''Ayo'' is the fifth studio album by Colombian band

Bomba Estéreo Bomba Estéreo is a Colombian band founded in Bogotá in 2005 by Simón Mejía. Their music has been described as "electro tropical" or "psychedelic cumbia". History 2005–2008: Career beginning and ''Vol. 1'' The origins of the group go back t ...

, released on August 11, 2017. It is a

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

album with elements of modern

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

and

Spanglish Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mos ...

lyrics. It reached number 28 on the US

Top Latin Albums Top Latin Albums is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine and is labeled as the most important music chart for Spanish language, full-length albums in the American music market. Like all ''Billboard'' album charts, the chart is based ...

chart.

Background and production

The album was created following the band's success with the video for "Soy Yo", which was called an "anthem of Latinx identity" by

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, and said to contain a "message of individuality and self-love". It also inspired art and

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costumes. ''Ayo'' was noted as following from this sound, being created soon after the viral reaction to the video. The band began working with producer Chris Castagno in order to compose a song with rhythm from a flauta de millo. This resulted in "Duele", the first song released from the album. The song was pointed out as picking up where the final song on ''Amanecer'', "Raíz" left off, in terms of instrumentation. The album was inspired by and composed in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

mountain range of Colombia, emerging from a "spiritual ceremony" that took place with the

Kogi people The Kogi ( ), or Cogui, or Kágaba, meaning " jaguar" in the Kogi language, are an indigenous group that resides in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia. Their culture has continued since the Pre-Columbian era. L ...

that live there. The album contains "ancestral influences" and Colombian instruments, including the gaita, a type of flute. Simón Mejía said the album "returns to the Caribbean sonic roots of Bomba Estéreo while at the same time, keeps looking at the world with open eyes and open ears, taking risks on new paths". The album is their first without guitarist Julián Salazar since their first album.

Music and lyrics

Along with traditional Colombian instrumentation, the album contains dance tracks—"Taganga" also contains a

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sound, and "Internacionales" was noted for its "party-pleas ng qualities and lyrics that proclaim: "Mezclados, somos todos mezclados, venimos de todos lados, la misma historia con otro sabor (''Mixed, we are all mixed, we come from everywhere, the same history with different flavors'')." ''

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'' said the song "seems to touch on the anti-immigrant and anti-Latino rhetoric that has dominated U.S. politics in recent years". The opening track "Siembra", which was also utilised to open many of the band's 2017 concerts, was noted for its lyrics about planning for the future and being aware of humans' place in the universe. Simón Mejía said of the song: "It's a message about the land, that has a lot to do with what's happening at an environmental level. It's a beautiful song, thought for our children." ''Billboard'' also noted it as a "party album". Mejía said that the album contains "more African guitars, live percussion, more folklore" than their previous releases.

Cover art

The album cover depicts

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seeds "spilling out of a spiral

conch Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

shell". According to NPR, it alludes to the type of conch-shell trumpets used by

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peoples of North America.

Track listing

Track listing adapted from iTunes.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2017 albums Bomba Estéreo albums Spanish-language albums