Een van de aardigste verrassingen uit de Colombiaanse muziekscène is Monsieur Periné. Dit septet uit Bogota haalt haar inspiratie uit muziek van Django Reinhardt en Frankrijk uit de jaren 1930.

"On a bevy of acoustic instruments – including the ukulele-like charango, guitar, melodica, flute, clarinet, percussion, and upright bass – Monsieur Periné mixes swinging gypsy jazz with a sprinkling of pan-Latin sounds such as son, tango, and samba. The result is something the band has dubbed “suin a la colombiana” (“Colombian swing”). The group’s vibe is always bouncy and fun, and the musicianship of its members is impressive to say the least. 

What’s amazing is that Monsieur Periné isn’t just some obscure jazz-school nerdery. They’ve made big strides at home in Colombia, earning radio play and marquee billing at major music festivals, not to mention a sizable online following. In part, that’s because they balance their high-concept musical fusions with a spot-on pop sensibility. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re an extraordinarily good looking bunch. In addition to the array of shaggy-haired and mustachioed young men playing the instruments, frontwoman Catalina Garcia is pretty much the dictionary definition of cute."