La Mambanegra (The Black Mamba) is a powerfull latin music orchestra. Its venom is made of 70s NYC Salsa and elements of Jamaican and Colombian music, Funk and Hip Hop music.
Inspired by the story of an anonymous and mythical heroe of the Barrio Obrero, a popular neighborhood of Cali, who had a series of fantastic advendtures in his hometown, La Habana and New York, this orchestra brings a new concept of Salsa and Latin Music to the world.
Highlighted as one of the 5 Colombian bands you need to know by Billboard, La Mambanegra played in Colombia along with big acts such as Bomba Estéreo, ChocQuibTown, Pedrina y Rio or Monsieur Périné and just received great reviews of their first album El Callegüeso y su Malamaña (Self produced in Latam, European launch: March 2017, Movimientos records) selected as one of the 10 albums of the year by the #1 weekly newspaper in Colombia – Semana – along with various other medias.
Since the creation of the band in 2012, they played several major gigs like WOMADelaide and WOMAD NZ along with the Perth International Arts Festival and Adelaide Festival (March 2017), the Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL) in Guadalajara, Mexico (Closing concert, December 4, 2016), Tempo Latino in Vic-Feysensac, France (July 31st, 2016), WOMAD in Charlton Park, United Kingdom (July 29th, 2016), the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá (March 12th, 2016), the Festival Toque in Buenos Aires (October 11th, 2015) the Bogota Music Market (September 9th, 2015) and the Festival Internacional de los 7 Mares in Lima (April 26th, 2014) for instance.
Made up of some of Colombia's finest players, the band are the advance guard for the rebirth of Salsa, twisting the genre into the 21st century, their polyrhythmic, horn-heavy and thoroughly modern sound quickly earning them a devoted following across South America and beyond. Led by the relentless energy of Jacobo Velez (once of the equally impressive La Mojarra Electrica), the group combine J.B.’s horns, Fania ferocity and Los Van Van precision with the aggression of Bronx hip-hop and Kingston dancehall.