1
00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: From Futuro Media and pr X. It's Latino Usa, I'm

2
00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:12,879
Speaker 1: Marie Rosa Today, Colombian Canadian singer songwriter Lego Pimienta shares

3
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,760
Speaker 1: with us the process and influences of her Grammy nominated

4
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,000
Speaker 1: album Miss Colombia and how her love of Afro Colombian

5
00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:22,480
Speaker 1: music came to be.

6
00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:27,760
Speaker 2: When you hear.

7
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:33,640
Speaker 1: Lego Pimienta's sound, you'll hear traces of traditional Colombian instruments

8
00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:36,879
Speaker 1: like the tambora and the maraca, mixed with synthpop and

9
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:41,200
Speaker 1: electronic music. It's an experimental sound that earned her twenty

10
00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,880
Speaker 1: sixteen album La Pabesa one of Canada's most prestigious awards,

11
00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:47,440
Speaker 1: the Polaris Prize.

12
00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:59,760
Speaker 3: Slaby deblum alasia u Dadaabua.

13
00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:10,000
Speaker 1: Letho continued her tradition of weaving Colombian folk music with

14
00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:21,040
Speaker 1: electronic sounds in Miss Colombia. The album pays ode to

15
00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:25,840
Speaker 1: Afro Columbia music like Buyerenge and Bayinato that surrounded her

16
00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,040
Speaker 1: as a child in Colombia. Letho was born in the

17
00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,280
Speaker 1: city of Barragia and grew up spending her time between

18
00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,720
Speaker 1: that city and the quieter rural towns along the Colombian

19
00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,080
Speaker 1: Caribbean coast, and while she's made it a statement to

20
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,600
Speaker 1: incorporate Colombian musical traditions into her new album, it wasn't

21
00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:47,320
Speaker 1: always her music of choice. As a kid, Lido was

22
00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:49,960
Speaker 1: drawn to rock and heavy metal. She even played in

23
00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,560
Speaker 1: a metal band when she was just eleven, but it

24
00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,200
Speaker 1: was only after moving to Toronto, Canada when she was

25
00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,240
Speaker 1: nineteen that Letho reconnected with the sounds of her home country.

26
00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,840
Speaker 1: In miss Colombia, Liedo tackles the pain of womanhood and

27
00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,680
Speaker 1: anti blackness through what she describes as a series of

28
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,880
Speaker 1: cynical love letters to her country of birth. One song

29
00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,680
Speaker 1: is titled Bello Cuku, a song written from the perspective

30
00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,720
Speaker 1: of a young Afro Colombian girl who gets her hair

31
00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:29,679
Speaker 1: straightened for the first time. The song is arranged in

32
00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:34,840
Speaker 1: the Afro Colombian genre of uarenge, traditionally sung exclusively by women.

33
00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,320
Speaker 1: The song is special to Litho because it's a collaboration

34
00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:43,160
Speaker 1: with the legendary Afro Colombian group Sexteto Dabala, one of

35
00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:48,919
Speaker 1: Lido's earliest musical influences. On Today's Show, which originally aired

36
00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,359
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, Lilo. Pinina shares how her love for

37
00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,799
Speaker 1: traditional Colombian music came to be the story of her

38
00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:00,120
Speaker 1: album Mis Colombia, and how she created a song she

39
00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:01,480
Speaker 1: would have loved to have heard.

40
00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:02,320
Speaker 4: As a kid.

41
00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,240
Speaker 3: Growing up, I was a little bit of a rebel.

42
00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:13,480
Speaker 3: I was listening to electronic music and metal. Like I

43
00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:15,600
Speaker 3: had my headphones on and I will take them off

44
00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:19,079
Speaker 3: and then I'll have like themes ds blasting in my

45
00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,359
Speaker 3: face and I'll was like, I hate it. But then

46
00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,600
Speaker 3: you grow up and then you understand it and you

47
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,720
Speaker 3: appreciate the culture and the music for what it is.

48
00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:35,920
Speaker 4: There's this song by yom Ds and it's called La Plata.

49
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:39,920
Speaker 3: So there's a part of the song where he's saying

50
00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 3: like everybody's fighting, everybody's fighting, everybody's fighting. When I heard

51
00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,720
Speaker 3: that and when you when you see that live, it's

52
00:03:53,840 --> 00:04:00,320
Speaker 3: really punk. When I heard that song, it really made

53
00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,800
Speaker 3: me look at in a different way. And because I

54
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,440
Speaker 3: was listening to all of these electronic music and hardcore

55
00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,800
Speaker 3: punk and all that stuff. The appreciation and the love

56
00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,600
Speaker 3: for Afric Columbia music came later in my teenage years.

57
00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:21,560
Speaker 4: And then one of my.

58
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,200
Speaker 3: Cousins he sat me down and he was like, so,

59
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,000
Speaker 3: why are you always listening to this like depressing British music?

60
00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:30,800
Speaker 4: And I was like, what do you mean?

61
00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,400
Speaker 3: It's like, have you heard of sex And no, I

62
00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,280
Speaker 3: haven't heard them. So he played Sexeto for me and

63
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,120
Speaker 3: I remember just listening to them for a whole week

64
00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,719
Speaker 3: and I learned their and hired discography that week.

65
00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:45,800
Speaker 4: Like I couldn't believe it.

66
00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:03,160
Speaker 3: Are a legendary sexteto group from Samba Palenke and they're

67
00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:08,200
Speaker 3: a beautiful Afric Colombian group. They're descendants of benkos Bojo,

68
00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:14,599
Speaker 3: who was the first live talor. He freed his people

69
00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,120
Speaker 3: from slavery. Sama is the first free town from slavery

70
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,840
Speaker 3: in all of the Americans. So their music speaks to

71
00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,920
Speaker 3: resistance and love. It really it did something to me.

72
00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,720
Speaker 3: It broke me and then it sewed me back together.

73
00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:32,040
Speaker 4: You know.

74
00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,440
Speaker 3: That's when I was like, I need to give portige

75
00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:38,880
Speaker 3: Head and Tommy or a break for a little bit.

76
00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:44,200
Speaker 3: And then I really delved into the voices of Elbina

77
00:05:44,279 --> 00:06:01,440
Speaker 3: Madonalila And it happened right at that transitional moment where

78
00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,239
Speaker 3: I had to move to Canada. And I'm very grateful

79
00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:06,840
Speaker 3: for that because when I moved to Canada and you

80
00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,719
Speaker 3: don't have friends, you don't have your family, you really

81
00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:14,200
Speaker 3: need to stay grounded. And after Columbian music really allowed

82
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:21,120
Speaker 3: me to survive, you know, my first winter. A song

83
00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:25,160
Speaker 3: that grounded me in my first winter in Canada was

84
00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:31,799
Speaker 3: a song by Otelviina Malonado which is called Jorando te Coelia.

85
00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,159
Speaker 4: Yordado or Orando.

86
00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:40,200
Speaker 3: And it really helped me calm myself down and know

87
00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,600
Speaker 3: that nothing is going to change or improve if I

88
00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,680
Speaker 3: if I'm just crying, I should just take that energy

89
00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:48,400
Speaker 3: and do something with it.

90
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:50,600
Speaker 4: And then I started writing writing music.

91
00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:56,960
Speaker 3: So the idea for Miss Columbia started in twenty fifteen

92
00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:00,799
Speaker 3: at the infamous missuniver.

93
00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:07,800
Speaker 2: Miss Universe two thousand and fifteen is Columbia.

94
00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:14,200
Speaker 4: When Steve Harvey gave the crown to Miss Columbia. Okay, Pops,

95
00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:20,720
Speaker 4: I have to apologize when it was supposed to go

96
00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:21,800
Speaker 4: to Miss Philippines.

97
00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:29,960
Speaker 2: The first runner up is Colombia, Miss Universe two thousand

98
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:30,640
Speaker 2: and fifteen.

99
00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:33,840
Speaker 4: It's Philippines.

100
00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,240
Speaker 3: For Colombians, that was like war has been declared. I

101
00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:45,080
Speaker 3: had never seen Colombians, like Colombian diaspora and Colombians in

102
00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:50,120
Speaker 3: Colombia be so united. For something so stupid. So I

103
00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,200
Speaker 3: started writing these songs, you know, as as a way

104
00:07:53,280 --> 00:08:04,360
Speaker 3: to just like calm myself down, and they slowly but

105
00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:09,200
Speaker 3: surely became these poems that became cynical love letters to

106
00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:10,360
Speaker 3: my country.

107
00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:24,560
Speaker 4: Do I guess? And Oho santus Balas.

108
00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:32,719
Speaker 3: Miss Columbia speaks about Senorita Columbia, but also I miss Columbia.

109
00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,359
Speaker 3: I'll go back, and sometimes I feel like a complete stranger.

110
00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:39,880
Speaker 3: And I know that some of my family members also

111
00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,839
Speaker 3: see me as a complete stranger because the memories that

112
00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,079
Speaker 3: they had of this little girl are not there anymore.

113
00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,360
Speaker 3: That's what the album is about, is coming to terms

114
00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,000
Speaker 3: with who I am, coming to terms with the perceptions

115
00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:58,280
Speaker 3: of what those around me have about me, and how

116
00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:00,680
Speaker 3: no matter how much I try for it.

117
00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:02,679
Speaker 4: To not affect me, it does affect me.

118
00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:20,559
Speaker 3: This album is a lot about pain, pain of being

119
00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:26,280
Speaker 3: a woman, but also the pain of being black. Indigenous

120
00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:35,360
Speaker 3: Pello cuckoo means nappy hair. Cuckoo is our word in

121
00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:41,439
Speaker 3: Colombia for nappy. When I had to do my first communion,

122
00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,120
Speaker 3: I had to get my hair straightened, and I never

123
00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:49,080
Speaker 3: forgot that first feeling of the chemicals and the smell

124
00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,959
Speaker 3: and the pain. So in Pello Cuckoo, I just wanted

125
00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,800
Speaker 3: to sing from the perspective of that little girl that

126
00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:58,480
Speaker 3: gets her hair straightened for.

127
00:09:58,559 --> 00:09:59,200
Speaker 4: The first time.

128
00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:02,840
Speaker 3: Lah, what does a man?

129
00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,280
Speaker 1: No God?

130
00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:16,040
Speaker 3: I needed to find the space for those little girls

131
00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:20,599
Speaker 3: that don't understand why this is happening. Why is in

132
00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,400
Speaker 3: the natural texture that naturally comes out of my skull?

133
00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:29,800
Speaker 4: Accepted? Bye bye, this this thing in.

134
00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:33,520
Speaker 3: Colombia that it's still being said today that you have

135
00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:34,840
Speaker 3: to improve the race.

136
00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,360
Speaker 4: Those are the things that we brought up listening to it.

137
00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:41,760
Speaker 3: And because these are my love letters or cynical love

138
00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:43,800
Speaker 3: letters to Columbia, you know I needed.

139
00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:47,920
Speaker 4: To say that. So I try to bring my poetry forth.

140
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:59,760
Speaker 3: And inspire the conversation to move forward with more tenderness. Last,

141
00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:07,800
Speaker 3: most of the things that I do or who I

142
00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:11,400
Speaker 3: am in my present life are the people that I

143
00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,000
Speaker 3: needed when I was growing up that I didn't have

144
00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:15,640
Speaker 3: by my side to guide me.

145
00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:25,599
Speaker 4: So when I'm singing Pellou, I'm singing to myself. Mama yayssa.

146
00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:51,160
Speaker 1: The words of singer songwriter. This episode was produced by

147
00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:54,040
Speaker 1: Julia Rocha. It was edited by Louis t Reges with

148
00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,320
Speaker 1: help from Gianese Yamoca. It was mixed by Julia Caruso.

149
00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:03,360
Speaker 1: The Latino USA team includes Victoria Estradra, Jessica Elsrinaldo, Leans Junior,

150
00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:08,120
Speaker 1: Andrea Lopez, Grusado, Rori, mar Marquez, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent,

151
00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:13,200
Speaker 1: Nursaudi and Nancy Trujillo. Benilei Ramirez is our co executive producer.

152
00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,760
Speaker 1: Our director of engineering is Stephanie Lebau. Our marketing manager

153
00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:21,680
Speaker 1: is Luis Luna. Our theme music was composed by Sane Ruinos.

154
00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:24,440
Speaker 1: I'm your host and executive producer Maria noo Posa. Join

155
00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:27,000
Speaker 1: us again on our next episode. In the meantime, look

156
00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:29,360
Speaker 1: for us on all of your social media. I'll catch

157
00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,240
Speaker 1: up with you on IG and remember note wa yas

158
00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:33,600
Speaker 1: Nuca Bay.

159
00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:42,120
Speaker 2: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation,

160
00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,720
Speaker 2: working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide.

161
00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:47,839
Speaker 4: The John D.

162
00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:52,400
Speaker 2: And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation funding for Latino USA is

163
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,400
Speaker 2: Coverage of a culture of health is made possible in

164
00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:58,240
Speaker 2: part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

165
00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:07,160
Speaker 3: It's like lament songs about the heart and the woman

166
00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:11,319
Speaker 3: not wanting my love, and we are all going to

167
00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:15,880
Speaker 3: be very sad right now because my love is not

168
00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:17,280
Speaker 3: being hurt, you know,