Systema Solar

Mixing cumbia, champeta and other Afro-Caribbean traditions with modern hip-hop and tropical bass is more than enough for the Colombian combo to get the crowd going. Systema Solar is not Bomba Estéreo though, and they don’t have the sexy bombshell of Li Saumet fronting them. What they do have that Bomba Estéreo doesn’t, however, is a turntablist who can seriously kill it on the ones-and-twos, as well as some fabulous, custom-made matching outfits. - MTV Iggy

By now, you’ve probably gathered that I have an affinity for bands that bring the party to the stage. Translating the energy from their recordings to their live show and visa versa. This next band is no exception.

Meet Systema Solar, ambassadors of the vivacious lands that make up Colombia’s Caribbean coast, and heirs to a musical region so rich in folkloric music that it seamlessly gets recycled and re-worked into new modern fusions.

Their records are an amalgamate of Afro-Caribbean and Colombian folk, stirred in with hip-hop, and electronic beats that make you crave to see them live.

They emerged out of the Piko movement in Colombia, which closely resembled the renowned Jamaican Sound Systems, and they’ve taken their concept from rickety cart, sound systems and exported their block party vibes to international festivals all over Europe and Latin America.

I was fortunate enough to see Systema perform tracks off their first album back in 2010 at SXSW. And it was evident then that this was a band that had emerged from the underground and conquered all in its path with its raw and true approach of originality.

Throughout the years, Systema Solar have expanded to become more than just music. They operate as an audio visual collective that engages all the senses of attendees through their shows. They classify the experience as Berbenautika, which to put it in simple terms means that through their music they create an imaginary state of bliss in where they are the cosmonauts traveling and spreading thumping Caribbean parties.

It sounds a bit far fetched, but the band feels almost obligated to pay tribute the cosmos and Solar System for bringing all 7 members of this collective together from all walks of life in Colombia.

In July they bring their unique sights and sounds to the US, and I cannot wait to get lost in their funky, Caribbean revelry. - KCRW

On the opening day for LAMC @ Central Park, the most enthusiastic cries were for Systema Solar. Their repertoire skips between house, techno, and hip-hop while incorporating cumbia, porro, and champeta styles into their live performances. This self-described “musical-visual collective” has a primal and indigenous foundation. - KCRW

Damn, who could’ve ever guessed that a song dedicated to fishermen could be so fun? Such is the case with Systema Solar’s latest single/video, “Yo Voy Ganao,” off their second album, La Revancha Del Burro. The video originally debuted in Colombia last November and has finally made its official debut stateside courtesy of Criteria Entertainment.

The group took a trip out to the pueblo of Tapanga and, in typical Systema Solar style, invited the local community to be part of the shoot. Fishing has long played an important role for the people of Tapanga though it has recently been overshadowed by the town’s newfound popularity as a tourist destination. - Remezcla

EXCLUSIVA: Estrenamos el video de "Yo voy ganao" de Systema Solar
Siguiendo en línea con su agenda de activismo alegre y rebeldía rechinante (su entrega pasada, "La Rana", buscó activar una campaña pro-reciclaje), el nuevo video de la gigante verbenáutika es un homenaje a la pesca tradicional, actualmente amenazada por la industria turística en la región Caribe de Colombia.

"Es una de las raíces fundamentales de nuestra cultura", cuenta Índigo, maestro de ceremonias del Systema.

Grabado en la base de operaciones de la banda, la costa de Taganga, a 10 minutos de Santa Marta y muy cerca de la Sierra Nevada, el video cuenta con la aparición estelar de los miembros del grupo, la comunidad de pescadores del pueblo, niños y mujeres de la comunidad, indígenas ancestrales de la zona y hasta un cameo especial de ChocQuibTown, que por pura coincidencia andaba de paseo por allá.

Ah... y también hay pescados gigantes voladores.

El video es una co-producción entre Systema Solar, La Asociación de Chinchorreros de Taganga y la productora Panoramika. La secuencia, en la que no faltan los picós, el baile, el mar y la pura psicodelia tropical, rinde tributo a la cultura caribe con un mensaje optimista de "sabor y huepajé".

Puro budismo champetúo.

"Porque vamos ganaos si respetamos nuestro entorno disfrutando lo que nos da la vida, sin pretensiones", concluye Walter.

Sigan al Systema por aquí y denle like por acá. - VICE

“Systema Solar” (ONErpm)

By Fernando Gonzalez

Post-modernism might be a cool, interesting artistic choice in wealthy cultures, but in Latin America recycling, repurposing, mixing and matching, and generally ignoring stylistic rules is both a way of life and a necessity.

Systema Solar, a Colombian collective that freely mixes hip-hop, rap, and techno with Afro-Colombian grooves, traditional instruments and Colombia’s own ideas about sound systems, is Latin American ersatz post-modernism at its best – razor sharp, and fun.

Formed in late 2006 for a performance at the opening ceremony of the biennial of contemporary art of Medellin in 2007, the group includes MC John Primera, vocalist Indigo, producer Pellegrino (called the group’s “sonic architect”), DJ Daniboom, VJ Pata de perro (Dogleg) and DJ Corpas. They call their approach “Berbenáutika,” a made-up definition that alludes to two young traditions on the Caribbean coast of Colombia: the pikós, or Colombian sound systems, which also feature singing, rapping and live playing; and the verbenas, or street parties in Cartagena and Barraquilla.

The music is an irresistible mix of traditional rhythms such as the cumbia, porro, bullerengue, fandango, champeta (roughly a modern, Colombian reworking of Congolese soukous) and other modern Afro-Pop styles with hip hop, techno, rap and scratching. Add some live VJ, pointed (and often funny) lyrics, and you have, well, a true, moveable verbena.

From the infectious “Bienvenidos” ( no visa? no money? come dance with us ) and the techno-cumbia “Mi kolombia” (a pointed and funny take on the indignities of getting a visa to travel North), to the brilliant “El Majagual” (featuring the traditional gaita, a sort of folk oboe) and “Quién Es El Patron?” (a darkly ironic commentary on the drug culture), this is party music with smarts, purpose and a sense of humor.

To inventory and analyze all the parts would only miss the point of the whole. Well beyond the talk about modernity, tradition and meaningful messages, a big part of Systema Solar´s appeal is its vitality, energy and sense of fun. With a nod to noted philosopher and funkmaster Bootsy Collins, the message here is simple: Free your ass and your mind will follow. - irom.wordpress.com

First Bomba Estéreo, then Choc Quib Town and now Systema Solar? Their completely independent album made it to many 2009 top-10 lists...
3/25/2010 | por Words: Mario Iván Oña | Images: María Madrigal - labandaelastica.com

“The folk roots are deep here, but this is thoroughly contemporary music whose power to censure inequality and injustice, to instruct and inspire, to shake the rafters, is equal to any of its militant New World cousins.” - Michael Stone - RootsWorld

“The publicity notes call this Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin, but in the end this is the most original party music I've heard in a while. “
Tim Leffel - Perceptive Travel
- Perceptive Travel

“The festive band often goes far afield into a disarmingly eccentric realm. For example, on the political “Mi Kolombia,” the cadence feels like a breathing organism, inhaling and exhaling in a woozy haze as a cartoonish vocal leads a peculiar call-and-response.”
Chuck Campbell
- knoxville.com

Tom Schnabel’s 10 list – In the top 10 best albums of 2009 according to Tom Schanbel, DJ from radio KCRW in Los Angeles. - theworld.org

Bienvenidos
"Their 2009 debut was feted as one of the best Colombian albums of the year. Systema Solar fuse traditional Afro-Colombian rhythms with piko (sound-system culture) hip hop and breakbeat. With turntablism and live video at the heart of their performances, Systema Solar spin invention and electric energy into cumbia, bullerengue, porro and champeta. They have built a huge following through student radio networks in Colombia, and have won several industry awards. A force to be reckoned with in the new generation of innovative Colombian music makers.
Watch the video for Bienvenidos and look out for Systema Solar on tour in Europe Summer 2010." Jody Giller - Mondomix.com

Si vous prenez un peu de musique traditionnelle Caribéene, que vous y ajoutez un peu de hip hop, un peu de beatbox, de breakbeat, quelques doses de musique électronique bien tonique, des percussions afros et un univers visuel complètement déjanté, vous arriverez, semble t-il, à un résultat peu probable en théorie. Dans la vraie vie ce mélange musical existe, et fonctionne plutôt bien, combinant tradition et modernité dans un dialogue, le son du Systema solar va mettre du soleil dans tes oreilles et te faire danser tout l’été. StreetGeneration a rencontré ce collectif bariolé avant que ses membres enfilent leurs costumes de cosmonautes solaires pour enflammer une Maroquinerie pleine à craquer.

Propos recueillis par Sarah Benabbou. - Streetgeneration.fr

Systema Solar revendique la culture des pikos, ces sound-systems déglingués à la jamaïcaine qui font danser la côte caraïbe colombienne.

Avec des samples d’accordéons du terroir et d’antiques mambos, le collectif distille un excitant cocktail où rap et dub sont alcoolisés de rasades de cumbia et de porro. Chômage, obsession du visa pour quitter le pays ou bricolage informatique fournissent la matière brute des textes pleins d’ironie. Sur scène, cette centrifugeuse de rythmes et de sons prend des couleurs bariolées grâce à la présence d’un VJ. Systema Solar est le meilleur exemple de la créativité de la scène colombienne actuelle dont on n’a pas fini de parler.

CD Systema Solar (Chusma/La Baleine).

Concert le 3 mars à Paris (la Maroquinerie, 23, rue Boyer, 75020) puis en tournée jusqu’au 12 mars : Boulogne-sur-Mer, Guyancourt, Blois, Nevers, Le Havre, Beauvais et Ajaccio. - Liberation.fr