The word mixtape has plenty of different interpretations. It used to be that mixtapes were actually DJ sets recorded on cassette tapes, but with the coming of the digital music age, the name remained the same, but the definition expanded. Nowadays, people call mixtapes many different things, some of which are not necessarily mixed and most of which were never taped. Here we try to cover them all. In this column, Juan Data gives you a worthy one every week.
DJ: High Life
MIXTAPE: Colombia Mix!
A mixtape with a simple premise: an intense introduction to Colombian musical, both old and new, for the uninitiated, in just about 20 minutes. There’re some classics, like Afrosound‘s “Caliventura,” and some more current hits like the ubiquitous “Fuego” by Bomba Estéreo. There’re also some oddities and remixes done by Colombians living abroad (Isa-GT in the UK, Caballo in Canada).
Up to that point nothing about this is very unusual, right? But then you realize the mix was done by a male-female DJ duo from nowhere near tropical Colombia. High Life are Anna Lindström and Sebastian Matz a couple from Sweden, of all places, who hosts itinerant parties throughout the Baltic, bringing up the heat from Latin America and Africa to some of the coldest places on earth. Now that puts things in a complete different perspective, doesn’t it?