Bomba Estéreo is a Colombian band founded in
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
in 2005 by Simón Mejía. Their music has been described as "electro tropical"
or "psychedelic
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, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...
".
History
2005–2008: Career beginning and ''Vol. 1''
The origins of the group go back to 2001 when Bogotá native Simón Mejía (previously a member of 1990s Colombian alternative rock band Charconautas) was part of a loose collective of musicians and visual artists under the name A.M. 770. Their music was influenced by Colombian groups such as
Sidestepper and Bloque de Busqueda who in the late 1990s had started combining traditional Colombian musical rhythms such as
salsa and
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, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...
with modern electronic beats and dance music. A.M. 770's first musical production was the track "Ritmika" (based on a sample of a song by
Venezuelan
Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...
salsa band Los Blanco) on the album ''Colombeat'', a 2002 compilation showcasing this new musical style which was put together by Colombia's foremost
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band
Aterciopelados
Aterciopelados (), also known as Los Aterciopelados, is a rock band from Colombia, led by Andrea Echeverri and Héctor Buitrago. Their music fuses rock with a variety of Colombian and Latin American musical traditions. Aterciopelados have reco ...
for their new label Entrecasa.
By 2005, A.M. 770 had effectively become Mejía's solo project and he began to focus more on the musical side of his work, changing the name of the group to Bomba Estéreo. The first results of his new project was the seven-track mini-album ''Vol. 1'' (2006), essentially a solo album but featuring contributions from other artists such as fellow A.M. 770 member Diego Cadavid. Having recorded ''Vol. 1'', Mejía attended the
Latin Alternative Music Conference
The Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) is a conference geared towards the marketing of Spanish-language alternative music, founded in 2000.[New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...](_blank)
and was able to secure an international distribution deal with
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
-based
Nacional Records
Nacional Records is an independent record label founded in 2005, based in Los Angeles. Nacional is home to Rock, Hip Hop, Electronic, Musica Mexicana, Pop and other diverse sounds from around the world and sometimes down the block. After 20 years ...
for future releases, with Colombian releases on the Bogotá independent label
Polen Records.
One of the vocalists Mejía had used on ''Vol. 1'' was
Santa Marta
Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...
-born singer and rapper Liliana "Li" Saumet, on the track "Huepaje". Saumet had briefly been the singer for the
dub reggae
Dub is a musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican reggae, p.&nb ...
band Mister Gomes en Bombay before meeting Mejía at a concert.
Impressed with Saumet's contribution, Mejía began to collaborate with her and Cadavid on songs for the next Bomba Estéreo album.
2008–2011: ''Estalla''
By the time the second album ''Estalla'' was released in 2008, Bomba Estéreo had developed into a full band, with Saumet on vocals, Cadavid on percussion, Julián Salazar on guitar, and former Sidestepper collaborator Enrique "Kike" Egurrola on drums, alongside Mejía on bass and keyboard programming. ''Estalla'' was released the following year in the
US under the new title ''Blow Up'', with the single "Fuego" helping to attract new fans outside Colombia and resulting in the group being voted "Best New Band in the World" for 2010 by viewers of
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
Iggy, the television channel's outlet for alternative world music artists.
In 2010 the band were one of a dozen artists commissioned by
Levi's
Levi Strauss & Co. ( ) is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's ( ) brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, ...
to cover songs from previous decades, as part of "Levi's Pioneer Sessions" marketing campaign. The group chose to record
Technotronic
Technotronic was a Belgian electronic music project formed in 1987 by Jo Bogaert and best known for their 1989 single, " Pump Up the Jam", which features vocals by Ya Kid K. The song peaked at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United ...
's "
Pump Up the Jam", cited by Mejía as his favourite party record.
The song was later released under the new title "Ponte Bomb" as the lead track on an EP of the same name, which also featured various remixes of the tracks "Fuego" and "La Boquilla" from ''Estalla''/''Blow Up''.
The song "Fuego" can be heard in the background of the 2010 episode "Circle Us" on the
Showtime television series ''
Dexter
Dexter may refer to:
People
* Dexter (given name)
* Dexter (surname)
* Dexter (singer), Brazilian rapper Marcos Fernandes de Omena (born 1973)
* Famous Dex, also known as Dexter, American rapper Dexter Tiewon Gore Jr. (born 1993)
Places United ...
'', during a scene outside of a club, and later appeared on the series' soundtrack album. "Fuego" has also been used as the
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...
of the
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
television drama series ''El Puntero'' which aired in 2011, and features on the soundtrack of
EA Sports
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
, ''
FIFA 10
''FIFA 10'' (titled ''FIFA Soccer 10'' in North America) is a Association football, football Simulation video game, simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was releas ...
''.
The Dixone Remix of the song "La Boquilla" (from the band's 2011 EP ''Ponte Bomb'') was featured on the soundtrack of the movie ''
Limitless'' that same year. In 2021, "Fuego" was featured in the action video game
Far Cry 6
''Far Cry 6'' is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth main installment in the '' Far Cry'' series and the successor to 2018's '' Far Cry 5''. The game is set on the fictional C ...
from
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
and can be heard readily at the base-camp of the faction 'Maximas Matanzaz'.
Simón Mejía was selected as one of the three finalists for the 2010–11
Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative to spend a year working with
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...
,
eventually losing out to Australian composer
Ben Frost. He also travelled with
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
-based filmmaker Santiago Posada to the Colombian town of
San Basilio de Palenque
San Basilio de Palenque or Palenque de San Basilio, often referred to by the locals simply as Palenke, is a Palenque village and corregimiento in the Municipality of Mahates, Bolivar in northern Colombia. Palenque was the first free African t ...
, where the two men spent three months in 2011 recording the music of the local
Afro-Colombian
Afro-Colombians (), also known as Black Colombians (), are Colombians of total or predominantly Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Colombia has one of the largest African diaspora, Afro-descendant populations in South America, with government ...
community for a music and DVD
box set
A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists ...
– the town became known in the 17th century as the site of the first free slave community in all of the Americas, and has retained much of its African-originated language, culture and music.
2011–present: ''Elegancia Tropical'' and ''Amanecer''
Bomba Estéreo performed at the
South by Southwest
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
and
Roskilde
Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...
festivals in 2009, and in 2010 undertook a world tour that visited 32 cities as well as the
Bumbershoot
Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day (United States), Labor Day weekend (leading up to and ...
festival and
Bonnaroo Music Festival
Bonnaroo (or Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival) is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment.
Bonnaroo has taken place at what is now Great Stage Park, a 700-acre (280 ha) fa ...
.
In 2011 they performed at the
Coachella Festival
Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorad ...
and
Austin City Limits Music Festival in the US, as well as
Lollapalooza Chile
Lollapalooza Chile is the Chilean edition of the popular music festival Lollapalooza (). It was the first Lollapalooza event to be held outside the United States and has taken place in Santiago, Chile since 2011.
History
The festival debuted in ...
and the
Vive Latino
Vive Latino - Festival Iberoamericano de Cultura Musical, known for sponsorship reasons as Amazon Vive Latino, is an annual music festival held in Mexico City. It is one of the most important music festivals in Mexico, featuring a great varie ...
festival in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
, one of the major worldwide festivals for "
rock en español
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
".
The band's third album, ''Elegancia Tropical'', was released in 2012 on
Polen Records in Colombia and on
Soundway Records worldwide. The album was engineered and mixed by producer
Joel Hamilton. To promote the record the band undertook a tour of Colombia, followed by
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and the US throughout 2012 and 2013. Band members have said they miss
suero
Suero, also referred to as suero costeño or suero atollabuey, is a fermented-milk-based condiment from Colombia's Caribbean coastal region. It is somewhat similar to yogurt or sour cream. It is served as an accompaniment for various dishes and ...
while on tour away from Colombia.
Their fourth album, ''Amanecer'', was released on June 2, 2015, on Sony Music. One song, "Soy Yo", was selected for the soundtrack of ''
FIFA 16
''FIFA 16'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4,
Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android and iOS.
The g ...
''. The
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for "Soy Yo", released in September 2016, featured the debut of
Sarai Gonzalez as a nerdy-looking Latina girl with a spunky personality standing up to bullies on the "mean streets" of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York.
The video received over 6.5 million views as of early November 2016.
[ "Soy Yo" was also featured in the soundtrack to the 2017 feature film '' Pitch Perfect 3'' and the 2019 feature film '' Dora and the Lost City of Gold''. "Soy Yo" also appeared in the 2019 dance rhythm game, '' Just Dance 2020'' and in the GrubHub advert "Delivery Dance", which gained traction as an ]Internet meme
An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
for its inhuman dancing. "Carnavalera" and "Playa Grande" were featured on the '' Need for Speed Heat'' soundtrack.
The album ''Amanecer'' was placed 50th in ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
''s list of the 50 best albums of 2015. In late 2016, the band went on a 12-city tour, featuring multiple US cities featuring music from their latest album. The group headlined the FM Festival in Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
in January 2017. In August 2017, guitarist Julian Salazar confirmed in an interview with POUSTA.com that he and the group had parted ways.
In 2019, their song "Internacionales" was used in a TV ad aired in the United States for the Walmart Grocery App. In 2019, their song "Caderas" was featured as the diegetic soundtrack to the opening police-siege scenes of the American action-adventure film Triple Frontier.Triple Frontier (2019) soundtrack listing on IMDB
/ref> Also in 2021, their song "Soy Yo" (from the ''Amanecer'' album) was used for a Grubhub TV commercial aired in the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in various forms. In 2022, the band collaborated with Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (; born March 10, 1994), better known by his stage name Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Known as the " King of Latin Trap", Bad Bunny is credited with helping Spanish-language rap music achieve m ...
on the song " Ojitos Lindos", from his fourth studio album '' Un Verano Sin Ti''; the song became one of the most popular tracks from the album, with over 1 billion streams on spotify as of April 2023.
Discography
Studio albums
EPs
Live albums
Singles
Music videos
* "Nieve en Cali" (2006)
* "Huepajé" (2007)
* "Corinto" (2007)
* "Caminito" (2008)
* "Fuego" (2009)
* "Agua salá" (2010)
* "La Boquilla" (2010)
* "Ponte Bomb" (2011)
* "La cumbia sicodélica" (2011)
* "El alma y el cuerpo" (2012)
* "Caribbean Power" (2013)
* "Pure Love" (2013)
* "Bosque" (2014)
* "Que Bonito" (2014)
* "Fiesta" (2015)
* "Somos dos" (2015)
* "Soy Yo" (2016)
* "Duele" (2017)
* "Internacionales" (2017)
* "Química" (2017)
* "Amar Así" (2018)
* "To My Love" (Tainy Remix) (2015–16; 2018)
* "Agua" (2021)
* "Deja" (2021)
* ″Keagan″ (2024)
Awards and nominations
Latin Grammy Awards
A Latin Grammy Award is an accolade by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences
The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., trading as The Latin Recording Academy (; ), is a multinational membership-based association composed of Latin music industry professionals, musicians, producers, recording engineers, and ...
to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. They have received eleven nominations.
Note: At the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, both Liliana Saumet and Simón Mejía received a second nomination for Album of the Year, the former as a songwriter in Bad Bunny
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (; born March 10, 1994), better known by his stage name Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Known as the " King of Latin Trap", Bad Bunny is credited with helping Spanish-language rap music achieve m ...
's '' Un Verano Sin Ti'' and the latter as a producer in Fonseca's ''Viajante''.
Grammy Awards
A Grammy Award is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...
to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. They have received four nominations.
Premios Nuestra Tierra
A Premio Nuestra Tierra is an accolade that recognizes outstanding achievement in the Colombian music industry. Bomba Estéreo have received three nominations.
* Won: (2013) Revista Shock Award for Best Group "Pura Sabrosura" for ''Elegancia Tropical''
* Won: (2012) iTunes Award for Best New Artist for ''Elegancia Tropical''
* Won: (2010) MTV Iggy Award for Best New Band in the World for ''Estalla'' / ''Blow Up''
References
External links
*
A New Way To Mix Sounds: An Interview with Bomba Estéreo's Simón Mejía
(2015)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bomba Estéreo
Musical groups established in 2005
Colombian rock music groups
Sony Music Latin artists
Music of Colombia
2005 establishments in Colombia