Avant-Tropical–Experimental-Salsa from Colombia
The Meridian Brothers, a tropical five-piece founded by Colombian guitarist and composer Eblis Alvarez, tinkers with Latin Tropical styles with electronic aplomb, theatrical vocals, and unparalleled experimentation. Alvarez’s dizzying explorations, one album after another for the last two decades, come alive onstage as they return to the US for the first time since 2016. The band is touring a new album being released by the legendary NYC Salsa Dura label “Ansonia” this August – in which they reinvent themselves as a fictitious Salsa Dura band from the 1970s, Sgt. Pepper style, called EL GRUPO RENACIMIENTO. It’s a creative tribute to the 70s era NYC salsa that swept the world and finds Eblis Alvarez playing around with what it means to live in a post-truth world, where a legitimate and legendary salsa label releases a work of musical fiction – what he calls “salsa fantastica”. Catch them at The Drake for August’s Planetary Party together with DJ Bongohead (Peace & Rhythm) spinning actual 70s era salsa dura.
The always changing style of the MERIDIAN BROTHERS explores different lines of Latin-american music from the past and present, giving a particular and histrionic view of it, creating an alternate dimension to the nowadays pop scene in the continent. Departing from styles such as salsa, boogaloo and going through experiments with genres such as noise, vallenato or tropicalia, the MERIDIAN BROTHERS have earned the reputation of a cult band in LatinAmerica. MERIDIAN BROTHERS have performed shows in more than 90 cities in Europe, United States and Latin-America with a growing audience of fans and journalists.
$22 advanced, $25 at the door, $18 student w/ ID
Doors open at 7pm
“So why listen? Because it takes a strong will and clear musical vision for a band to cut
through all the music for which Colombia is known”