Meridian Brothers is an experimental band led by classically trained Colombian musician Eblis Álvarez,[1] who founded it as a solo project in Bogotá in 1998. The group mix electronic and avant-garde music with traditional Colombian music styles, particularly cumbia, vallenato, and salsa.[2]
History
Meridian Brothers was founded by Eblis Álvarez as a solo project in 1998, and he sold early recordings on cassette in Bogotá.[3]
While playing in short-lived group Ensamble Polifónico Vallenato, Álvarez began to use the Meridian Brothers project to experiment with traditional Colombian musical styles.[2] Álvarez has said that "the first Meridian Brothers albums suck", and that the project found its feet with its first official release, Meridian Brothers V: El Advenimiento Del Castillo Mujer.[2][4]
In 2007 the project became a band, with Álvarez being joined by four of his friends from Javeriana University: María Valencia (clarinet, saxophone and synthesizers), Damián Ponce (percussion, replaced in 2016 by Mauricio Ramírez[5]), Alejandro Forero (keyboards), and César Quevedo (bass).[3][6] The group released two more albums on Colombian record label La Distritofónica: Meridian Brothers VI in 2009, and Meridian Brothers VII in 2011,[5][7] which was partially composed by a computer algorithm.[2]: 1 In 2011 the Meridian Brothers played at Worldtronics festival in Berlin.[8]
In 2012 Meridian Brothers released their fourth studio album Desesperanza on UK label Soundway Records.[9]
Also in 2012 DJ Gilles Peterson included the track Guarancha UFO on his list of the best tracks played on his BBC show that year.[10]
In 2014 Meridian Brothers released the album Salvadora Robot on Soundway Records,[15] and played Villette Sonique, Paléo Festival, and Rock al Parque.[16][17][18] Their next two albums, Los Suicidas in 2015 and ¿Dónde Estás María? in 2017, were also released on Soundway.[19][1]
In 2020 Meridian Brothers released Cumbia Siglo XXI on Bongo Joe Records. Describing the album, Álvarez said "when I went to study composition I discovered algorithmic synthesis, a way to program synthetic generated sounds within an algorithm... but I didn’t do anything with that because I didn’t know how to take that and put it into Colombian culture. It wasn’t loud enough, or punchy enough, but eventually I managed to do it, and it was Cumbia Siglo XXI."[20] In 2021 they released joint album Paz en La Tierra with fellow Bogotá band Conjunto Media Luna, also on Bongo Joe.[21]
In 2022 the group released Meridian Brothers & El Grupo Renacimiento, a joint album with an imaginary salsa band.[22] In 2023 they played Big Ears Festival in Tennessee.[23]
Discography
Albums
Meridian Brothers V: El Advenimiento del Castillo mujer (2005, La Distritofónica/Discrepant)
Meridian Brothers VI: Este es el Corcel Heroico que nos Salvará de la Hambruna y Corrupción (2009, La Distritofónica)
