María Mandinga's "Gastro Urbano" aims to put the ROCK back into Colombian Rock while marking a departure from the musical stylizations of Colombia's leading mainstream artists. "Gastro Urbano", as its name infers, is an exploration of sound, tastes, imagery and attitudes; an original mixture of subtlety, crudeness, angst and joy culminating in an explosion of the senses. Taking its name from a character in one of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez's novels, María Mandinga hails from the sidewalks of Colombia's main industrial center, Medellín. Their music is without borders; a journey of musical elements which stretches from Colombia to the United States passing through Mexico, Cuba and Senegal along the way. Through their songs, the members of María Mandinga explore themes of fear (Aracnofobia), addiction (Antídoto), self-discovery (Despertar), heartbreak (Ana, Talvez), joy (María Mandinga), jealousy (Dónde estás mi negra), love (Negra de mis ojos) and despair (Revólver), some of the main ingredients of daily modern urban life in Colombia and throughout the world. For this their first release, María Mandinga enlisted the services of an international cast of musicians. During the recording process, the vocal and maracón skills of Mayté Montero (Carlos Vives), percussive command of Jean Paul Garcés (Cabas) and keyboard sensibilities of Luis Sandoval joined forces with Eric Rigler's (of Titanic and Braveheart fame) Irish Uillean pipe artistry and the fiery, yet evocative electric guitar wails of Mike Hoffmann (ex-Tony Williams, Ed Mann) all under the unobtrusive guidance of Los Angeles-based producer Alberto López and his Bogotá-based musical cohort, Luis Enrique Olejua. The result is a musical recipe of urban proportions, able to be felt in concrete jungles worldwide. TECH NOTES: MARIA MANDINGA is: Natalia Serna - Vocals Andrés Aguirre - Electric Bass and Background Vocals Marlon Bedoya - Electric Guitar David Molina - Drums GUEST MUSICIANS Mayté Montero - Background Vocals (4,6,9) and Maracón (4) Jean Paul Garcés - Afro-Colombian Percussion (4) Tatiana "La Ñarria" Carvajal - Background Vocals (4,6,9) Luis Sandoval - Additional Keyboards (2,4), Sound FX (4) Eric Rigler - Uillean Pipes (3) Mike Hoffmann - Additional Electric Guitars (1,3) Alberto López - Arrangements (all), Percussion (all) and Keyboards (2,3,4,9) Luis Enrique Olejua - Arrangements (all), Acoustic Guitar (all), Additional Electric Guitars (8) and Keyboards (9) Produced by Alberto López for Belú Music Co-Producer: Luis Enrique Olejua Recorded and Mixed by Andrés Landínez Mastered by Víctor García for Belú Music Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Afro-Colombian Percussion and Drums recorded live in Estudios AudioVisión (Bogotá) on June 16-19, 2004 Assistant Recording Engineer (Estudios AudioVisión): Francisco Casas Percussion (Alberto López) recorded at Belú Studios by Andrés Landínez Additional Electric Guitars (Mike Hoffmann), Uillean Pipes and all Keyboards were recorded at Belú Studios (Los Angeles) by Alberto López All songs by María Mandinga ©2004 Belú Music Publishing (ASCAP) Visit us at: www.mariamandinga.com Also see: www.belumusic.net