Camilo: “Curiosity is my only vehicle, my engine”

The Colombian singer Camilo immersed himself in a process of musical exploration driven by curiosity, the best starting point he knows, a journey that took him back to his childhood years and the result of which is ‘cuatro’, his new studio album.

“Curiosity is my vehicle, the only one,” acknowledged the composer Camilo in interview with EFE.

The album, the fourth in his discography, and which was published on Thursday night, offers a tour through a sample of genres and tropical rhythms that refer to those that are anchored in his memory and that were activated after a recent trip to his native Montería, in northern Colombia.

The trigger was a box of tapes (cassettes) that his parents still kept and that contained countless songs that they recorded on the radio at that time, salsa songs, merengue, vallenato, cumbia, among others, and that were the soundtrack of the early years of the singer Camilo.

“What was in those boxes of cassettes was so diverse that they formed the person I am, and I am very grateful that it has been so diverse and so special and particular,” explained the Colombian Camilo.

With this album, recorded and produced at El Taller Creativo, the oasis and new operations center that he has launched in the Little Haiti neighborhood, in Miami (USA), Camilo looks back with the perspective that grants him his new paternity.

His wife, Evaluna Montaner, is months away from giving birth to the new member of the family: Amaranto.

At home and well accompanied

The album ‘cuatro’ is made up of twelve songs, of which in reality only three are new since the rest were brought forward with considerable success, as witnessed by ‘Una Vida Pasado’, a duet with the Mexican regional music singer Carín León, or ‘PLIS’ with Evaluna.

He dedicates one of the new songs to his wife and mother of Índigo and Amaranto, ‘A love song for the Flea’, a heartfelt declaration of love with almost only an acoustic guitar as the only accompaniment.

“She is the most virtuous woman I know, next to my mother. “She is a woman full of talents,” she stated.

The videos that accompany each of the songs on ‘cuatro’ were directed by Evaluna and Saumeth, all of them also recorded in El Taller Creativo, where they also highlight the musical instruments that were part of this process and that were immortalized on the cover of the album.

Camilo confirms having been well accompanied in the making of this album and, in addition to his wife and family, he mentions Frank Fuentes, the percussionist in his band who served as arranger in this production, which was also recorded completely live.

“I feel very proud to have written all the songs, produced all the songs, in the peace of this place, alongside friends who collaborated in each of the sub-processes,” explained the musician.

For the lyrics of some of the songs that make up the album, Camilo joined forces with figures such as the duo Mau and Ricky Montaner, or the renowned producer and composer Edgar Barrera.

“I loved the experience of recording an album of genres that I don’t master, of new genres. “I loved the experience of trusting the elements I have for processes that I had never done before, like fixing winds for example,” he explained.

Next tour of Spain and the United States

From this album, the public already knows 75% of the songs, given that they were published progressively in groups of three songs, presented almost as “musical chapters” that were titled briefly (‘one’, ‘two’ , ‘three’), which have been closed with the publication of the album.

Camilo confesses himself surprised by the reception the releases have had, but this has served to confirm that “almost always things that are explored with honesty and transparency end up touching people in special ways.”

Many of these songs will surely be part of the repertoire of the international tour ‘Our Happy Place’, which will start next June 8 in A Coruña (Spain), from where it will continue in that country for almost a month and a half, on some dates with sold out seats.

“The Spanish public has always received me with great generosity. I hope to be able to return all that love that they have given me through a very beautiful and unforgettable experience,” he confessed.

After a break between July and August due to the expected birth of Amaranto, Camilo will continue his tour with the leg in the United States, which will last more than a month and will begin on September 26 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

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