Tradition meets modernity in the Colombian band Salsangroove’s music. The quintet reinterprets traditional salsa music by infusing various genres from electronic to jazz, offering a new, creative Colombian sound.
The band — comprised of vocalist Pablo Watusi Martinez, saxophonist Juan Felipe Cardenas Rojas, percussionist Juan Carlos Arrechea Mina, guitarist Juan Andres Cortes and conga player Larry Ararat — is currently touring around Asia. It is scheduled to have two performances in Korea, at the VIBE VOYAGE festival at Nodeul Island Live House on the Han River in the middle of Seoul on Wednesday, and Seoul Latin Fiesta at Rolling Hall near western Seoul’s Hongik University on Saturday.
The group shared its hopes to usher Asian audiences into the world of Colombian sounds through its performances.
“The message we want to convey here in Asia is our great joy and energy from Colombia, not just from the content of the lyrics but also the sounds and tastes of Colombia. We want to deliver 추천 the experiences each of our members has and stories of us as families,” Martinez said in an interview with The Korea Times at the Embassy of Colombia in Jongno District, Seoul, Tuesday.
The band started its musical journey with two friends, Martinez and Rojas, bringing together musicians from different backgrounds to form the genre-bending group.
“Rojas and I have been friends since we were young. And we’ve been playing together in an orchestra band named La-33, studying salsa and conducting various musical experiments by fusing several music genres together,” Martinez said.
“We also tried merging the traditional genre of electronic music using technology, and along the way, musicians who were interested in this field gathered together as this group to conduct various musical experiments.”
The band’s experimental adventure kicked off with success, notching a nomination for the Latin Grammy Awards in 2017 with its first album.
“At that time, we were in a period of mixing various sounds and exploring our identity. So it was such unexpected, good news since we had put a lot of effort into creating that album,” Rojas said. “Thanks to that, we were able to continue our band with more confidence in the music we make and in our identity.”