From the land between Colombia’s Caribbean coast and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Systema Solar is a collective with a strong visual sensibility and a heavy new Afro-Caribbean sound. Mixing sounds like champeta, bullerengue, hip-hop and electronic beats, Systema Solar is set to kick 2017 off right.
Rumbo a Tierra sounds like an all-night pico party. Pico culture is based on the large, neon-designed sound systems used in Barranquilla parties, where producers mix music from zouk to vallenato. Embodying Colombia’s proximity to both rural deserts and Caribbean culture, Rumbo a Tierra fuses styles and pushes the boundaries of Systema Solar’s own sound.
“Rumbera” honors Systema Solar’s Afro-Caribbean electronic roots. An ode to women who love to…
…party and dance, the song mixes champeta’s emblematic scratches with a cumbia cowbell.
Rumbo a Tierra translates to “Toward the Earth,” and the album constantly asks environmentally aware questions amid an EDM-cumbia crossover. Challenging both traditional music and current politics, it takes listeners on a colorful and politically urgent journey. From “Agauzero” (which comments on La Guajira’s droughts) to “Somos La Tierra” (which critiques the mining projects in Cajarmarca), Rumbo A Tierra is a protest album that never lets its innovation stand in the way of its forcefulness.
