The music created by Canadian-Colombian artist Lido Pimienta is at once defined by its sprawling eclecticism of genre, identity, and expression. If you haven’t yet been exposed to her vibrantly dynamic and experimental creations then there’s really only one place you should start — her third album Miss Colombia. It’s the record that has subsequently launched Lido Pimienta into the international spotlight and placed her on the pathway of some of her idols: from A Tribe Called Red to MIA and Cardi B. These are artists like herself that have boldly intertwined their ethnic and cultural roots into their music.
For Lido Pimienta that’s created an evolving collision of different cultural and sonic worlds in her music. Throughout Miss Colombia, she weaves questions about her own claim to being Colombian after perceiving that she may no longer embody such an identity. It’s a question she asks in the album opener “Para Transcribir (Sol),” which wrestles with the two contrasting people she feels torn between, one being the person she was when she still lived in Colombia and the second who she is now.
But at its core, the album and much of Lido Pimienta’s music are centered around revitalizing defiance. “Resisto y Ya” near the end of the album recognizes the inherent resistance that she’s lived with all her life as an “Afro-Indigenous, queer feminist, and Canadian outsider.” Not to mention the kind of artist looking to push traditionalist and folklorist music into an expression that’s more in tune with people of color today.
Bringing together Afro-Indigenous rhythms and styles with modern reinvention, her music cuts a jagged line through the complicated nature of growing up as a person of color who constantly finds themselves estranged from such a large part of their identity. The warmth of lush cumbia is the radiance through which much of the album is filtered and orients the desire to foster both pride and unity for her home country. “Te Quería” tempers that love with just a touch of cynicism, which is itself softened by the song’s luminous melody, while “Pelo Cucu” underscores her incorporation of traditional Colombian music as foundational to her sound.
Her visionary creation isn’t just relegated to the vibrancy of her music either — as the music video for “Te Quería,” which was released earlier this year, underscores her ability to create these awe-inspiring worlds within her songs. Lido Pimienta appears as “The Queen of The Clowns” in a surreal but impactful narrative about the effects of trauma and the transformative ability that comes with processing and expressing it. In one stunning scene, the other clowns are targeted by another who shoots at them only to discover that the bullets have no power to kill but rather transform those hit into Marimondas — a Caribbean Carnival character associated with living a carefree and joyful life.
Visit Lido Pimienta on their website, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Words: Steven Ward
Listen to Miss Colombia the second album from Lido Pimienta below!
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