If you’ve been paying attention to recent Latin American music trends, you might have noticed Colombia keeps coming up as the wild new scene on the horizon. Established festivals like Rock al Parque and Estéreo Picnic have grown to attract a regular stream of international pop acts and concertgoers while the Bogotá Music Market is rapidly becoming one of the most influential industry conferences in the region. However, it’s not only blockbuster pop stars and reggaetoneros like Shakira and Maluma carrying the national brand to global eyes and ears. Colombian indie is also having its own brilliant moment in the sun, with no brighter example than Bogotá’s Hermoso Ruido Festival.
Now entering its fifth year, Hermoso Ruido is an exciting citywide festival pairing buzzy emerging names in local rock, hip-hop and electronic music with young acts from across the Americas. In 2016, we heralded the festival as an expertly curated sampler of Colombia’s freshest future sounds, and this year’s lineup only raises the stakes on that promise. Local highlights will include alt-rock power duo Electric Mistakes, futuristic afro-house outfit Ghetto Kumbé and jungle beat wizards Moügli. The international talent is also off the charts with scheduled appearances by Ecuadorian electro-bomba group Swing Original Monks, kaleidoscopic Venezuelan producer Algodón Egipcio, and Caribbean tropigoths Balún and MULA. Some of the hottest Latin indie labels in the game will also be showing out at Hermoso Ruido, with Mexico’s Girl Ultra sure to rep hard for her homies at Finesse Records, and King Coya + Queen Cholas holding it down for iconic electro-Andean powerhouse ZZK Records.
Check out the entire fire line-up below and start scouting for flights now. Hermoso Ruido goes down in Bogotá, September 21-23.
