Musical journeys often seem to arrive at destinations far removed from their initial starting point. That certainly appears to be the case for French-Colombian bassist Ëda Diaz.
Born Eléonore Diaz-Arbelaez to an urban planner father from Columbia and a French dressmaker mother who met on a plane travelling from Montevideo to Paris, she studied music from a young age, specifically classical singing and piano. She spent more than a decade performing classical piano at the Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt in France.
With regular summer trips between Paris and the family home in Medellín, through her grandmother, she was exposed to the songs and sounds of South American music, such as bambucos, boleros and tangos. Her father also introduced her to tumbaos, the basic rhythms played on the bass in Afro-Cuban music, from artists such as Joe Arrovo, The Buena Vista Social Club and Omara Portuondo.
She had a eureka moment in her musical development after taking up the double bass. Already moving away from the classical and exploring sounds such as psychedelia and electronica, she began playing live with contemporary and Latin music artists. As she explains, “The double bass saved me. Without it I might not have devoted my life to music. I feel like when I discovered the double bass at 24, I also discovered the joy of playing an instrument and blending with it with my vocals. I never had this feeling with the piano.”
Suave Bruta, her debut full-length album, is the tangible result of her desire to bring together the cultures, languages, and rhythms of the two continents which have featured so significantly in her life. The specific Columbian styles referenced include bambuco, bullerengue and vallenato and an electrified curralao, whilst influences such as bolero, danzon, a self-styled “Wonky Columbian salsa”, Ecuadorian vals and a take on Columbian dembow can also be detected.
On the recording, Ëda’s double bass is often electronically treated with distortions, pitch and speed effects, and additional non-musical real-world samples, including bats, birds, flies, owls, hairdressing salons and samples taken from Columbian classics. These bear the hallmarks of Anthony Winzenrieth, with whom she has collaborated since the release of her 2017 EP.
Translations of her lyrics for this release reveal that subjects include family and friendship, love and death, and as she takes you on her musical journey, the universality of the trials and tribulations of modern life are fully apparent. Before even listening to the music, from the choice of the album title, Suave Bruta, the B side of a hit single released in 1990 by legendary Columbian singer songwriter Joe Arroyo (y Su Orquesta La Verdad), it is clear that Ëda is also paying tribute to her heritage.
While Bullerengue is a traditional style of music and dance from both Colombia and Panama, on the album’s opening track, Nenita, it is given a 21st-century makeover. I’m not sure whether bullerengue electrónico has yet been trademarked, but this would certainly be an apposite description, as the choppy, dreamy chords and samples, crisp handclaps and ethereal vocals weave their way around the drumbeats which characterise the bullerengue style.
The love song Lo Dudo (I Doubt It) heralds a complete change in sound and ambience as rippling piano patterns and the spoons, which help provide the percussion beats, make way for Ëda’s sultry, sensual vocals, which in turn share the stage with the electronic squonks.
For those interested in language, particularly idiomatic phrases, the title of the following track, Por Si Las Moscas, might appeal. Translating as ‘in case the flies’, this is a common expression in Latin America used to say ‘just in case’, with its roots relating to flies landing on food, making it inedible, hence the habit of covering food ‘in case the flies’. Musically, the song shows what a strong voice Ëda possesses, and this, together with the intriguing, languid electronic sounds, is underscored by the insistent percussion of Fabián Suarez. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the song ends with the buzzing of a fly panning the speakers.
The exact phrase also appears in the lyrics of the following song. The very brief Olvidemos Manana (Let’s Forget Tomorrow), with its fascinating polyphonic vocal opening, creates a dreamy, ethereal atmosphere before the percussive beats and electronics once again shift the song’s aural direction, reflecting the lyrics.
“Frena el reloj de arena
Olvidemos mañana
Cerremos la puerta por si las moscas…
Dame otro trago de alcohol…”
“Stop the hourglass
Let’s forget tomorrow
Let’s close the door in case the flies…
Give me another drink of alcohol…”
Ëda clearly references her heritage on Tiemblas, with the Cajun/Zydeco feel due in no small part to the accordion sample taken from Rafael Escona’s classic vallenato track La Casa en el Aire. Upbeat music from the Atlantic coast of Columbia, vallenato (born in the valley), originally played by farm workers and cowboys in rural locations, melds lyrics of everyday life with instruments of European origin. Released as a single, the song relates the story of a journey to the Amazon, where the singer befriends a local guide with a wooden leg.
The slower tempo of Dulce De Mare again brings a change of mood. Here, the distorted voices, almost choral-like, are reminiscent of Bjork, and Ëda’s superb double bass playing is given the space to shine.
However, this respite is only temporary as the thorny issue of rousing oneself out of bed on a rainy day is addressed in Sabana y Banano. Another track featuring a sample from a Columbian legend, this time Fiesta de Negritos, from 1980 and Lucho Bermudez (y Su Orquesta), the legendary clarinet player famed for his cumbia and porro music, the claves and bass rumbles, brief shimmering keys and clarinet from currently-Paris-based Robby Marshall, create a beguiling soundscape.
How do you get a double bass to sound like a Chinese guzheng? The very gentle Brisa may have the answer. All breathy, whispery vocals with interesting, sampled sounds and textured layers, could that even be a hair drier making an appearance? Indeed, hair features in Al Pelo. With vocals, at times, sounding as if reproduced through a retro transistor radio and infused with salsa rhythms, aided and abetted by Natascha Rogers on the bell, this is a totally zany track redolent of Malcolm McLaren at his best.
“No hay remedio que cure lo que no cure un nuevo peinado”
(“There is no remedy that will cure what a new hairstyle does not cure.”)
Indeed!
McLaren also springs to mind on the following, percussion-heavy Tutande, a contraction of Tú tan demente (You’re So Insane), where the lyrics and rhythms of the Double Dutch skipping song are echoed, particularly in the treated vocals of
“Limón verde
Caramelo con mantequilla salada
Limón verde
Caramelo con mantequilla salada”
(“Green lemon
Salted Butter Caramel
Green lemon
Salted Butter Caramel”)
The album concludes with an exotic piece of musical collage, as atonal piano and double bass notes, samples, and languorous vocals deliver Déjà-Vu, which, despite the title, is sung in Spanish.
Through melding her bass playing and vocals with experimental electronica and traditional Afro-Columbian and Latin American rhythms, the eleven tracks on Suave Bruta represent a hybrid of Euro-Latin R&B, imbued with more than a hint of electro-pop sensibility.
Pull up a chair, pour yourself a tumbler of gauro, canelazo or guarapo, and enjoy a refreshing new sound.
Bandcamp: https://edadiaz.bandcamp.com/album/suave-bruta