The Panorama Lighthouse is a section that is responsible for highlighting the most important releases in Ibero-America and is published simultaneously in all the media that make up the alliance, thus multiplying its reach and visibility. Every delivery updates us on the struggles in each of our countries, currently going through the reality of COVID-19, and on the news of their musical ecosystems. As we always say, there is much to discover out there. If you want to know what the region sounds like today, this is the place and the time.

Lighthouse is composed of IndieToday (Argentina), sounds from here (Bolivia), Scream&Yell (Brazil), shock (Colombia), Magazine AM:PM (Cuba),  POTQ (Chili), Sound World and Construction Area (Spain), Indie Rocks! (Mexico), Rock Achorao' (Peru) and Piiila (Uruguay). It also works to create original and innovative content, as well as various activities that serve to break down borders and build bridges between the different countries of Ibero-America.

Bolivia

Por Duck Peters/ Sounds from Here

With a significant reduction in COVID-19 cases nationwide -after reaching the highest peaks of the pandemic in January 2022- and while attention was focused on the Carnival celebrations, little by little the movement began to be reactivated, with a few presentations of local artists in the main cities of the country. The restrictions on capacity and circulation were gradually lifted, and thanks to the authorization for massive activities, urban music artists such as Rauw Alejandro, Tini Stoessel and Jhay Cortez made their debut on Bolivian stages, as did DJs Bhaskar and Layton Giordani. Several of these international names came together at the Nonstop the Madness festival in the city of Cochabamba, taking advantage of the Carnival holidays to bring together close to 20 thousand people on each of the three days of its third version.

Although Bolivian artists did not return with concerts, there was activity in terms of record releases and singlesHere we mention some of the most outstanding ones.      

Mila Magal, a singer-songwriter from Santa Cruz with Brazilian roots, released her first EP, a four-song work of the same name that has been in the works for quite some time. With a pop sound, quite fresh and digestible, flirting at times with reggae, the mini album includes two previously promoted songs, Essential, April 2021, and A coffee which was released in January of this year. The EP will mark the end of an era for Magal, February artist for Sonidos de acáwho has already written several of the songs that will be part of a new collection. 

"An introduction to feminisms", words of rapper Jane de la Cruz to present her new collection of songs. With seven tracks, Ojitos de guapurú was released on February 18, addressing social issues from a gender perspective, seeking reflection, dialogue, dance and enjoyment. The material recorded and produced in Rio de Janeiro by Brazilians IYFFE and Daniel Sydens is the best work of the artist from Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Speaking of racism, objectification of women, sexual diversity and even ancestry, Jane de la Cruz justifies her proposal as a spiritual and socio-political necessity.    

The New York duo Blssom, led by the Bolivian singer Paty Cornejo, offers a new version of Vasthe hit song from 2021, featuring Colombian soloist Junior Zamora on vocals. The electropop sound of the original was swapped for a sophisticated approach that flirts with R&B, soul and jazz. The song arrives in time for Blssom's debut at the Vive Latino festival, performing in Mexico City on March 19. 

After bringing us Songs in the BunkerIn February, Mateo Cuiza, the young singer-songwriter from Santa Cruz, released the first sample of a new EP to be released on March 25. I wait you outside is the first promo of The foam of the daysand presents a different sound facet of the soloist based in La Plata, Argentina.  

After a 10-year separation, the successful La Paz band Quirquiña announced its return shortly before the pandemic, having to postpone all concert plans for more than a year, due to the confinement and restrictions on public performances in the country. Finally, in September 2021, with its most celebrated line-up, the band returned to the stage with a tour that had it playing twenty concerts in the country. shows in six cities in Bolivia. In February, the quintet published Incurable, live song that comes out of that tourrecorded in the first two dates at the Alberto Saavedra Pérez Municipal Theater in the city of La Paz. 

La Perla Andina, a self-managed urban music production company, released its first compilation, a 10-track material with various artists from the paceño underworld. Under the production of Oscar Illescas, better known by his stage name Caballo en L, the album entitled The Confederation Vol.1 is the first work planned for 2022, and had a couple of official presentations at the government headquarters, in which most of the artists involved participated. Available on streamingThe album travels between rap, trap, cumbia and reggaeton.   

Imaina, the soloist from La Paz based in Belgium, has not stopped releasing music since the end of 2019, whether it be singles, videos, collaborations or an EP, and this 2022 she began releasing Heart, her first song entirely in Spanish, after having composed in English, French and a mixture of the three languages. Inspired by a recent personal situation, the singer continues to develop her proposal as one of the most important pop artists of the new generation of Bolivian artists.  

After surprising us at the end of 2021 with LateThe collaboration between Santa Cruz musicians Jiréh Johnson and Oliver Hoss presented its second song, anticipating the release of an album in the coming months. With a more upbeat sound than its predecessor, Simp moves away from dream pop and brings a proposal that at times is reminiscent of some post-Britpop bands.   

Rapper Juan Rafael Coronado, better known as Corona, shared his first new track in two years, after the successful Boliganga and JBL. It is a new version of a song from a couple of years ago that had the singer from Santa Cruz collaborating with Yimbo, who once again participates in the recording 2022. Premiered on Valentine's Day, I feel bad shows a more sentimental side of the artist with a past in the hip hop group Cruz Santa.

The national metal was represented with the new song of the Korean-Bolivian musician and producer So Myung Jung, who with his project SMJ released a new song after a couple of years. singles launched in mid-2021. For Imminent The album counted with the collaboration in vocals and composition of Mauro Zapata, an experienced local singer who is currently a member of the band Axioma and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. 

In cinema, two debut films by Bolivian directors won international awards. Utamaby Alejandro Loayza Grisi, received the Grand Jury Prize in the Drama category at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, which for the moment was released only in the United States, will arrive in Latin America and Spain in August. For its part, Gem mantleby Natalia López, a Bolivian filmmaker based in Mexico City, was awarded the Silver Bear - Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival; the Mexican film does not yet have a release date in the region.  

Bolivian literature arrived once again at the Ribera del Duero International Prize, an event organized by the Ribera del Duero Denomination of Origin and the publishing house Páginas de Espuma. Following in the footsteps of Venezuelan-Bolivian Magela Baudoin in 2020, You shine in the dark by Santa Cruz writer Liliana Colanzi is a finalist in a nomination shared with works by Mexico's Laura Baeza, Argentina's Marina Closs, Chile's Maria José Navía and Cuba's Pedro Juan Gutiérrez. The winning manuscript will be announced on March 24.    

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