Meridian Brothers Tweaks Traditions of Salsa and Cumbia

Soundcheck | Jan 23, 2023

Meridian Brothers, founded by musician Eblis Álvarez, fuses a love of classic salsa with cumbia, vallenato, spacey psychedelia, and wacky samples for a playful dance party. With a body of songs containing some poignant social commentary about our obsession with technology, fear of war, police brutality, and other issues, the music hearkens to the salsa dura era (think Fania All-Stars); even the legendary Ansonia label took note and invited Meridian Brothers to be their first new signing in more than 30 years. With an interplay of sax, guitar, plenty of percussion, spoken/sung cartoon vocals (pitch-shifted and processed), and sound effects, Meridian Brothers plays their fantasy salsa-cumbia fusion, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

Set list: “Salsa Caliente” “Puya Del Emprasario”, “Metamorfosis”

Watch "Salsa Caliente":

Watch "Puya Del Emprasari":

Watch "Metamorfosis":

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