Sergent Garcia Album Release PR

Cumbancha Presents:
UNA Y OTRA VEZ – TIME AND TIME AGAIN
THE MAGNIFICENT RETURN OF SERGENT GARCIA
The salsa-reggae superstar solidifies his legacy and
explores exciting new directions with guests from
Colombia's scorching electrotropical music scene.
Europe Release Date: March 21, 2011
US/Canada/Latin America Release Date: May 17, 2011
For more information, review copies, song lyrics & descriptions, interviews,
photographs and other support materials, etc. please contact:
Simeon Chapin * Tel: +1 (802) 425-2118 * Fax: +1 (866) 340-0054
[email protected]
www.cumbancha.com / www.sergentgarcia.com
Press Kit: http://www.cumbancha.com/sergentgarcia/press
February 2, 2011 – Sergent Garcia, a heavyweight in the European mestizo music scene, is set to release his first fulllength album in five years with the groundbreaking Una y Otra Vez (Time and Time Again). A pioneer in blending the
fiery Caribbean sounds of salsa, reggae, ska and dancehall with a punk attitude and continental style, Sergent Garcia's
latest musical adventure finds him traveling to Colombia to dive into what is currently the epicenter of some of the
world's hottest sounds. Scheduled for release on March 21st in Europe and May 17st in the rest of the world, Una y
Otra Vez marks this former rocker's return to his independent roots with a new global label partner, Cumbancha, and a
renewed creative energy.
With the release of five critically-acclaimed and top-selling albums with Virgin/EMI from 1997 to 2006, Sergent Garcia's
appealing "salsamuffin" hits and crowd-pleasing live shows helped him become a leading figure in the Latin Alternative
movement and one of the biggest Latin music stars in Europe, Latin America and beyond.
But before he returned to his Latin roots and took on the debonair identity of Sergent Garcia, Bruno Garcia was a star in
the 80s and 90s French punk and indie rock scene with his band Ludwig von 88. From punk, Bruno moved on to reggae
with the successful Sergent Garcia sound system. Then his musical wanderings led him to Cuba and the exciting and
infectious grooves of Latin music.
The honest blending of cultures is nothing new to Bruno. Born to a Basque Spanish father and a French mother, and with
family connections to Algeria and the Ivory Coast, his early years took him to live in Bilbao, Spain before settling in Paris
when he was five years old. The fat, awkward and drunken Sergent Garcia was Zorro's bumbling nemesis on a TV show
popular when Bruno was a child, and he was often taunted with this nickname in the schoolyard. Rather than fight it, he
began to like the idea of taking on the name of the anti-hero. "If everyone wants to be Zorro," explains Bruno, "I will be
Sergent Garcia. I think he’s the real man of the people, not Zorro. Zorro is just an aristocratic landlord."
It was during his 2005 tour of South America that Bruno had a chance to discover the wealth of Colombia's music scene
first-hand. "Colombia is incredible. There were very good bands playing every day in the streets, in the bars, every place;
a lot of different styles, a lot of people making music, making art, it was all very, very interesting," says Bruno, "And the
people, the vibration of the people is incredible." While in Colombia, Bruno worked with Sidestepper's Richard Blair on
a five-track EP entitled Cumbiamuffin. After that experience, Bruno knew then that he must return to produce an album
featuring Colombian musicians and styles, and thus the Una y Otra Vez (Time and Time Again) project was born.
The album was recorded in different segments and in various locations. First, Bruno and Ivan Darroman Montoya, a
Cuban percussionist in the Sergent Garcia band and co-producer of the group's albums for the past ten years, began
developing the arrangements and structures of the songs in Valencia, Spain, Bruno's current hometown. They took these
sketches to Paris where they recorded the basic tracks with the rest of the Sergent Garcia band.
Finally, Bruno headed to Colombia where he worked with a range of local musicians he met during his travels, including
Jacobo Velez, clarinetist and director of the cutting-edge band La Mojarra Eléctrica, Erika Muñoz, one of the lead
singers of electrotropical pioneers Sidestepper, musicians from La-33, Colombia's top young salsa band, Liliana
Saumet, the lead singer of Bomba Estéreo and many others. "With this record I wanted to play with all these musicians
because they are really young all-stars of Colombia," notes Bruno.
The uplifting title track "Una y Otra Vez" encourages people to find light and hope among the daily struggles of life and
to fight against mental and economic oppression. "And even though we fall a thousand and one times," sings Sergent
Garcia, "We will be born again with even more strength time and time again." It’s a message that speaks to Sergent
Garcia's own experiences in recent years as he struggled with the challenges of the music industry and the battle to
regain his inspiration.
On the song "Yo Soy Salsamuffin" (I Am Salsamuffin), which is being promoted as the first single from the album, Spanish
reggae-ragga singer Supa Bassie lays out the inspirations of Sergent Garcia's multicultural sound. "Cumbia, ragga,
dancehall with son / A tasty mix of rhythms carried by this song / Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica in combination / With
the Mediterranean making the connection / Uptown, downtown, the party has started / From Valencia to Bogota
passing through Guantánamo / From Monterrey to the DF through beautiful Jalisco / From Santiago to Havana passing
by Kingston." The energizing music video for "Yo Soy Salsamuffin" was shot on location in the streets of Bogota and on a
"chiva rumbera", the mobile salsa dance clubs in colorfully painted buses that circle through many Colombian cities.
"Chacun Son Combat" (Everyone Has Their Battles) mixes rocking electric guitar riffs with a boogaloo groove and blazing
horns. The song tells an autobiographical story about the international rebel musician. Bruno confides, "Today, everyone
has their battles / Everyone their family, everyone their mafia / My turf is Paris, Kingston, Kinshasa / My turf is the smile of
a little brother anywhere." Over the heavy beats and Balkan-flavored brass of "Ojos Inocentes" (Innocent Eyes) Bruno
sings, "Lend me your innocent eyes / To see beyond the horizon / Where man is born free and lives free / And is not
afraid of death."
As he's proven time and time again, Sergent Garcia has never been one to let struggle stop the party. On his duet with
Bomba Estereo singer Liliana Saumet, titled "Mi Son Mi Friend" (My Sound My Friend), the two boast over a heavy
electro-cumbia beat of their powerful sound's ability to blast down boundaries. "My dancehall reggae is a lethal weapon
/ My sound, my friend, rips it up anywhere / No one can resist, it has no rival / This music kills ignorance / We only want
wisdom to grow / That’s why, my friend, we’re planting the seed / Dance, dance. I'll blow your mind."
"Vasito de Agua" (Little Glass of Water) continues the journey through Colombia's musical and cultural landscape with a
turn towards the country's Pacific coast. The traditional polyrhythm includes Afro-Colombian percussion blended with
accordion along with the voice of La Mojarra Eléctrica singer Marlen Obregón, a native of the Pacific region. Echos of
the Colombian gaita flute reverberate in Jacobo Velez's clarinet, while Bruno and Marlen sing of mysticism and prayers
inspired by Native American and Afro-Caribbean cultures.
"El Baile del Diablo" (The Dance of the Devil) features a guest appearance by Rocca of the massive Colombian rap group
Tres Coronas. The funky, Spanish Harlem groove decries the tricks and lies of politicians and world leaders. It’s the type of
hard-edged social commentary that has often made an appearance in Sergent Garcia's work.
Sergent Garcia doesn't abandon his reggae roots on this album however, and tracks such as "Meme Si" (Even If) and
"Brujeria" (Witchcraft) will satisfy fans of roots reggae with a Spanish "sabor". Sergent Garcia also proves his mastery at
traditional Afro-Cuban rumba with "En Mi Mochila" (In My Backpack) and even tackles a romantic bolero for the first time
on "Bolero Nuevo" (New Bolero), although he can't resist cranking it into an upbeat ska rhythm halfway through. The
album as includes the smooth R&B / soul vibe of "To Mi To Mi" and the fun Latin ska "Acho Bai Bai."
With a plethora of standout tracks, Una y Otra Vez is an album that will surely be considered Sergent Garcia's best work to
date. Bruno Garcia is as fired up and excited as he's ever been and looking forward to bringing this exciting new project
to the world. "This record is about to be released and I can’t wait for spring to start promoting it," states Bruno, "You are
not getting rid of me. I am going to be here nagging." The same is true of Sergent Garcia's band, which will be touring
across Europe, the USA and Latin America from the end of March until October 2011.