English producer Will "Quantic" Holland has brilliantly captured the sound of this Colombian big band who came together solely to make an album that represents the best of Colombian tropical music past and present. For capturing is all you really have to be able to do when the standard of musicianship is so high and the sheer joy of playing so apparent.
Colombian styles such as cumbia, gaita, porro and champeta (“ondatrópica” is the overarching name for these styles) are all well represented but not in a dull, archival way. Every track is taut and springy with life and buoyed up by both new up-and-coming talents as well as the established stars of the 1960s/70s who were at the centre of this golden age of great dance music.
Recorded in the legendary Disco Fuentes studios (where many of the tracks they wished to pay homage to were also recorded) using only analogue equipment to achieve maximum warmth and presence, it must have felt like a matter of patriotic duty to all concerned that they got it right. And it’s gratifying to report that they did get it right. In part because, fortunately, Holland and his co-conspirator, band leader Mario Galeano, were wise enough to keep overtly contemporary elements to a minimum. This effectively means that although one senses 21st-century sensibilities at work here, there are no tracks that are going to sound horribly dated in five years' time.
Over two CDs (or three vinyl albums, should that be your format of choice) an almost physically palpable carnival of brass, accordion, impassioned vocals and percussion blazes like it’s 1966. Everyone involved should be proud of themselves for creating this towering monument to some of the most exciting, innovative and timeless dance music on the planet. See them for yourself at the Hackney Empire on the 20 July supported by Ghanaian funk outfit KonKoma.
Enjoy an Ondatrópica album teaser
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