In many ways, Bogotá is a lot like the north of England: the weather's not so great but the people are kind and dying to have a good time. And what do good people do in bad weather? They create. In the case of Bogotá, Colombia that means cultivating a thriving and multi-faceted music scene built on the pulsing sound of reggaeton. Back in February (before the pandemic, we hasten to add), we made the trip out to the surprisingly temperate city of Bogotá (which locals affectionately call "The Fridge") to investigate the converging sounds of reggaeton and the region's Afro-Latin roots, and look at how the soundsystem-ready rhythms are setting pace for the rest of the world.
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But it's not all dembow rhythms and speaker-wrecking bass. In any given night (particular the recent Boiler Room) you can hear traditional folk sounds, razor sharp rap and heart melting ballads. When we visited Madrid last year to investigate their reggaeton scene, the consensus among the UK contingent was that UK funky would blend will with the Latin dembow rhythms — and we saw that writ large in Ynfynyt Scroll's set, who alsed added Moombahton, ballroom, techno and guaracha into the mix.
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Music, at its best, can be a means of uplifting, healing and bringing joy. In the case of Colombia, that also means healing after the country's long and troubled history with the cocaine trade and the violence that it brought. The new generation of Colombians speak effusively about putting that behind them and using their culture to heal the wounds left by the Narcos and bring joy back to the country.
Last year Complex News investigated the cultural explosion in Medellín, but as we found in Bogotá, that dynamism isn't restricted to just one city. In fact, the whole country is bouncing back. In fact, as DJ Pope puts it, "Culture was the key to changing the shitty past that we have. Now all the kids want to be artists or soccer players or painters, they want to do something good." He added, "Bringing magazines and events like this here is amazing. It's changing the way people see Colombia. Now you're going to go back and you've got a different way to see the country. That's what we want, for people to come and change the way they see our country. Now it's only peace and love."
Where the reggaeton of the '90s might have been more about machismo, reggaeton in the 21st century is entirely different. Packed into the sweat-soaked Kaputt were every kind of reggaeton fan you can imagine. The city's LGBTQ+ community was proudly represented alongside backpack rap fans, hippies, ravers and all of them exquisitely dressed. This was a night to represent to the fullest and put Bogotá on the map.
As Pope is eager to tell me, reggaeton's target audience is wider and more varied than ever. "When we started with reggaeton, they used to see reggaeton as only for the hood," he explains. "Now, when we come we put that effort in because our dream was to play a song in the car and if your grandma's there you can still listen to it! It used to be too rough before, too hood, too ghetto. Now we're changing it and making it more global. That's what Colombia brought to the table.
"When we go to Israel, for example, there's no Spanish-speaking and yet there's a concert venue packed out with 20,000 people because they just feel our music is happy. That's why we're in the top of the charts," he continues. "Now people want to learn Spanish because they want to understand the lyrics. That's the beautiful thing. We thought at the beginning that we had to do the crossover in English, but now we're seeing that's not necessarily true. Before, Latinos like Shakira and Ricky Martin had to do their crossovers in English, but now the beautiful thing is you don't have to change it. People feel that energy and that vibe and when it comes to Colombia the only thing we want to do in the song is bring good energy. It's a good moment. When you come to our country you're going to have a good time."
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Puerto Rican selector DJ Playero — a revered figure within reggaeton and Latin music as a whole — has been instrumental in the radical transformation of the sound and its scene. He attributes its rise to dominance to several converging factors. "At its core it's the broad, dance aspect of it and the joy that brings," he explains, "but what's really brought it to an international plane is the use of digital platforms and people being able to see the culture and appreciate the culture from across the globe, whereas before it was just in a physical format and much harder to access. It's also been the validation from the awards and it's now crossing over into the "formal" music industry where before it was an underground situation. Especially last year where it was the big year where it really blew up in Europe. Since then it's really found a platform at electronic music festivals and it's really crossed over into that scene, places like Tomorrowland, Primavera Sound, Sonar. All of the major festivals in Europe have been supporting reggaeton. The biggest stars have also been touring the world, traveling to places they didn't even think there'd be an audience."
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It wasn't just reggaeton under the spotlight either. Afro-Colombian trio Ghetto Kumbe spun the whole night on its head with a tornado of frenetic drums and psychedelic, day-glo imagery. Made up of El Guajiro (singer of La 33 , La Otra Banda and former singer of Sidestepper), Chongo (percussionist of Sidestepper, Toto La Momposina, Ondatrópica, among many others) and Doctor Keyta (African music specialist and percussionist in the Zarabanda & L'arpeggiata), Ghetto Kumbe took us back to the country's Afro-Latin roots with a stunning stageshow that at times felt more like theatre than anything else, pumping one last burst of energy into the sweat-soaked crowd in the penultimate set of the night.
Ballantine's Tom Elton, who's been at the centre of the Boiler Room partnership since the mid-2010s, explained how their True Music platform had evolved over the years, from balancing international headliners against homegrown talent to focusing solely on grassroots cultures. "What we want to do is promote local scenes," he said. "This live stream is like a window to the world. On Spotify's Culture Report, 42% of Gen Zs and Millennials consider themselves world citizens rather than a citizen of their own country. So what we want to do for the people watching online and the people at the event is to showcase these amazing, thriving cultures and scenes.
"Reggaeton is the world's biggest music genre according to every streaming service," he explained. "And it's not just Colombia. We want to go to Peru and Brazil next because they've both got tonnes to offer as well. We feel the role of True Music is to give a platform to Stay True artists, genuinely original artists and to give people around the world a window to see what it's like. So we're just going to keep going as hyper-local as possible, because we can add a lot more value by doing that."
Of course, the process of healing and recovery from the scars left by the drug trade in Bogotá, Medellín and Cali is an ongoing process, but while the DJ Popes, J. Balvins and Bad Bunnys off this world continue to export Latin club music to Europe, Asia and beyond without compromising or singing a single word in English, it's a process that will continue at full speed.
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Boiler Room and Ballantine's have also launched their Streaming From Isolation series, which includes weekly takeover days on their channels. They've also committed a six-figure sum that includes 20 x £5,000 grants for the communities and collectives taking part. Each stream will also feature the option for viewers to donate to The Global FoodBanking Network.
