Sinego is leading the way for the emerging Latin electronic music scene. The Colombian producer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer traveled to 13 different countries across Latin America to fuse local rhythms with house music for his debut album, Alterego. Now with the recent drop of the deluxe edition bringing techno into the mix, Sinego has been on a non-stop tour of the world with his genre-bending bangers.
“I’m creating bridges that go further than the fusions I’m doing in music,” Sinego tells Uproxx. “To be someone from Latin America doing this and representing this movement is so important. This album is helping to show that we can create an impact with electronic Latin music.”
Sinego was born in Bogotá and currently resides in Mexico City. The DJ first rose to prominence thanks to his unique blend of house music and Latin America’s romantic boleros. Sinego turned age-old classics like “No Soy De Aquí” and “Historia De Un Amor” into spellbinding dance tracks. Following his house bolero breakthrough, he went on a two-year exploration of countries like Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Cuba, and Ecuador to learn about their sounds and create music with local musicians. In Sinego’s sprawling and ambitious Alterego, Latin genres like cumbia, samba, mambo, Venezuela’s variation of calypso, and tango are re-imagined through an EDM lens.
Since releasing the album, Sinego has appeared at music festivals like Lightning In A Bottle, EDC Mexico, and Tomorrowland’s Core Medellín Festival. As a part of Diplo’s Higher Ground collective, he also performed at the Brooklyn Mirage in New York. With artists like Sinego making Latin electronic music more visible, the Latin Grammy Awards added a new category this year.
Over Zoom, he talked with Uproxx about his new album, his love of Anthony Bourdain, and Latinx representation in EDM.
Where did the idea come from to travel across Latin America to create Alterego?
I was inspired by Anthony Bourdain. He had a very nice show where he traveled to all the countries and explored their cultures through food. That was everything that I watched as a kid, like Anthony Bourdain dining with Barack Obama or Anthony Bourdain in Palestine. With that in mind, I thought there is also a way to explore each country through music, so it was cool to travel to these different countries to find out what makes them unique.
How would you describe the experience of exploring different genres, rhythms, and cultures in these 13 countries?
It was amazing because I was able to visit a lot of countries like Cuba and Ecuador, which really shaped a new way of life for me. I feel like it’s a more detached way of living. It’s more about living different experiences and being proud of my culture. It has been very nurturing for me. A lot of these genres are very slow, so in order to adapt them into electronic music, it was quite a challenge. Now that we’re doing it, I think it’s working out great.
Was the journey you went on for Alterego eye-opening in any way?
It made me feel that we can be proud of our identity. I realized we can also be proud of our specific genres because international people can connect with our music. For example, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina connect with techno or house music, and places like Belgium and Portugal connect with our genres. It’s something worth being proud of.
What’s the story behind the song “Benjamin Carrión”?
It’s one of my favorite songs to play live. Benjamin Carrión is super interesting because in many countries in Latin America, you can find statues of him. For example, there’s a statue of him in Mexico City behind the Palacio de Bellas Artes, even though he is from Ecuador. He was someone that wrote books, literature, and poetry. He also traveled and culturally connected a lot of the world. He was a very important figure for me when I was creating the album, like Anthony Bourdain. Besides working on his art, Benjamin also took it far away with him to different countries.
How did the song “Mala” come together?
When I was exploring Venezuela, I was really impacted by the fact that they had a lot of different genres and rhythms. Some of the sounds come from the country’s proximity to the coast of Trinidad And Tobago. There’s a specific genre called calypso that’s very unique to Venezuela that I love. There’s also a song called “Woman Del Callao” that Juan Luis Guerra had covered. This song has a very weird key. It’s not like a key in salsa, bomba, or any of these traditional genres. Being a drummer, I was very inspired by it. I decided to take that rhythm and make it into an electronic track. The lyrics are about dancing with a girl at night and going with her.
What was it like working with Lucy Vives on the song “Hueso”?
Lucy is a very deep soul. She has a very revolutionary feeling in her bones. She’s not someone that settles for the status quo of the music industry, so working with her was very exciting. We had to make something that made her feel proud and where she’s challenging the status quo. It was very nice. She’s a great writer. I think it’s hard to find that in the music industry nowadays. She’s also someone that models, paints, and directs music videos. She’s an interdisciplinary artist, so it’s challenging because you also have to step up to that level.
Who would you love to collaborate with next?
I would like to work with Hermanos Gutiérrez, Mochakk, Maz, Gustavo Santaolalla, Nicola Cruz, and Kerala Dust.
How do you feel about representing Latin American music, folklore, and culture in the EDM space?
It was time to do it. For a long time, artists from Europe were sampling a lot of music from Latin America, but the credit was going more towards those spaces. It’s good now that Latin America is finally getting the benefits of its music that’s exported worldwide. It’s also a responsibility, because if no one is doing it, then it’s not going to happen. We need people like me, but we also need people who are different from me, so we have more diversity. We need people to be more proud of their cultures and to be reckless when playing live in Europe, Asia, and the US.
What do you think about the Latin Grammy Awards adding the Best Latin Electronic Music Performance category this year?
I think it’s a huge step forward for electronic music made in Latin America. A lot of music made in Latin America with electronic music was being sampled, but it wasn’t being recognized. For example, Totó La Momposina did a lot of tracks from Colombia that ended up being placed with huge DJs like Hugel or Diplo, but the recognition that the original artist deserves maybe wasn’t completely there. It’s an excellent initiative that is happening. Whoever wins, I think it really helps develop the genre. Everyone is winning by the category existing.
What can we expect from you next?
There’s a lot of collaborations coming with old but very good artists, like Joan Sebastian and Antonio Aguilar from Mexico, and artists in the salsa space with Fania Records. I was able to get a hold of a lot of this old catalog and make it into electronic music. It’s these collaborations with artists from the ’50s and ’60s, which I think will bring a new and fresh wave to Latin music. I was able to clear the rights [for the music] with the families of these artists. Their families are excited to share old music with that twist of electronic music.
What do you want to accomplish next in your music career?
There’s a lot of festivals like Tomorrowland that have a lot of history and legacy. Now it’s time for them to start working with more local artists like myself. For example, let’s say they bring Tomorrowland to Mexico or Colombia. We should be able to curate our own stages and bring more of the local flavor to these festivals. The next step is to help these big electronic festivals and names like Circoloco and Tomorrowland connect with a regional crowd. That’s the next challenge that I think is very achievable and we’re working towards it.
What do you see for the future of Latin music in the EDM space?
Sampling Latin artists is going to keep being a very hot topic for the next few years in all genres. I think it started with house, but now it’s fusing into techno. You see a lot of techno artists fusing high-BPM tracks with bachata, for example. Bachata is super fast. There’s artists like Proyecto Uno being mixed with techno, which was unimaginable 10 years ago. Keinemusic just played in Mexico City and they premiered a collaboration with Rauw Alejandro, which was unimaginable five years ago. Now it’s happening and the sky’s the limit. There’s going to be more samples and Latin music is going to be more utilized to bring more energy and freshness to electronic music.