LADAMA: The Pan-Latinx Sound Of Self-Actualization

LADAMA's contemporary blends of Latin American musical traditions have been on our radar since the release of their extraordinary debut album earlier this year. Now, their newest single, "Confesión," is illustrated by a video featuring the highly accomplished musicians, each from four different countries — Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and the U.S. — performing in a white room.

Still based in their respective countries, the members of LADAMA met in 2014 after being selected to take part in a series of cross-genre tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department's OneBeat program. Since, they have continued collaborating, helping to build communities and empower women and youth through music.

Many of the tunes on LADAMA's self-titled debut album fuse soulful pop with traditional genres such as Colombia's cumbia, Brazil's maracatu, and Venezuela's joropo, forming a modern Pan-Latinx sound uniquely theirs. "Confesión" reveals the musical surprises at the center of these crossroads.

Described by LADAMA as a "tender love letter to self-actualization and womanhood," the song's poetic lyrics are framed in Sara Lucas's velvety vocals, adorned with Mafer Bandola's flourishes on the electric bandola (a Venezuelan instrument related to the Persian lute), and rhythmically propelled by Daniela Serna's Afro-Latin percussion on Colombia's tambor alegre in dialogue with Lara Klaus's jazzy, lightly tropical drumming.

The artists individually engage in creative reveries as they pass through ethereal dreamscapes, juxtaposed with them coming together to play music. LADAMA's elegant grooves shimmer and captivate, all the while amplifying women's individual and collaborative creative voices.

As Lucas puts it: "Soy una mujer, tengo sueños..."

LADAMA's self-titled album is available now.

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