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Abstract
In the last 30 years, the Reggaeton genre not only transformed the Latin popular music industry, but also established itself as a global genre, consistently occupying top positions on international charts and redefining mainstream sonic landscapes. Strangely, its sound, themes, and rhythmic structure remained quite static, evolving very little over time. It wasn't until shortly before 2020 that some artists within the genre, alongside others coming from genres such as pop, salsa, hip-hop and folk music from different countries began experimenting by fusing their own musical languages with the so-called dembow, reggaetón's characteristic rhythm, thereby initiating significant transformations of the original genre. The present culminating experience project propose to write, record, mix and finish a 6 songs album using the dembow rhythm as one of the main parameters, but exploring different Colombian sonorities and instrumentation from genres like cumbia, vallenato, rasqa, joropo and other popular folkloric genres looking forward for an original sound. Some of the influences include but not limited to artists like Bomba Estereo, Edson Velandia, Calle 13, Lizandro Meza, La Muchacha, Pernet, Frente Cumbiero and others. The production techniques involve real instruments recording, sampling and the use of some elements of electronic music arrangement with audio and MIDI processing in Pro Tools, Ableton Live and Logic Pro.
Publication Date
7-1-2025
Campus
Valencia (Spain) Campus
Award
With Distinction
Recommended Citation
Ramirez Alvarez, Juan Guillermo. “Music Album Production Fusing Traditional Colombian Rhythms with Latin American Urban Genres.” Master's thesis, Berklee College of Music, 2025. https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/413.