When the River Meets the Sea: in conversation with Llamador
Colombian musician Juan Lacouture gives us a taste of good things to come with his band’s latest single ‘Por Encima ‘El Rio’.
Photo: Press
I first met Juan Lacouture earlier this year in Santa Marta, the northernmost and warmest region of Colombia. As I explored this new setting and enjoyed the thick Caribbean heat, he told me about his country’s music, namely cumbia and his latest solo project, Llamador.
Colour spills out of Colombia, from its varied landscapes and climate to local stories infused with traces of magic realism. Even sounds take on new forms – traditional instruments like the accordion are played with unfamiliar rhythms in unexpected settings. Cumbia is a style of music that originated in Colombia that boasts African, Armenian and European roots.
Juan tells me about the Llamador, the traditional drum after which he named his band: “The Llamador is a Colombian cumbia drum, it’s a drum that constantly marks the rhythm. All cumbia has a llamador. So I liked the concept of something that marks the tempo, like a rhythmic stabiliser for everything that happens in cumbia.”
Llamador isn’t strictly traditional; the style is one that Juan has developed over the years, he calls it cumbia revuelta. Cumbia revuelta is the sum of Juan’s experience living, exploring and identifying with various places in Colombia. From the coast to the most remote parts of the country, all of these influences imbue his music.
“I was looking for a sound and I arrived at cumbia revuelta because my life has basically been a geographical mishmash of places where I have lived. My accent isn’t from here or there. When I go to the coast they say I sound like I’m from the interior of the country and when I’m here they tell me I’m a costeño.”
Colombian music has so many different rhythms and styles – the interior sounds different to the coast and Juan does his best to fuse these together. This feeling of mixed styles and sounds comes alive in Juan’s latest single, Por Encima ‘El Rio.
Por Encima ‘el Rio, has been ready for a while now, Juan explains, “It’s part of a record that I’m working on. I was inspired to write this song in Barranquilla because there’s a time of year in the Magdalena River where, when the sun rises, the first thing you see is the peak of the Sierra Nevada. It’s beautiful, it’s the first moment of the day, marked by a ray of light – there are always so many birds.”
Inspiration flows freely through Juan, he thinks poetically and exercises this before even thinking about what music will follow.
“I’ve been living in Bogota for years, it’s located in the almost exact centre of Colombia. So the drive from Bogota to our Caribbean coast is constantly descending. I get a lot of my inspiration from the rivers that descend from the mountains and finally arrive at the beach. It’s something that I’m always thinking about, like going from the city to the countryside or from the mountains to the sea.”
The single is lyrically nostalgic, with references to nature but also has an upbeat tempo to get fans excited about the rest of his album. A passion for preserving local culture while introducing new ideas, sounds and styles is what Juan does best – and what makes Llamador so memorable.
