Mad Professor (Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser) is a respected dub music producer and founder of the influential record label, Ariwa Sounds. Fraser emigrated from Guyana in South America to London at the age of 13 and later began his music career as a service technician. In 1979, he opened his own four-track recording studio, Ariwa Sounds in Thorton Heath in South London. Collaborations with reggae notables, including Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sly and Robbie, Pato Banton, Jah Shaka and Horace Andy quickly earned Fraser a reputation for being a masterful producer and remixer. Mad Professor has worked with major international artists outside of traditional reggae and dub, such as Sade, The Orb, The KLF, Beastie Boys, Jamiroquai, Rancid, Depeche Mode and Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction), but is best known globally for his 1995 remix album No Protection, a dub version of Massive Attack’s classic album Protection.
Frente Cumbiero hails from Bogota, Colombia and led by composer and DJ, Mario Galeano Toro. Through Frente Cumbiero, Toro has been recognized as the leader of the new cumbia movement with musical exploration spanning from roots music to experimental since 1999. Toro focuses on heavy music for the dancefloor, combining live instruments with electronica and delivering a powerful dose of what has become referred to as Colombian “tropical psychedelia.” Frente Cumbiero has released critically acclaimed singles and LPs through labels from the US (Names You Can Trust), UK (Soundway) and Spain (Vampisoul). Collaborations with key players in the movement have further expanded their reach in cumbia capitals from New York to Buenos Aires. Their desire to expand the style’s frontiers fostered their most acclaimed release “Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor,” which brought them together with the legendary dub producer, Mad Professor, resulting in one of the first tangible encounters between cumbia and dub. Most recently, Frente Cumbiero collaborated with British producer QUANTIC for their Ondatrópica project, an ambitious gathering of the best old and new school Colombian tropical musicians. The gathering resulted in an album considered worldwide as one of the top Latin albums in recent years.
Buyepongo is a vibrant polyrhythmic, genre-fusing group with deep musical roots in South and Central America. They began their musical journey in Norwalk, CA in 2005. Eventually, the group would make a name for themselves in South Central for hosting and performing at their famed “South Central Beach” loft parties in the early 2000’s. These shows were a direct result of the limited opportunities for a band like theirs to consistently play around Los Angeles and they decided to create a scene for their brand of genre bending. Buyepongo not only draws heavily from the Latino musical culture, but from hip-hop as well. Their name translates to “to cause a ruckus,” a nod to the Wu Tang Clan track, “Bring da Ruckus” from the seminal album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), one of their sonic inspirations. Taking their cues from traditional “roots” music of Colombia, Haiti, Belize, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, Buyepongo seamlessly blends merengue, punta and cumbia. The group’s pulse is built around the drum and guacharaca (pronounced: wah cha rah ca) giving them an upbeat tropical flare.
Mas Exitos is a collaborative DJ outfit steeped in the rich musical history of the “tropicalia” movement and psychedelia. The crew has established itself as one of Los Angeles’ premiere DJ collectives. Tracing the connection between the music made on both continents of the Americas, the Mas Exitos resident DJs Ganas, Enorbito, Hoseh and Lengua explore the sounds from the Peruvian Andes to East LA while mashing fuzzy cumbia and Latin breaks with psychedelic soundscapes.
About Red Bull Panamérika:
Red Bull Panamérika is a weekly radio show and news portal produced in Mexico City for Red Bull Music Academy Radio. Its ultimate goal is to share some of the most astounding music coming from the emergent Hispanic indie music scenes all around the globe. The Spanish-spoken show is premiered every Friday onhttp://www.rbmaradio.com, http://redbull.panamerika.fm and through FM radio stations around the world. Don’t miss a bounty of weekly findings gathered for your delight, on Red Bull Panamérika.
About Red Bull Music Academy Radio:
RBMA Radio is one of the largest resources for curated cutting-edge music on the web. Launched in 2005 as a spin-off of the Red Bull Music Academy, it features thousands of in-depth interviews and features with today’s essential music makers, exclusive mixes and live recordings from the world’s best clubs and festivals -and every bit is hand-picked. www.rbmaradio.com.
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Through the Red Bull network, hi-res video and still images are captured and made immediately available for editorial use for all media channels including television, film, print, mobile, and digital. The content is centrally located in the Red Bull Content Pool for media partners at www.redbullcontentpool.com.
