Friends, Comrades, and Family,

I am ecstatic to present the first track off of Pachamerican@ Vol. 2, entitled "Mambo de L@s Soberan@s".  Pachamerican@ Vol. 2 is the Spanish counterpart to Pachamerican@ Vol. 1 available for download at http://danidascrybe.bandcamp.com/.  

This track was enriched by the contributions of Stephen "Mano Dura" Smith-Contreras on congas, Jordan Wilson on vocals, and Monica Fimbrez on vocals.  The amazing artwork for the project was provided by the one and only Diego Rodriguez-Warner, an artist who never ceases to amaze me through his use of color, texture, shape and theme.
 
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, guitarist for the Mars Volta, once said that their is a short time between the time that a musical project is complete and the time that the project is shared where the project belongs to the artist.  During this small window the art merely exists free of praise, opinion, and critique.  When the project goes out into the world it no longer belongs to the artist but it belongs to the people who interact with it.  It is no longer the soundtrack to ones personal experience but becomes the soundtrack to every comrade, colleague, and friend who can connect to the message or is moved by the music.  My hope is that this track moves and inspires you, as making it has moved and inspired me!

In the months before my son was born musical inspiration hit me upside my head.  I started to hear potential in tracks that had lain dormant for years.  As musicians, songs come to life through a variety of different processes.  Sometimes we start with the instrumental and melody.  Other times we start with a concept or a hook.  Sometimes we even start by writing the verses.  In this particular case the concept and the hook emerged out of nowhere one day when I was listening to the cut down beat.  Jordan Wilson then helped me refine the melody for the hook.  From that blueprint the 1st and the 3rd verse basically wrote themselves.  I wanted to do something special for the middle verse so I chose to write a call and response in honor of the West African traditions transplanted to the Americas, manifesting themselves through a slew of musical genres including gospel, soul, funk, guaguanco, tumba, bomba, son jarocho, cumbia, samba, salsa, afro-peruano, etc., etc., etc.  My hope is that you hear all of these influences in this single track.

An elder once told me that he wanted to give a piece of his heart to every interaction and relationship that he experienced so that when he left this earth he would leave his heart with the people that he touched and his legacy would live on through their memory.  Mambo de L@s Soberan@s contains a piece of my heart that I openly and willingly give to you.  Enjoy!

P.S. Pachamerican@ Vol. 2, the full album, will be available for download Monday September 9, 2013.  The album contains influences from Andino music, Dancehall, Funk, Mambo, Salsa, Cumbia, Afrobeat, Raggae, and Bosa Nova, with Hip-Hop as the backbone.  

1.

Mambo de L@s Soberan@s (ft. Stephen "Mano Dura" Smith-Contreras, Monica Fimbrez, and Jordan Wilson

Good people,

The second track that I would like to share off of Pachamerican@ Vol. 2 is "Aire". This track was born out of requests from comrades for more Cumbia at Debajo del Agua shows. I am more than happy to oblige. Pachamerican@ Vol. 2 has 2 Cumbia's.

"Aire" was produced by Stephen Smith-Contreras and myself. Stephen sent me a sketch track that he created on the key board overlaid with live percussion. I fell in love with the percussion build that he presented. I proceeded to replace the keyboard melodies with an acoustic guitar, a Tres Cubano for the lead, and an MPC for the drums. Stephen later added live percussion. Jordan Wilson and Monica Fimbrez laced the choruses and bridges with their vocals and Jordan Wilson added the Tres solo as the cherry on top.

With regards to the vocals I wanted to experiment with a down south Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, similie without the "like"delivery, in Spanish, over a Cumbia beat. In my humble opinion it worked! The middle verse was the last verse I wrote before my son was born. It is therefore both about him and dedicated to him. This track was a joy to make. Enjoy.

Respira!!

Dani "Dascrybe" Cornejo