Kiko Villamizar
Photos (Credit: Jesus Garcia)
Press Release – Album
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KIKO VILLAMIZAR'S NEW ALBUM TODO EL MUNDO
IS OUT FEBRUARY 18, 2022
After releasing three critically acclaimed singles, Austin based artist Kiko Villamizar is ready to release his new album Todo El Mundo, on February 18th, 2022. His three singles; the title track, "Tuya Tuyita" and "Sembra el Maiz" (each with stunning music videos) have all garnered attention from tastemaker media outlets including the New York Times, Austin Chronicle, Remezcla, Sounds and Colours, Rhythm Passport, Medium's Pop Off, radio airplay from KUTX and KEXP, and international press from El Espectador, Latin Radio, and La Nota.
Kiko Villamizar was born in Miami to Colombian parents and was taken to Colombia as a child and raised on a coffee farm where he learned Colombian folk music through oral tradition with his family. He studied jazz in Miami, then began traveling, collecting melodies and rhythms that make for a genuine world class fusion of Colombian rhythms. After studying jazz in Miami, he began traveling, collecting melodies and rhythms that make for a genuine world class fusion of Colombian rhythms. Kiko's debut album, La Remolacha was released in March of 2015 on Peligrosa Records. It is a beautiful collage of Latin American and Caribbean rhythms . It's element is Earth. The sophomore release Aguas Frías (also on Peligrosa 2017), transports you to the Colombian Andes and Caribbean with traditional Afro-Colombian drums and the Indigenous Colombian "gaita" flutes meshed with a full psychedelically electric 8 piece band. The element of that album is of course, Water. With his upcoming album Todo El Mundo, Kiko carries the traditions of his ancestors but moves forward more into the future. With a minimalist and transformative approach, the element of this album is Wind!
Kiko expresses, "I feel like on this album, I really accomplished everything I wanted. I got a bit more psychedelic. Especially with the electric guitar pedals. It is the first time I really deal with tone. That being said, instead of imitate other guitarists psychedelic sound with the same pedals, I am just imitating the sound of the forest in Colombia, where nature itself is the trip."
The album was recorded at Kiko's WEPA Studios (www.wepaestudios.com) in South Austin. In 2019 he founded a non-profit cultural arts center that teaches performing arts, visual arts, and studio engineering that included WEPA Studios. The album was then mixed at at Lechehouse Studios by Beto Martinez (Grupo Fantasma, Brownout, Money Chicha, The Los Sundowns) in Buda, TX.
Kiko is very proud of his upcoming album stating, "I would like to share the story of this word cumbia. I would love to give a platform to all the elders and the youth of all the communities that share this music as a cultural common denominator. And I would like to contribute to this tradition called cumbia within an emerging subgenre called tropical futurism." He adds, "The underlying theme of the album is immigration. The concept of todo el mundo, much like the title track."
The first single and title track "Todo el Mundo" means everyone, but it also means all the world. And we "The Earth" are one organism that is itself migrating at an alarming speed through the Universe which is itself migrating. Kiko elaborates, "The inspiration behind the single and album title was the need to process and artistically vocalize what was happening with the families separated and caged by our government. 'Todo El Mundo' is about how everyone and every creature not only has the right to migrate, but that is the permanent state of all things. To change and migrate. The folks being jailed for being in America, are mostly specifically Native Americans. So, if the irony isn't being caught by folks, I figured I would illustrate it with a Claymation video." The video (https://youtu.be/wJIx2GRF6ZE) won an award for "Best Music Video" at the Lost River Film Festival. The second single "Tuya Tuyita" is an internal dialogue about taking responsibility for Kiko's own life. Tuya means yours, Tuyita is tuya with a diminutive suffix to create the new word 'little yours.' Kiko adds, "No matter what I have to deal with, I want to leave behind any victim mentality that might be my own obstacle in contending with the other obstacles in my life. It is to remind myself that while my traumas are not my fault, it is my life and nobody else's to make it better." He continues, "This is not to say that everything is okay in society, as there are things to correct. Nobody has the right to tell another about their boot straps. But I have expectations for myself in the universal barter with mother nature." The single also includes a fantastic music video to accompany it (https://youtu.be/BbXQw3y-6cs).
The third single "Sembra el Maiz," according to Kiko is a message to my children to not give up planting seeds when things get hard. One day those seeds will bear fruit." The song speaks of the times from the global climate crisis to political unrest to a global pandemic. The video (https://youtu.be/PQSB-HlXcso) also portrays the message through psychedelic visuals, animation, and stunning fluorescent effects. One of the beautiful things about Kiko's music are the narratives behind each song. For example, "Flor de Maracuyá" is a song about Kiko's front yard and its entire ecosystem. He states, "So I do not mow it or cut down the trees because I enjoy all the critters living there. One critter I love a lot are the passion flowers in my yard. They are pretty invasive and like to take over, so people hate them, but they are one of the most beautiful flowers in the world. Plus they remind me of home in Colombia, where a lot of flowers look like they're from outer space. So this song Is dedicated to flowers nobody wants." On a darker tone, the song "Tiempo de los Cucuyos" asks "What are we going to do if The pandemic was just a dry run for everything collapsing? What are we going to do in the time when the only lights will be the fireflies? It questions the sustainability of a consumer society."
During the pandemic, Kiko also picked up stand-up comedy, and has been able to showcase another side to his art. He is currently booking shows throughout Texas and beyond, and his comedy side complements his music side nicely, as fans of each discipline are starting to discover both sides to him.
Kiko concludes, "It is amazing to be alive. I want to reciprocate with mother earth and show my gratitude . My obstacles cannot have my energy, for it is mine minesita."