Mi Latinoamérica Sufre
Who ever knew that suffering could sound this good?! Musically speaking, Bogotá's Eblis Álvarez is the epitome of an all-rounder and has been involved in countless projects on the Neo-Colombian circuit, including the likes of Chupame El Dedo, Los Pirañas and Romperayo. One of his most prominent and popular monikers, however, is his Meridian Brothers venture, an insanely prolific one-man studio band that "over the decades [...] has released a [rip] tide of challenging, exciting and amusing music at once experimental and traditional, ancient and futuristic, infused with a sense of happenstance as well as intentionality." In 2020 he garnered global acclaim for his "Cumbia Siglo XXI" longplayer and followed that up in 2022, joining forces with the legendary Ansonia Records and simultaneously reviving the label with its first release in 30 years dubbed "Meridian Brothers & El Grupo Renacimiento" – yet another world of 'tropicalatin' fun, this one cast in a 'salsa dura' hue.
His latest album "Mi Latinoamérica Sufre" is a concept album released on Bongo Joe in collaboration with Ansonia Records and "was born from the desire to explore the untapped potential of the electric guitar in a tropical latin context. The record draws inspiration from the chiming, clear-toned and intricately rhythmic traditions of African highlife and soukous guitar band music, sounds that are as popular at coastal Colombian picó sound system dances as they are on their home turf in Africa." As such it "pays homage to the golden era of ’70s Congolese rumba, Ghanian highlife and Nigerian afrobeat, blending these influences with an array of fresh sonic contexts anchored by various Latin rhythms, all played by Álvarez." The resulting compositions are a bizarro blend of upbeat riffing, journeying melodies and super kawaii off-kilter effects, "weaving elements of cumbia, champeta, soukous, Brazilian tropicalia, and underground psychedelic rock all contained within the Afro-Latino guitar band format."
These frolicking, out-of-the-box soundscapes are boundless as in grandiosely unconventional, yet clearly intentional and sublimely evocative despite their maverick mindset. No doubt inspired by the highly diverse and multifaceted bitter-sweet joyride that is Latin American, "Mi Latinoamérica Sufre" is a veritable '"ego trip, [...] a humorous yet introspective journey of self-discovery and identity" that leads listeners into the discombobulated perception of self of the tale's protagonist, Junior Maximiliano the Third. Its themes, such as "[substance abuse], political philosophy and folklore," are juxtaposed with feelings of "nostalgia, paranoia and [collective] suffering" as well as "various psychological states of disorientation, self-pity, enlightenment, and optimism" to conjure an album that is absolutely, positively off the wall. Álvarez' musical plotlines are accompanied by equally mind-boggling visual narratives, an example of which is the wonderfully animated video to "En el Caribe estoy triste" by Poetas menores featuring below.
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