By José Gandue @Gandour
It's clear that the Caribbean possesses an overwhelming power that can even seduce other shores. The same is true of its vast musical spectrum. The Caribbean manages to overcome its limited geographical location and becomes a complex universal feeling. At this point, in a world that feels increasingly close and smaller, it still surprises us that a Londoner like Holly Holden She ended up adopting cumbia, son, and other rhythms from the region to create her songs in "Spanglish," captivating a growing audience on both sides of the Atlantic. She has traveled extensively throughout Latin America, forging a captivating sonic blend that deserves attention worldwide. In April of this year, she released her EP Tropical Soul And a few weeks later, separately, he presented his song Water. Let's learn about Holly's story, who confirms that flavor can spread its seed everywhere.
Where does a Londoner's interest in Latin American music come from?
From life. My interest in Latin American music and culture began in college, when I started studying Spanish. I did two intensive years of grammar, and the third year I had to spend in a Spanish-speaking country. I end up going to Esmeraldas, a city on the coast in northern Ecuador, to work in a cultural center, The Esmeraldas International Center for Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Human Development.
The office was located below the municipality's music center, and I spent my afternoons up there, taking marimba lessons and hanging out with the musicians. The rhythms of the Pacific mesmerized me, And I ended up recording about three of my own songs with the town band. That was the moment my music started to take a different direction. From that point on, I began to mix Spanish in my lyrics with Latin rhythms in the accompaniment.
A few years later, I was doing a master's degree in London in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. In this master's program I focused on everything related to music, culture and its relationship to issues of identity. Latin American peoples are very culturally diverse, and they have very different musical expressions as well, with elements from African, Andean, and European traditions. I was fascinated that music there had functioned throughout history as a form of resistance against oppression and displacement, a tool for communication, and a means of perpetuating tradition. I also loved how Music had worked to unite different peoples and cultures, and the native Creole rhythms that developed through contact and human creativity from many different cultures. Music, for me, represents a universal language.
In 2012 I went to Cuba for the first time to do research for My thesis on reggaeton and its relationship with the experience of being black in contemporary Cuba. I fell in love with Cuba immediately. I had never been anywhere where music was so present in everything—in the street, in the house, in conversation. I felt frustrated being there, observing the musical scene from the outside. I ended up recording two songs with one of the musicians I had been interviewing and decided to go back to making music after handing in my thesis. That's how my Cuban collaborative project 'X Planet' was born in Santiago de Cuba. It was me, a very talented rapper named Alain Garcia, a troubadour, Ruben Lester, and a reggaeton producer, Kiki Pro. We recorded an album—a crazy fusion of many Caribbean rhythms with hip hop and soul. I learned a lot about the Caribbean there. The key, the syncopation, stuck with me.
It was during the time I lived in Cuba that I went to the Dominican Republic for the first time. There I heard bachata and merengue, which later became references in the music I composed.
That's how my musical vocabulary has grown, through contact, through spending a lot of time in Latin America and the Caribbean, and through collaborating with native musicians from the countries where I have been. There was no conscious decision to make my sound 'tropical', It has been a natural development influenced by the musicians I have been working with and the rhythms I have had around me.
How has the Latin American public reacted to your music?
I have already performed in several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (Ecuador, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Colombia) And the reaction to my music has always been very positive.. I've always felt that people recognize my love for Latin rhythms, and they really appreciate the fact that I sing in Spanish. I love singing in Spanish., It's easier for me to express myself emotionally in this romantic language And it's really fun playing with rhythms across languages. I'd say the reaction to my music is more positive in Latin America than in England. It's like it makes more sense there. Sometimes in England, even when people are dancing, He doesn't even know what language I'm singing in, then a lot of feeling is lost.
Tell me about your experience with the song Saltwater.
Water It's a song I wrote and recorded in Cartagena last year with a musician friend, Cristhian Salazar. I had arrived in Colombia without a plan, to get to know the country, learn, and be inspired. I arrived in Cartagena through a network of friends of friends and ended up at the home of Cristhian, an incredible bass player. The day after I arrived, I got sick with a very bad case of gastroenteritis. I ended up in the hospital and spent many days at Cristhian's house recovering, feeling unwell and sad. When I got better, Cristhian came running into my room with a melody in his head and we sat down to record it. That's how it turned out Water, Completely spontaneously. The catchy chorus, the lyrics, came out almost entirely at that moment. As if the song already existed and we connected with it. At first we had no intention of creating something together, and it never would have happened if I hadn't gotten sick and stayed longer in Cartagena than planned.
A few days later I left, but Cristhian continued working on it. He sent me the full track a week later and the taste killed me. So I decided to return to Cartagena to record the actual voices and finish the project. At that time, we also filmed the video footage on a GoPro that a friend had lent me.
The song is very special to me. It captures a moment of my life: loneliness, nostalgia, friendship, and a new connection with Colombia. I loved the experience of recording with Cristhian in Cartagena, recording the choirs and street cries under his direction. 'Think of Celia!' he told me.
The reaction to Water I was also impressed. At the concert at the Hard Rock Cafe in Cartagena, where we celebrated the launch, the entire audience was dancing and singing the chorus with us. Friends in Colombia and England have told me that they wake up with the melody in their heads. I think it has something very special and I'm very excited to be sharing this new music with the world, and very grateful to Colombia for having been able to give birth to it there.
What kind of response have you had to your songs in Europe?
In England the answer is positive. This year we toured the country opening for a folk singer, Johnny Flynn. I was nervous that their audience wouldn't get along with my tropical music, but on the contrary, it was great. Many people bought records and declared themselves fans after seeing us. This made me very happy.
I haven't had the opportunity to play many times on the continent. We played once in Norway, in Sweden and in Holland, and it went well. When I launched Tropical soul In April, I received a message from a friend in Bulgaria where they had played one of my songs on the radio and people had been calling the station asking what it was, saying that they loved it. This made me feel very happy.
We'll have the opportunity to bring the music to more countries and audiences when we're touring with Johnny again in October. It's a shame we won't be visiting Spain or Portugal., I think my sound could be very well received there.
What are your future plans? Do you plan to return to Colombia soon?
I have just returned from Colombia to England where I have a very busy summer program of festivals. In October we're going on tour in the UK and Europe. I'm working with my band on our next album, which has a lot of Colombian influence and will be released next year. I am working on returning to Colombia as soon as possible. I already have many musical friendships that I'm interested in strengthening. I'd love to be able to play there again with my trio. I'm also working on a new song from Cartagena—a tasty salsa—that I'll have to release at some point.