Posted by On August 21, Colombian psychedelic cumbia outfit Meridian Brothers release their new album Cumbia Siglo XXI via Bongo Joe Records. And today, the group—founded and helmed by sole permanent member Eblis Alvarez—have shared a new video for the track “Los Golpeadores de la cumbia.” It’s a pulsing and woozy track, employing the classic cumbia rhythm against acid-drenched synthesizers and eerie psychedelic effects, somewhere between the joyful anarchy of Tropicália and the minimal synth punk of Suicide, delivered in a cumbia song.
The video, shot by Bibiana Rojas and featuring art by Mateo Riviano, features a split screen between moving, constantly changing illustrations and a continuous shot of Alvarez on a telephone, surrounded by various toys and devices.
Meridian Brothers released a statement about the song and video: “The video will handle the idea of a divergent non-video using two frames of content. The first frame will depict a filmed character in a daily context pretending to play the song, and the second frame will be a comic-animation, depicting the lyrics of the song.
“The lyrics also introduce the theme of most of the songs of the album: The absurd of centralized ideologies. In this particular song, ‘los golpeadores de la cumbia’ (cumbia beaters) refers to cumbia as an element of emancipation of a minority (the cumbia ghetto). The ideology of cumbia gradually turns into an environment of hedonism and corruption ending in a far out party. The video at the end, depicts Anibal Velazquez, the legendary artist from Colombia who in the form of a giant Kraken destroys the corrupt party leaving just debri and solitude.”
Watch the clip below.