Steam Down’s founder Ahnansé and Mambo Negro Records founder Daniel Michel lead Mestizo Collective, a groundbreaking British-Colombian ensemble on their captivating debut album.
Join us for a sensational night of global vibes right here at Band on the Wall as we celebrate the release of this groundbreaking record with a full live show!
Across languages and disparate cultures, music is the connecting bridge. Through interweaving melodic traditions, rhythms and distinct instruments, a new dialogue can be created – an open improvisation between kindred spirits. For the past four years, British-Caribbean bandleader and saxophonist Ahnansé and Colombian label head and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Michel have been building that musical bridge between their two worlds, creating a beguiling new interpretation of Colombian folk traditions, London jazz and hip-hop. The culmination of their efforts now comes in their uniquely energetic self-titled debut album, Mestizo, released on Mais Um on 5 May 2023.
“It’s in the name itself, since Mestizo means ‘mixed’ and is a term for people of mixed heritage in Colombia,” Ahnansé says. “The purpose of the project is to see what you can build from a cultural mix, to create a musical family between countries that means even though we don’t share the same language, when we play music together, we are speaking to each other.”
Ahnansé and Daniel first met in 2019, as part of a British Council-supported project to bring British jazz musicians to Colombia for an improvised performance with local players at Bogotá’s Jazz al Parque Festival. Over five days of collaboration, Daniel and Ahnansé drew on their roles as incubators for independent talent in their respective cities of London and Bogotá. Both artists have created their own hubs of collaboration, with Ahnansé founding the award-winning Southeast London collective Steam Down and bringing with him proponents of the UK jazz revival including tuba player Theon Cross and saxophonist Nubya Garcia. Daniel, meanwhile, has spent the past decade revitalising Colombian musical traditions with his label Mambo Negro, masterminding his group La BOA’s afrobeat and cumbia fusion, as well as releasing female trio La Perla’s distinctly percussive versions of kuduro, cumbia and samba.
A standing show. On sale 10am 21st Jan.
Artists on stage: 8.00pmCurfew: 10.00pm
Stage: The Venue