Afropop Worldwide

Los Pirañas attack! With a blast of technicolor, a burst of light, an angular twang, and a driving rhythm, the Colombian “tropical noise” trio is back with a new video for their latest song, “Salvemos Nuestro Folclor,” which will soon be released by Alona's Dream Records on 7” vinyl. The title, which translates as “Save Our Folklore,” strikes us as ironic given the edginess of the group’s music, but perhaps the folklore they refer to includes not only the Afro-Colombian and Peruvian rhythmic basis of their music, but also the punk, noise-rock, contemporary classical and psychedelic traditions Los Pirañas draw from. The groove is totally danceable, in a flail-around-and-jump kinda way, and the layers of sound on top inspire descriptors such as: twelve-tone cumbia; vallenato noise-rock; Colombia’s answer to Silver Apples. The video, directed by Santiago Mora, matches the music perfectly: The band, dressed in white suits with hoods, thrashes through bursts of color and expanding patterns of cartoon eyes and teeth. When the music speeds up and ultimately crashes and explodes, a cartoon fist punches out a cartoon head, leaving us in a swirling unconscious oblivion until the atonal guitar cues the band back in. http://youtu.be/aSAve7t67xU Pedro Ojeda (percussion) and Mario Galeano (bass) are both members of Frente Cumbiero and Quantic’s Ondatropica, and Eblis Alvarez (guitar and computer) is a renowned, award-winning classical composer (check out his experimental and classical works here), as well as the guitarist for The Meridian Brothers. Frankly, everything these guys are involved in is super awesome, and we’ve been aware of this whole scene for a while (see "The Tropical Noise Of Los Pirañas", “Meridian Brothers Soundway,” “4 Track: The Meridian Brothers”, “Ondatropica,” etc…) So if this is your first taste, dive in, and prepare to have your mind blown!