Bogotá based Tropical futurists Rizomagic unveil their interplanetary mission to combine futurist technology with cosmic patterns, traditional rhythms and the woozy manipulations of pitched-down Cumbia Rebajada. Rizomagic are Edgar Marún and Diego Manrique, who met in 2020 while studying double bass and composition (respectively) at university in their hometown of Bogota. After finding a shared musical taste, they started producing music together during the first lockdown, swiftly producing and releasing a first album (Voltaje Raizal). As things opened up they continued to produce together and play in various projects within Bogotá’s burgeoning underground scene.

Cumbión Planetario was produced over a three-month residency at La Becque in Switzerland, perched in the Alps overlooking Lake Geneva. According to Diego “Nature, and especially birdsongs, guided us in finding melodies. On the album, you will find melodies that are birdsongs heard daily in La Becque, which was also a strong influence on composers such as Olivier Messiaen and of many cumbia composers as Andres Landero (Example: La Pava Congona).”

This music was made with a tuning system that contains pure intervals and is based on planetary tuning, specifically the frequency of an Earth day as calculated by Swiss physicist Hans Cousto. Also with analog gear recorded at SMEM and digital instruments created by Rizomagic using soundscapes.