18 June 6-12, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | News | letters | coNteNts | Oui, Monsieur! Monsieur Periné returns to Miami Beach for Bolero Apocalíptico Tour. BY YUVAL OFIR M y first encounter with Mon- sieur Periné was at the Vir- ginia Key Grassroots Music Festival in 2014, where I was directing the live arts pro- gramming. The duo struck a chord with me, and I’ve followed their trajectory ever since. The Colombian band, helmed by vocalist Catalina García and multi-instrumentalist Santiago Prieto, has earned plenty of acco- lades along the way, including the trophy for “Best New Artist” and a nomination for “Al- bum of the Year” at the 2015 Latin Grammys, with further nominations for “Song of the Year,” “Record of the Year,” and “Album of the Year” in 2018. The duo’s latest album, Bolero Apocalíptico, also won “Best Alterna- tive Music Album” at the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards. Monsieur Periné will kick off the U.S. leg of its Bolero Apocalíptico Tour on May 25 in Sacramento, eventually making its way down to the Miami Beach Bandshell on Saturday, June 8. The self-described “gypsy-jazz” outfit of- ten collaborates with a rotating cast of musi- cians while writing and recording songs and on tour. Bolero Apocalíptico, produced by five-time Grammy winner Rafa Sardina, fea- tures contributions from the likes of Brazilian reggae band Natiruts, French-Chilean vocal- ist Anita Tijoux, and Puerto Rican musicians Guaynaa and Pedro Capó. Still, after all these years, García and Prieto don’t take them- selves all too seri- ously, something that the band’s name points to. (Monsieur Periné roughly translates to “Mister Taint.”) “We were mocking the snobbish attitude we found in Latin America, that as- sumed that any- thing from abroad, especially Europe, was bet- ter or more elegant than our own native cul- tural offerings,” Prieto tells New Times over the phone. It was while reading one of author Michel Houellebecq’s books, in which sexual scenes are represented in very detailed terms, that Prieto first encountered the French word for perineum. From there, the “monsieur” was added for extra class, in effect making it a subtle punchline hiding in plain sight. As much as the duo seem to share a dis- taste for the establishment, a strong under- current of optimism runs through everything they do. Prieto describes how “as musicians, we work with vibrations, with sounds, and can easily see the effect that music has on people, and how it transforms their lives and their souls. We know that the ultimate goal is love in the craft of music and in life. Living in love and gratitude.” “It’s just like life. You have to live it, to ex- perience it,” García adds. “You may think it’s one way, but life comes with a lot that can’t be told beforehand, so you have to embrace and experience it in order to understand how to love and be loved.” The pair has found a way to translate this idea of love, which comes in many forms son- ically, personifying the concept of genre-de- fying. Their catalogue incorporates sounds like gypsy jazz, bossa nova, reggae, salsa romántica, and other styles from South and Central America and the Caribbean. Picking out songs individually from their repertoire, you could attribute them to totally different artists, but they manage to all maintain a commonality that is uniquely their own. It’s something that Prieto attributes to the duo’s lived experiences. “Colombia being culturally diverse, and also looking beyond our borders — like gyp- sies migrating without borders, we like this eclectic way of living and making music,” he adds. Given all the buzz around artificial intelli- gence and its impacts on various industries, including music, the band doesn’t seem all that worried about it. “I haven’t used it a lot, but I think it could be useful to maybe create new sounds when you’re stuck on something or things like that, but I think it never can approach the emo- tional or soulful part of music,” Prieto shares. García adds, “It’s so hard to find human emotion in AI expressions. For me, it’s not even close.” Still, the two remain curious to see how the technology develops as a tool to facilitate the process of creating music but are skepti- cal that it will ever be able to truly replicate the human experience. Maybe it speaks to this ineffable human quality, but García and Prieto have culti- vated a global community behind them. From their travels and ties to various cities, they continue to connect with like-minded souls. Whether it’s for collaborations in cre- ating music or sold-out shows, Catalina says they “always find the time to stay and not just go to play but also create” while they’re traveling. Monsieur Periné’s music is delightful to listen to in any medium but make it a point to see the pair live. See if you can tap into their vibration for yourself. Monsieur Periné. 8 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Mi- ami Beach; miamibeachbandshell.com. Tickets cost $53.56 via dice.fm. [email protected] ▼ Music Monsieur Periné Photo by Raul Higuera AS MUCH AS THE DUO SEEM TO SHARE A DISTASTE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT, A STRONG UNDERCURRENT OF OPTIMISM RUNS THROUGH EVERYTHING THEY DO.
