• Home
• »  Everything Colombia
• » Concert Review: Bomba Estereo and Systema Solar

Concert Review: Bomba Estereo and Systema Solar

By Daniel Brody, Editorial Director

Monday, August 30, 2010

Back when I lived in the states, I went to concerts all the time. It was easy; I lived in a neighborhood with several mostly indie rock venues ranging from a big thousand-capacity club all the way down to the place where you could being your own booze and every show cost five bucks. Good bands seemed to grow on trees, and there were shows every night of the week, even Monday, when admission was free and drinks were half-price.

Trying to replicate that habit in Bogotá can be a challenge, unless you want to see a Metallica cover band. On Saturday night, however, a concert with two great local bands at a converted theater near the city center felt like a step in the right direction. The show took place at the Teatro Metro, located in the Teusaquillo neighborhood. My group of friends seemed to think that because the place was a "theater" that it would not sell drinks, so we had to pre-game outside with a bottle of rum first. We ate some fast food at the hamburger joint next door, which has to be one of the best junk food stands in the whole city. The hamburger probably had very little actual cow meat, and the patty was in the shape of a square, but the burger had such a satisfying and pungent taste, especially between shots of rum, that it didn't matter. The empanadas there are also fantastic, crispy and tart where most Bogotá empanadas are just soggy and greasy. Highly recommended.

After polishing off the bottle, we went inside. The place is huge and spacious, and it turned out to have a bar, albeit an expensive one. The only beer for sale was Miller Genuine Draft, which I don't think I had drunk since leaving the United States. It cost 7,000 pesos, a bargain compared to the media bottles of aguardiente and rum which were going for 40,000. Well, you gotta do what you gotta do, and we all pitched in some money and found a spot on the floor near the back of the hall.

Systema Solar came on first. The Costeño band seemed to have more DJs onstage than instrumentalists, but the vibe of the traditional cumbias and champeta rhythms of the coast with electronic beats and rapping made everyone start dancing immediately. There was a giant screen behind the band projecting films of various idyllic Colombian scenes that went perfectly with the music. Mostly, it was people from cities on the coast having a good time, and gave the party-hearty music a deeper dimension of cultural pride and celebration. One scene in particular, of a young Afro-Colombian boy learning how to dance while grabbing tightly to his mother's backside, seemed to drive the message home: this music is in our blood, and while we may have updated it for a younger audience, you can connect it back to our Colombian roots.

The screen also was useful because surprisingly, I couldn't see the stage very well from the back of the audience. This must have been the tallest audience I have seen anywhere in Colombia! I mean, there were a few foreigners around, but this crowd seemed to have some powerful genes.

High off the set from Systema Solar, and seeking some air, I tried to go outside between bands. I was interrupted in my path by a drunken lunatic getting carted out by several beefy securty guards. The drunk was not cooperating, and BAM! the dude got shpritzed with pepper spray. But this was no ordinary pepper spray, this was industrial strength, because about a minute afterwards the entire crowd was choking and coughing on the gas. My nose and throat burned, and people started leaving the room en masse. My friends and I waited it out, and used the situation to move ahead a little closer to the stage for Bomba Estereo. Still, it seemed a little unnecessary and drastic to use such excessive force that literally the entire rest of the audience was affected. Can tasers be far behind?

As everyone started filtering back inside, Bomba Estereo hit the stage, and the place erupted. They seemed like much more of a cohesive band, with a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. Lead singer Li Saumet was adorable, a sassy, baby-faced firecracker who grew progressively sexier as the night went on and she changed cute outfits a couple of times. The music was a similar cocktail of old-fashioned traditional sounds updated for the age of the internet, and the band seemed really energized to be back in Colombia after touring the world for the past few months. The audience, rowdy and inebriated, celebrated during every song and almost tore the roof off the place when the band played their big hit "Fuego." Even new and unfamiliar songs got the crowd moving. Systema Solar and fellow Colombian band Papaya Republic joined the Bomba Estereo crew onstage for a couple of songs, and the integration of all the bands was seamless and fun.

The show ended at about 2:30 in the morning, and despite the pepper spray attack it was a blast. Here's hoping more shows like this start happening, with great local bands developing a scene here in Bogotá..

WoW Spotlight

Buena Vista singer in Bogotá

September 20, 2010

Fans of Cuban musicians the Buena Vista Social Club will be excited to hear that one of their most popular members, Omara Portuondo, will be giving a concert in Bogotá on October 1st.

"Feeling's Girlfriend" and "The Voice of Cuba" are just two of the nicknames given to the singer, who has been performing for over fifty years.

WoW News

Obama and Santos to meet

September 20, 2010

U.S. President Barack Obama will meet his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos for the first time on September 24th in New York, at a United Nations General Assembly meeting.

The two leaders plan to have a conversation about the future relationship between the two countries.

Read More