Chambao

It was early in 2007 when La Mari (voice and soul of Chambao) began to get some ideas together to start writing songs for their new album. Following the band's long and successful international tour of their last album Pokito a poko, she had a lot to talk about: their travels and collaborations as well as their personal experiences.

La Mari is synonymous with Chambao. "I love crossbreeding music and I love experimenting with a mix of flamenco and electronica. Con otro aire is my personal take on other influences and places, like Africa," says La Mari in a summary of the new album. She has been completely involved in the whole process of the creation of the album, from composition to production. It is perhaps her biggest achievement, and the first time she has taken on the challenge of creating an album almost single-handedly. The songs talk of comings and goings both in terms of movement across continents and movement of thoughts and feelings in the mind, wanting to tell the world how thankful she feels at this stage in her life. "A better world is possible if you start by looking at yourself", says La Mari.

With their last album Pokito a poko, Chambao toured the world, broadening the group's international appeal. Latin America, Europe, The United States and more, the album was released in more than 20 countries and spent over 70 weeks in the Spanish album chart and was certified Platinum. "In music there are no borders, no barriers, no races, no religions," says Lamari. "It became more and more obvious during Chambao's last tour, where we toured half the world for two years. We felt just as at home and were received just as warmly in Puerto Rico as in Bulgaria, in Miami as in London, in Milan as in Caracas."

It was a confirmation of one of the most solid and enduring careers in Spanish music. Chambao had surprised people with their debut on the album Flamenco Chill (2002), before establishing themselves in a big way with their next releases, Endorfinas en la mente (2004), Pokito a poko (2005), the live DVD Chambao puro (2006) and the best-of compilation Canminando 2001-2006. Now it is time for Con otro aire, their new album with 12 songs which were conceived with the purpose of crossing borders. Chambao are back with Con otro aire.

Con otro aire arrives at a great time for Chambao, after gaining significant international recognition, the most recent example of which is the 2007 Latin Grammy nomination for Song of the Year for Lamari and Ricky Martin's duet, "Tu recuerdo."