Marimbitiaos

The electronica-ethnic music dialogue is at least half a century old. The most inspiring aspect of the current scene is that the most interesting fusions originate in the Global South. Rizomagic is a duo formed ‘in 2020 by Diego Manrique, director of avant-garde cumbia orchestra Niño Pueblo, and by Edgar Marún, director of the ethno-afrobeat project Dorado Kandua.’ Marimbitiaos departs where 2022’s excellent Voltaje Raizal left off, submerging ancestral rhythms in synthesized loops and percussion. Currulaos, tamboritos and jugas are entwined – like rhizomes – with ambient, Intelligent Dance Music and drum’n’bass, giving rise to what the makers call a ‘sonic deconstruction of Colombian music.’ The compositions collectively pay homage to the marimba, the instrument that gave us trickling water and rainfall long before valves and microchip and which is UNESCO-listed in Colombia. ‘Aterrao’ is insistent and tribal, with jungle sounds aping urban clamour. ‘Ayoyloí’ is tuneful, with higher registers on the keyboards and retro robotic squeals. ‘Chuantica’ is a mesmeric trance in a minor key. This is music for thinking as well as dancing, with few vocals beside the occasional chant or incantation. Montañera, a Colombian singer based in England, adds human heat to ‘Más Allá’. But Marimbitiaos is ultimately short on textural variety, and even collaborators like marimba master Jayer Torres and Afrobeat fusioneers Bejuco from Colombia’s Pacific coast aren’t allowed to lift their heads above the incessant wash of electronica.