful vocals typical of the region. Together with grounding percussion, these songs remind us of the essence of dance music. Moretti’s slow and sudden debut EP honors the matriarchs of bullerengue, a genre that typifies modern pacific coast equatorial life through its queens. Totó La Momposina and Petrona Martinez, two of the women featured on TAMBOR, tap into the basic trials and rhythms of life and make way for their voices in dance music. 

“Through my travels, I discover musicians, sounds and genres that I may not have otherwise,” said Moretti. “While in Colombia earlier this year, I met and fell in love with bullerengue. I was transfixed by the way the voices on these records commanded the music. I was very lucky to find some of these rare records, they led me down a long, beautiful path that eventually became this EP.”

TAMBOR (ft. Totó La Momposina) – The title track features the unmistakable voice of Totó La Momposina from her song “Tu Tambor.” Tambor, or drum, represents the driving force of bullerengue, a beat that connects us to the earth. But before the first beat even drops, we hear Totó’s earth-shattering voice, which Moretti envelops in a swell of percussion, driving bass line and a single trumpet to set a dark, moody tone for this call and response anthem.

*Totó La Momposina appears on Tambor (2023) courtesy of Real World Records.

ROSA – Dating back at least a century, the original “Rosa” is one of Colombia’s most recognizable standards, albeit originally hailing from Cuba. Moretti enlisted the help of Momposina’s family and friends on the Caribbean Coast, Bogota and London to pass the song on to a new generation. Momposina’s granddaughters, Maria and Oriana, re-sing her parts while Momposina’s longtime collaborator and band member, vocalist Jorge Aguilar, performs the lead line. The result is a drum-fueled, electronic dance ballad laced with history.

PIANO DE LA SELVA (ft. Petrona Martinez) – Rounding out Moretti’s debut EP, is her tribute to another matriarch of Afro Colombian music, “The Queen of Bullerengue ” Petrona Martinez. Piano de la Selva combines the signature call and response style of Bullerengue with the trans-like repetition of classic house music. Moretti weaves together percussion, the addictive rhythm of the marimba and Martinez’s voice to craft a story for her audience. The track opens with the hypnotic, ethereal sound of the marimba building and crashing to make way for Martinez’s vocals “she plays the piano of the jungle, she plays the marimba”. The goddess of the marimba is evoked.

*Petrona Martinez appears on Piano de la Selva (2023) courtesy of Chaco World Music 

TAMBOR continues Moretti’s mission to celebrate the power of female voices from around the world, which included “You and Me” (honoring the iconic house track from the 90s by Crystal Waters) and “Sweet Juju” (sampling the song of the same name by South African singer, Letta Mbulu) earlier this year.