I just stumbled across this fantastic new interview with Eblis Álvarez in the New Yorker - it took me right back to a great conversation I had with him a couple of years back about the Meridian Brothers’ salsa project.
Composer and musician Eblis is the genius behind the Colombian band Meridian Brothers: eccentric but relaxed, our conversation was an enjoyable roam through his thoughts.
For this album, he teamed up with legendary band Grupo Renacimiento, excavating the forgotten sounds of the 1970s salsa dura group.
But the salsa group is not what is seems: in fact, it does not exist at all.
From the archives: this interview was first published in 2022 via Colombia Calling
Eblis invented them - playing every instrument and singing every vocal - creating something he felt encapsulated a moment, a mood - and a question.
Check out this mockumentary from Ansonia Records, which brings to life the band’s imaginary musicians and the invented history of this (despite being a fantasy) extremely compelling group. This album was the first new release from Ansonia - a legendary NYC label - in 30 years.
Among an incredible set of songs, from deeply comic to lightly apocalyptic, my favourite track on the album, which I discussed in this podcast with Eblis, is ‘Metamorfosis’ - a blend of guaracha and the Cuban rhythm montuno.
The song explores transhumanism - waking up in a Kafka-esque nightmare to find yourself turned into a robot, finding the world itself has become robotised, computerised, and digitised. The song prays to various deities for salvation, pleading for a different future.
You can hear the whole album here!
In this episode, Eblis and I chatted all things storytelling, technocracy, salsa, being a ‘cachaco’ in the Colombian music world - and his ongoing search for music’s ‘futuristic past’.
Enjoy!
Photo by Steven Molina Contreras for The New Yorker
Share this post