Bomba Estéreo

Bomba Estéreo formed in 2005 as a project by visual artist/musician, Simón Mejía.

Originally called A.M. 770, the loosely formed collective of DJs and visual artists included DJ Fresh, Diego Cadavida, Javier Fonseca of Alerta, and was
led by Mejia, who renamed the group Bomba Estéreo in 2006 and released debut album, Vol. 1.

Entrecasa, Colombeat, a label project by Héctor Buitrago and Andrea Echeverri of Aterciopelados, gave Mejía an opportunity to participate in their first compilation project focused on exposing new Colombian talent in the world of electronic music; releasing the track “Ritmika” a cover song from a classic Venezueluelan orchestra, Los Blanco.

On Vol. 1, Mejía met Liliana “Li” Saumet, former singer of Mister Gomes in Bombay. She sang over the track, “Huepaje” marking the official collaboration between Liliana and Simon as Bomba Estéreo.

After Vol. 1, Mejía traveled to New York City for the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC), where he was able to secure digital distribution through US-label, Nacional Records. Upon returning to Bogotá, Felipe Alvarez from Polen Records met the group and began releasing Bomba Estéreo in Colombia.

The stage was set for the release of the band’s second album, “Estalla” (“Blow Up” in the USA), released in Colombia in September 2008 and presented live with Kike Egurrola on drums, Julián Salazar on guitar, Li as singer and Simón as bass/programming/band director.

Nacional Records (Manu Chao, Nortec Collective, Zizek, Aterciopelados) released “Blow Up” in the US in July 2009 to rave reviews from top publications, taking the group around the world towards international recognition. That summer, the band played New York City’s Bowery Ballroom and Central Park Summerstage, with the New York Times calling the performance, “kaleidoscopic and danceable.” More recently, the band collaborated with Levi’s jeans for their ‘Pioneer Sessions’ program, with the band covering Technotronic’s ‘Pump up the Jam.’ MTV also named the band, ‘The Best New Band in the World.’

Currently, Bomba Estéreo continues to tour the world in support of “Estalla”/”Blow Up” while preparing new material for their third album, set to release in 2011.