Palenke Soultribe

Palenke Soultribe is a Colombian group that's based in the beautiful and magical city of Los Angeles, California. Following the release of "Oro" (2009) and "Mar" (2013), they are getting ready to release "Sangre", the third album of their trilogy. So far the very catchy and rhythmic single "El Retorno" has been released alongside their lyric video for it. This collective is made up of: Juan Diego Borda, Andres "Popa" Erazo, Argel Cota, and Clodomiro Montes and I recently caught up with one of the members of Palenke Soultribe to talk about their new material and future plans. 

Upon asking about their new single I was told that "El Retorno" is basically an homage to the working class and the people that fight they have for their dreams. "We plan on releasing a song every 2-3 months. This song is a cumbia with electronic elements. It's a bout a  person that goes around the world looking for fortune and when he comes back home he realizes that love was there all along and continues to be." It really is a catchy song with a great message of life and the fortune that is love.  Since the full album hasn't been released yet, I asked whether there is a theme to "Sangre" and I was told that " In 2009, we wanted to do something to do with the Colombian flag and since it has three colors we made three albums. It created this unintended obligation to finish the three albums. "Sangre" is more of a symbolic album where sangre or blood is more representative of passion and the heart rather than violence." We then talked about how there is violence in Colombia yet they wanted to focus on the good instead of the negative.  

I then asked how it felt to be a Colombian group based in L.A and how they have carried their roots throughout their musical journey. "We have been living in L.A for about ten years and our music is a reflection of who we are. How can we reflect this in our music? We not only bring in our roots, but we collaborate with many people as well. For example we have a song with one of the band members of Kinky." He went on to saying that there are "two currents" that have influenced the band and that is " traditional Colombian music, cumbia, and salsa. However we are open to all kinds of music. Band that have influenced us along this journey have been Daft Punk, Underworld and My Chemical Brothers."

Besides being influenced by many things, Palaneke Soultribe are the  pioneers of "electro-cumbia" and I asked how the birth of that genre came about. "It feels great to hav been one of the first to do this. Colombia has been under violence for a while, but out of this came a generation that said "I am not about this" and focused their energy elsewhere like in music and new fusions. All we have is to keep growing." 

To finalize the interview, I gave the band the opportunity to add anything they wanted to say or wanted people to know about them and Palenke Soutribe added that they invite everyone to go follow them on their social medias, which they are personally active on. They also added that they are giving away their single "El Retorno" to the first 1,000 people that go visit their soundcloud page and download it.

Thank you to Palenke Soultribe for their time! Go follow them on Instagram: @palenkesoultribe