Miss Colombia

Lido Pimienta calls her third album ‘a cynical love letter’ to her home country and the Colombian people. Based in Toronto, she sings about Colombia's deep social and political troubles, pointing her finger to her fellow countrymen's passiveness. But instead of sounding enraged by the constant disrespect for indigenous people's rights, machismo, gender violence or her experience as an immigrant, Pimienta presents an album that is miraculously beautiful and superbly tasteful.

What is absolutely mesmerising about her music is the way she manages to embrace traditional rhythms, twist them into an avant-garde texture and impart her immaculate voice over this clash of references. If you listen closely to such tracks as ‘No Pude’ (where you can spot a bit of Rosalia), ‘Eso Que Tu Haces’, ‘Te Queria’ or ‘Coming Thru’, what really comes across is an innate ability to put together bold electronics with acoustic instruments. This fluent melding of elements is reminiscent of Bjork's better days, even if there is such a strong character to these songs that it's impossible to imagine them belonging to anyone else. There is porro, cumbia, Afro-Colombian and reggaeton sparkles all over. And if Pimienta unreservedly nods to traditional group Sexteto Tabalá when she unplugs ‘Quiero Que Me Salves’, it's because she never abandons her roots in this dazzling world of hers.