Steam Down’s founder Ahnansé and Mambo Negro Records founder Daniel Michel lead the groundbreaking British-Colombian ensemble Mestizo making their live London debut in La Linea.

Mestizo artfully mix Colombian traditions of currulao and cumbia with hip-swaying salsa, head-nodding rap verses, shards of electronica and jazz improvisation. Bringing the London scene’s knack for genre-hopping to bear on a new realm of kinetic sounds, Indigenous traditions are blended with British diaspora music, producing a fusion of Afro-Caribbean rhythms, UK rap flair and percussive intensity. “We bounced off each other seamlessly, drawing on connections from the Afro-Latin culture that we have in London, as well as exploring new avenues of UK hip-hop and Colombian folk instruments,” says Ahnansé.  “It is in the blood of Colombian music to improvise with tradition and so we connected instantly with our different styles,” agrees Daniel, “by the end we all spoke through the music.”

The culmination of their efforts now comes in their uniquely energetic self-titled debut album, Mestizo, on Mais Um on 5 May 2023.

“It’s in the name itself, since Mestizo means ‘mixed’ and is a term for people of mixed heritage in Colombia,” Ahnansé says. “The purpose of the project is to see what you can build from a cultural mix, to create a musical family between countries that means even though we don’t share the same language, when we play music together, we are speaking to each other.”