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Tostao Wants to Take Afro Colombian ‘Ritmo Exótico’ Global

Tostao wants to take Afro Colombian music and ritmo exótico global

The multi-time Latin Grammy winner (real name: Carlos Valencia) went back to his native Chocó, in Colombia’s Pacific Coast, and then to Medellín, where he and a group of producers, writers and artists began to create. Like Alvarez, Tostao, who is also Black, has long been committed to celebrating his Afro Colombian culture, and with ChocQuibTown, he – along with ex wife Goyo and Slo — was able to create an international hip-hop sound that incorporated the most local subgenres of Colombia’s Pacific coast. To get his mix of sounds just right, Tostao moved from Miami to Medellín, which has world-class recording studios, but is also home to a big population of musicians from Chocó, all of them Black.

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