10:23 | New York (U.S.), Jul. 10.
Latin Grammy-nominated Peruvian singer and producer Araceli Poma and bassist, composer, producer Matt Geraghty recently released (May 31, 2022) their debut album, The Sacred Leaf, featuring their new band Afro-Andean Funk.
The group released its new music video, "Agua del Olvido" Sunday, July 10, 2022. Set in the plains and forests of Peru, it's an unbelievably beautiful and powerful homage to Peruvian shamanism and "magic water" used for healing!
Araceli Poma met Geraghty in a recording studio in Lima, Peru in 2019 while she was invited to be part of a documentary and album called 'The Warrior Women of Afro-Peruvian Music.'
Geraghty brought this music travel series to Peru to highlight emerging artists and discover hidden cultural treasures in the Americas.
With a focus on Afro-Peruvian women artists, Geraghty and team invited nine distinguished singers and percussionists to be part of this historic all women recording and documentary.
This serendipitous encounter between Geraghty and Poma would start a creative partnership leading to teaming up on a documentary in Puerto Rico and beginning to write new music together.
From that moment on, the two began to join forces to break cultural barriers and after two years of collaborating together and receiving a Latin Grammy nomination, a new band was born: Afro-Andean Funk, which made its debut in New York City in 2021.
Poma's unique talent as a singer is equally matched by her talent as a producer. This is exemplified by Poma's relentless work to bring Peruvian music to the world, documenting the legacies of the masters and creating platforms for women artists to share their stories and their struggles against racism and marginalization.
Poma now takes a creative leap forward with Afro-Andean Funk and the result is a fresh new sound, blending roots music of the Andes and the Afro-Peruvian scene with electronica, funk and rock, alongside West African grooves.
"I am proud of my roots and I want Peruvian music to reach the whole world with our new sound," exclaims Poma. "We are inspired as much by artists such as Susana Baca, Victoria Santa Cruz, David Byrne, and Caetano Veloso, as well as by Thom Yorke, Empire of the Sun, Herbie Hancock, and James Brown."
"We don't see any limits stylistically to our music so I think The Sacred Leaf is a reflection of that," comments Geraghty.
Afro-Andean Funk's first release, The Sacred Leaf, presents 9 original songs with Araceli Poma singing in Spanish as well as in the ancient Incan language known as Quechua —thus paying homage to her Andean and Afro-Peruvian roots.
Poma continues her work of bringing visibility to the painful stories of women in the Americas with "Luchadora del Ande" (Woman Fighter of the Andes). Poma composed this piece to specifically give a powerful voice to thousands of indigenous women who were victims of the Peruvian government between 1996 and 2001, when mass sterilizations were carried out against their will.
"We wrote 'Luchadora del Ande' inspired by these women who have been fighting for justice for years," says the singer. "This song features 'spoken word' by one of the victims, Victoria Vigo, who speaks to the solidarity with other survivors and raises the voices of these women to let the world know they will not remain silent."
(END) NDP/RMB
Publicado: 10/7/2022