Making their first London appearance in six years, we are incredibly excited to welcome the inimitable Meridian Brothers to Kings Place for Songlines Encounters. The Colombian shape-shifters have been twisting dancefloors with their tropical oddities since 1998.

From Bogotá, Colombia, Meridian Brothers are a futurist electro-cumbia act led by Composer/multi-instrumentalist Eblis Álvarez that meld historic and modern experimental Latin rhythms and genres.

Their 2022 release Meridian Brothers & El Grupo Renacimiento excavates the forgotten sounds of the fantastical 1970s salsa dura group El Grupo Renacimiento. The group identifies as “B-class” salsa whose music explores human struggles in the urban city landscape, with themes such as police brutality, social marginalization, and addiction.

Meridian Brothers collaborated with El Grupo Renacimiento in Bogota’s Isaac Newton studios to capture their “fantasy salsa dura” sound. Although the group came out of myth, its members have been created in spirit. Embodied by Meridian Brothers and depicted in the graphic creations of illustrators Glenda Torrado and Mateo Rivano, the members of El Grupo Renacimiento have now come to life.

The performance will last approximately 70 minutes.

Reviews

‘Genius prophets of colombian weirdness’ MTV

‘Tuneful, clever and enormous fun’ The Guardian 

‘The Meridian brothers push all boundaries of what you think you know about music. Promise, you’ll love it’ NPR