Totó La Momposina, the folk music legend from the Caribbean coast of Colombia, has long had her music sampled and remixed by countless DJs and producers from Timbaland to Michel Cleis. The trance-like grooves of her tambores and the majesty of her voice continues to be an irresistible formula.
Garabato Sessions is the new vinyl release from Real World Records bringing influences from Bristol to Bogotá, with remixes of Totó’s classic Adios Fulana. DJ, musician and remixer, Rob Smith (RSD), best known for making and playing breakbeat, drum & bass and dubstep, and as half of the duo Smith & Mighty (with Ray Mighty) provides the Bristol connection with his remixes.
Bogotá-based Richard Blair – from the band Sidestepper – retains the earthy Colombian sound of the traditional African-influenced drums and adds his own dub twist.
Adios Fulana is a garabato – a rhythm which captures the flavour of Colombian carnival where, during a street procession, many different rhythms at one time crowd the atmosphere. The song tells of the thoughts of a man transfixed by the beauty of a woman he has seen passing. Fulana in Colombian Spanish roughly means ‘sweetheart’.
“I love the energy and ‘upfulness’ of the original track and wanted to retain the percussive dynamics in the first remix while adding a ’dub’ feel even tho it’s not a reggae track. The Amen mix came about as an offshoot really, I wanted to hear Toto on a different kind of rhythm and built the mix around her. It’s like she’s challenging the beats and even tho the Amen break is pushing back, she keeps it in check!” ROB SMITH
“Paulino Salgado, aka Batata was a legendary hand drummer here in Colombia. His sound was really the first call to come down here, I heard him in the live session at Real World that this tune comes from and it changed things forever. So on this mix I wanted to focus on him. I didn’t loop him or even put the tune ‘on the grid’, just did a bit of old school ‘tape’ editing – chopping together one or two minute sections that had the best groove. Then I played the bass part to him, trying to lock into his remarkable feel and groove. His timing is really quite amazing, he doesn’t vary much more than a point or two during the whole tune, he had that internal metronome that the best drummers have, keeping the dancefloor moving steady. In keeping with the bass and drum culture this is firmly part of, the final ingredient in the mix was a bit of dub, to take the tune into that spacey place.” RICHARD BLAIR
The release is available as a four track 12″ single and also digitally. Digital release comes with the bonus remix Adios Fulana (Bristol Version).