Bourdain-inspired “Alterego” album

Sinego is paving the way for the emerging Latin electronic music scene. The Colombian producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer traveled to 13 different Latin American countries to fuse local rhythms with house music for his debut album, Altérégô. Now, with the recent release of the techno-infused deluxe edition, Sinego has been on a non-stop world tour with his genre-bending bangers.

“I create bridges that go further than the fusions I make in music,” Sinego explains to Uproxx. “Being someone from Latin America doing this and representing this movement is very important. This album helps show that we can create impact with Latin electronic music.

Sinego was born in Bogota and currently resides in Mexico City. The DJ first became known for his unique blend of house music and romantic Latin American boleros. Sinego transformed age-old classics like “No Soy De Aquí” and “Historia De Un Amor” into mesmerizing dance tracks. After his breakthrough in homemade bolero, he explored countries like Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Cuba and Ecuador for two years to learn about their sounds and create music with musicians local. In the vast and ambitious Sinego AltérégôLatin genres like cumbia, samba, mambo, the Venezuelan variation of calypso, and tango are reimagined through an EDM lens.

Since the album’s release, Sinego has appeared at music festivals like Lightning In A Bottle, EDC Mexico, and Tomorrowland’s Core Medellín Festival. As a member of Diplo’s Higher Ground collective, he also performed at the Brooklyn Mirage in New York. With artists like Sinego making Latin electronic music more visible, the Latin Grammy Awards added a new category this year.

Over Zoom, he spoke with Uproxx about his new album, his love for Anthony Bourdain, and Latinx representation in EDM.

Where did the idea come from to travel across Latin America to create Altérégô?

I was inspired by Anthony Bourdain. He had a really great show where he traveled to all the countries and explored their cultures through food. That’s all I watched as a kid, like Anthony Bourdain having dinner with Barack Obama or Anthony Bourdain in Palestine. With that in mind, I thought there was also a way to explore each country through music, so it was cool to travel to these different countries to discover what makes them unique.

How would you describe the experience of exploring different genres, rhythms and cultures in these 13 countries?

It was amazing because I was able to visit many countries like Cuba and Ecuador, which really shaped a new way of life for me. I feel like it’s a more detached way of living. It’s more about having different experiences and being proud of my culture. It was very enriching for me. Many of these genres are very slow, so adapting them to electronic music has been a real challenge. Now that we’re doing it, I think it’s working really well.

Did the journey you took Altérégô revealing in some way?

It made me feel like we can be proud of our identity. I realized that we can also be proud of our specific genres because international people can connect to our music. For example, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina connect to techno or house music, and places like Belgium and Portugal connect to our genres. This is something worth being proud of.

What is the story behind the song “Benjamin Carrión”?

This is one of my favorite songs to play live. Benjamin Carrión is super interesting because in many Latin American countries you can find statues of him. For example, there is a statue of him in Mexico City behind the Palacio de Bellas Artes, even though he is from Ecuador. He was someone who wrote books, literature and poetry. He also traveled and culturally connected much of the world. He was a very important figure to me during the creation of the album, as was Anthony Bourdain. In addition to working on his art, Benjamin also took it with him to different countries.

How was the song “Mala” born?

When I was exploring Venezuela, I was really struck by the fact that there were so many different genres and rhythms. Some sounds come from the country’s proximity to the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. There is a specific genre called calypso, very unique to Venezuela, which I love. There is also a song called “Woman Del Callao” that Juan Luis Guerra covered. This song has a very weird tone. It’s not like a touch of salsa or bomba or any of those traditional genres. As a drummer, I was very inspired by it. I decided to take this rhythm and make it an electronic piece. The lyrics are about dancing with a girl at night and leaving with her.

What was it like working with Lucy Vives on the song “Hueso”?

Lucy is a very deep soul. She has a very revolutionary feeling in her bones. She is not someone who is content with the status quo of the music industry, so working with her was very exciting. We had to create something that would make her proud and challenge the status quo. It was very nice. She’s a great writer. I think it’s hard to find that in the music industry these days. She’s also someone who models, paints, and directs music videos. She’s an interdisciplinary artist, so it’s a challenge because you also have to reach that level.

Who would you like to collaborate with next?

I would like to work with Hermanos Gutiérrez, Mochakk, Maz, Gustavo Santaolalla, Nicola Cruz and Kerala Dust.

What do you think about the representation of Latin American music, folklore and culture in the EDM space?

It was time to do it. For a long time, European artists sampled a lot of Latin American music, but more credit went to those spaces. It’s a good thing now that Latin America can finally benefit from its music being exported around the world. It’s also a responsibility, because if no one does it, it won’t happen. We need people like me, but we also need people who are different from me, so we have more diversity. We need people to be more proud of their culture and be more reckless when playing live in Europe, Asia and the United States.

What do you think about the Latin Grammy Awards adding the Best Latin Electronic Music Performance category this year?

I think it’s a huge step forward for electronic music made in Latin America. A lot of electronic music created in Latin America was sampled, but it wasn’t recognized. For example, Totó La Momposina made a lot of Colombian tracks that ended up being given to big DJs like Hugel or Diplo, but the recognition that the original artist deserves may not have been completely there. This is an excellent initiative that is happening. Whoever wins, I think it really helps grow the genre. Everyone wins by the existing category.

What can we expect from you next?

There are a lot of collaborations with old but very good artists, like Joan Sebastian and Antonio Aguilar from Mexico, and artists from the salsa world with Fania Records. I was able to take a lot of that old catalog and make electronic music out of it. It’s these collaborations with artists from the 50s and 60s that I think will bring a new wave of freshness to Latin music. I was able to release the rights (for the music) from the families of these artists. Their families are delighted to share old music with this touch of electronic music.

What do you want to achieve next in your music career?

There are a lot of festivals like Tomorrowland that have a lot of history and heritage. Now it’s time for them to start working with more local artists like me. For example, let’s say they bring Tomorrowland to Mexico or Colombia. We should be able to organize our own stages and bring more local flavor to these festivals. The next step is to help these big electronic festivals and names like Circoloco and Tomorrowland connect with a regional crowd. This is the next challenge that I think is very achievable and we are working on it.

What do you see for the future of Latin music in the EDM space?

Sampling Latino artists will continue to be a very hot topic over the next few years across all genres. I think it started with house, but now it’s merging with techno. We see a lot of techno artists fusing high BPM tracks with bachata, for example. Bachata is super fast. There are artists like Proyecto Uno mixed with techno, which was unimaginable 10 years ago. Keinemusic just played in Mexico City and they created a collaboration with Rauw Alejandro, which was unimaginable five years ago. Now this is happening and there are no limits. There will be more samples and Latin music will be used more to bring more energy and freshness to electronic music.