Diandra Interviews Candeleros: A Global History In Music

Personally, I feel, to have a global sound, you have to had a global life, and Candeleros sure have had one. Each left their home country to migrate to Spain, where they have combined their cultures, humors, and music tastes to create songs that span borders. For them, when we combine all our differences, you get the makings of a music that invites everyone in for a listen. Hence, in our interview, we discussed what makes music a literal community of humanity.

Diandra What about Afro- Caribbean music inspires psychedelic feels for you? 

WOW! Good question! (they chatter)

Urko: I think the idea of the “Tambor” and everything that comes from it is entrancing. The way it repeats and repeats and makes you dance. So, it is about brining that folkloric element to 2019. 

Candeleros – Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

Diandra: In coming from nations of political turmoil and being immigrants, how do you feel unrest inspires art? 

Alex: Obviously, it pushes you to see how to resolve problems. The thing about Caribbean music is that there is always a level of cynicism to its beauty. Even Boleros are these romantic songs where you have the singer kind of making fun of himself or taking “lightly” how hopeless he feels. You know he sings as if the planet is going to fall on top of him  because he is heartbroken while also trying to say, “Alright, it is not that serious!” It is a very schizophrenic approach.

Diandra: You have said that music is a form of protest. Do you see your songs as a “protest cumbia” of sorts?

William: We all come from Colombia and Venezuela, which are countries known for their political chaos. People lived in this sense of “not knowing;” not knowing how their day would go, the month, the year because of all the social unrest. That unknown, itself, is super psychedelic.You have a million problems you want to resolve and a million ways and wants of leaving and them, and, in that, you make art. Psychedelia helps you find resolutions and connections where, perhaps, you never saw them to be.

Candeleros – La Cumbia del Chinche | Sofar Madrid

Diandra; How do you define community and harmony in your life ?

Andres: We all have different origins with different stories that inspire us to express ourselves in different ways. This project has allowed us to bring together and project our personalties, roots, and stories and inspire discourse. This project is about unity. 

Alex: We go beyond aesthetics. Our project is about celebration of everybody and everything and I think that is what harmony is about: receiving what you get with a level of understanding and acceptance: not just respect. 

Diandra: What has being in this group showed you about yourself? 

William: I don’t consider them my work buddies. This is my family. This is the family that I chose. We care for each other, and we work together to resolve each other’s problems. I have learned from them how to be better to them and myself. 

Candeleros – Chicha y Wanton (Live Sala Juglar)

Diandra: Name a moment of resistance or fear that inspires a song.

(They laugh and say, This Is Deep!) Andres: This is beautiful question. I think everything. We are all so different from each other so everything we have done, individually, has come together to feel like a manifestation rather than resistance. There is a major history of Latin American immigration to Europe, to Spain. Dance is our native reclaim to say we have always been here and want to share ourselves with everyone.

Urko: These past 4 years have been a road of investigating, learning, and knowing each other, ourselves, and life. We have come together or so many things, and our project, Sabes Que Pasa, is putting that together and giving ourselves to Madrid and listeners. It is the closest we have ever gotten to our envisioned sounds and feels like an olive branch we are giving to the world to get to know us.

 For More Information On Candeleros Click Here.