MedellÍnStyle – Canto de Los Dioses (SOS Planet Earth)
(MedellÍnStyle, 2021-06-12)
Since 2001, MedellínStyle has grown to become one of the biggest platforms for electronic music both in Colombia and greater South America. Based in the Municipality of Medellín, the second largest city of the Republic after Bogotá, the community became significantly larger thanks to its numerous honourable projects for the electronic music scene and its broad diversification. With an audience of 300k followers on Facebook, MedellínStyle is at the same time a prominent promoter of techno and house events in Colombia, a festival, a record label, a podcast and last but not least, a very open media, covering music as much as cultural, environmental and societal news.
While Colombia is living with one of its biggest political crises, tainted with unreal tax reforms during the global pandemic, intensified by the riot police brutality, MedellínStyle has chosen to react with a peaceful musical weapon. “Canto de Los Dioses” (“Song of the Gods”) has been released as a free download, on a “name your price” basis, with the intent of providing healing music in times of great need.
The 32-tracks VA is conceptualised in two ways. Firstly, the artists have been invited to choose a vulnerable region of the planet and get inspired by it, as a message to be turned toward others, even during difficult times. Secondly, the artists must exhibit their perspective on the acoustic phenomenon called “the sympathetic resonance” which – simply said – is the creation of a harmonic dialogue.
No suspense: the result is phenomenal. Through ambient and more beat-oriented pieces, the producers have been particularly well inspired, showing one more time the true power of storytelling in the creative process and reminding us how much an art form is first and foremost a tool of expression.
Our highlights include “La Madrugada” (“the dawn”); Claudio PRC’s contribution, representing Sudan, which lived through a similar crisis in 2018 when President Bashir’s government imposed emergency austerity measures. Strong strings illustrate the tension, involved in a sonic battle with a peaceful movement, brought by aerial pads and kicks standing back.
For Tanzania, struggling with food, clothes and totally neglected by the international scene, Kangding Ray has chosen to deliver disturbing sonorities in his uptempo ambient piece “Amarillo”. The shimmering bells are paired with seemingly randomly placed hollow bass sequences, conveying the feeling of frantic disorganised activity.
Slowly developing samples, hold-like arpeggios and gracious atmospheres hallmark Zemög’s “Equality”, made for the benefit of “the exploited, forgotten and inequitable Amazonas”. The contrasting deep bass seems to almost be playing a rhythmical catch with the chiming melody.
With “Metja”, Launaea cleverly uses a filter to provide the immersive experience of water droplets in dark caves, slowly falling from above. The restrained ambience and slight percussive elements further enhance the deeply calming mood. Launaea chose Iraq as the focus for this track and potentially expresses the quiet before or after the storm.
Blazej Malinowski leaves his usual electrifying spirals to provide one of his deepest and most intense works up to date, with “Hope”, seemingly helpless. The track symbolises Zimbabwe, deep in the throes of a severe economic crisis, caused by the hyperinflation on economic sanctions and causing serious wage compression and famine.
Concluding our showcase, Donato Dozzy’s “When the sun comes out” imparts a sense of hopefulness, suspended in layers of rich evolving textures: a powerful ambient experience for the benefit of Syria.
We highly recommend these beautiful “sympathetic resonances” and would like to encourage donations to this amazing project.
WRITING BY: DANIEL LINDQVIST | 21 JUNE 2021