Committed to continuing his personal and artistic journey, Diego Marulanda’s fifth album is the result of a diverse set of fruitful changes experienced in recent years. Integrating his passion with Latin American folklore rhythms with an ongoing fascination with contemporary rhythms such as reggae, hip hop, rap and electronica, this album blends these elements in creative and original ways.

Marulanda’s instrumental experimentation breaks away from conventional musical arrangements. As such, his music presents a new story – one that shares with his audience the intersection of the different worlds he has travelled through his life. Wanting to merge his Colombian and Canadian musical identities, Pacha Mama introduces a hip hop flavour pushed by the cuatro and pan flutes that drive the melodic rhythms in reggae-infused songs like El Rubusque and El Amor Es Lo Que Vale. Recreating instrumental partnerships, Cúspide represents a fusion of charango with electric guitars, the latter replacing the Tarka flutes that are typically used in the traditional rhythm and dance of the Andean region, Diablada.

And yet Marulanda's musical explorations move further, manifesting into Rueda la bolita. The reflective, ironic, and nostalgic turns of his compositions combine both the romantic poetry and acute political and social sensitivities his fans have always admired. Through his songwriting, Marulanda shares with his audiences stories of current social and political realities, combining these with critical assessments of different social movements. It is this that led him to name his new album "The ball is rolling" which, he points out in the song Jazmine (named after “Arab spring” or “Jazmine revolution”), is the dynamic "rolls, rolls, rolls the word" social movements like this can create – popular consensus strengthened by a people’s heart can result in the achievement of profund cultural transformations.

However, the key ingredient of Diego Marulanda’s great adventure is found in the trust, connection, and love of those who made it possible. To his friends and musicians that – from beginning to end – accompanied, enriched, and strengthened his magical request that allows us to dream "that a better world, is possible"!

That's why I’m telling you ... The ball is rolling!.  Carmen Ocampo