In the mountains of the Magdalena, a Colombian province where the jungle plunges into the Carib-bean Sea, the climate is tropical. Sun, heat, clouds, rain, sun, heat, clouds, rain… This is the water cycle that has given rhythm to Jimena Angel’s life since she left her native Bogotá to set up home and her recording studio in lush natural surroundings. Her radiant personality and abundant creativity flourish here.

On her new album, it is the cycle of water that has inspired her to write a metaphor for the ups and downs that make up the spice of life: after the rain comes the fine weather. Singer, composer, songwriter, producer, guitarist and DJ, Jimena Angel embraces every facet of the music that permeates her. We don’t know whether her artistic path is the result of fate or a lucky star.

Growing up in a family with no musicians, she developed a passion for singing at the age of 5 and hasn’t looked back since. She had her path all mapped out for her, and it didn’t matter if her father didn’t like the fact that his daughter, only 16 years old but already a rebel, was burning up her first stages singing the blues in a bar in Bogotá’s megalopolis. The fuse was lit and the bomb, Jimena Angel, exploded in 1995 with the group Pepa Fresa, a pioneer of Colombian rock – imagine Janis Joplin with Led Zeppelin – whose short existence (three and a half years) and one album on Sony Music Colombia leC their mark in LaDn America and the United States. This success catapulted her career and gave her the opportunity to perfect her approach to performing, composing and teamwork.

Now recognised and multi-talented artist, guitarist with the reggae group Alerta Kamarada, she was also hired by English producer and musician Richard Blair to join the Sidestepper collective, a mix of cumbia, salsa and Anglo-Saxon club culture (Jimena sings on the 2004 hit, Más Papaya, and has tou-red extensively in Europe, sharing the stage with Morcheeba and Celia Cruz among others). It was also a time of collaborations with various naDonal groups (Sonorama, Regadera, Blusa, Bla bla blu), but her outspoken personality turned her towards a solo career. Finally signed to Universal Music Mexico, thanks to superstar Juanes, she released her first solo album, Día azul, in 2009, with a pop- rock feel. Recorded with a host of top names, including bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel), it was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the “Best Female Vocal Album of the Year” category, up against contenders such as Natalia Lafourcade, Amaia Montero and Laura Pausini.

Jimena Angel has a festive temperament that has blossomed in her city life. She also lost herself in it. To find herself again, she reconnected with nature, and therefore with herself. This was the inspiration behind Todo Reverdece (Everything Reverts) in 2014, a second solo album that combines electronic productions with Afro-Caribbean rhythms such as Bullerengue and Porro Chocoano. Jimena Angel has now moved back to her native megalopolis and sings the love as much as the risks of monoculture, on instrumentals combining traditional styles with electronic productions, in addition to the Reggae to which she is attached. A string of acclaimed singles and fruitful collaborations followed, including with Brain Damage, a pioneering French Dub group, on four tracks on the album ¡Ya No Más! (2018). In 2020, she released a stunning EP album, Aire, featuring the single Llamameya and contributions from producer iZem and beatmaker Nikitch. This time, it’s clear, Jimena Angel has found her calling.

As enthusiastic, sunny and sparkling as she was in her early days, it’s hard to imagine that Jimena Angel is approaching thirty years in the music business. We’ve never even heard her so creative. While her solo live set, in which she sings to her own compositions, is touring the world, her year 2023 was prolific. She released two irresistible singles, Pambelé orchestrated with US producer and beatmaker Captain Planet, and Vente Pa’cá with Jah Sazzah and Nickodemus, as well as featuring on A Veces on iZem’s new album (In Ze Early Morning).

Above all, she completed the recording of her new album. Sun, heat, clouds, rain, sun, heat, clouds, rain… The tropical humidity is also that of love, whose cycle – meeting, passion, running out of steam, separation – inspired a deluge of feelings in Jimena Angel. Composed while she was living with the spirits of the Caribbean forest and touring internationally again after the pandemic, her upcoming album blends intimate considerations with cosmic spirituality on Afro Caribbean rhythms like Bullerengue, a music style whose origins go back to the slave women of Colombia’s Caribbean region, Tropical Disco, Dub, Highlife… Africa is never far away in Jimena Angel’s music, which embraces its traditions as much as its contemporary expressions.

It’s clear that while Jimena Angel masters the entire creative process, she also knows how to sur- round herself with talented international producers, as on the eleven tracks on this stunning album. An explosive Electro-Afro-Caribbean cocktail, set alight by a singer with a strong temperament. Her forthcoming album is a shower over the fire lit by a pyromaniac artist!

«Colombian Jimena Ángel set on fire the Caribbean.» – Radio Nova

«The solar grooves of Jimena Angel. She displays impeccable technique in the service of an equally exciting selection between Brazilian edits, Afro-disco, highlife and Afro-Latin rhythms of all kinds! » – Pan Africa Music

«She’s one of those artists who make up the musical and cultural heritage of a country (and our world!)» – Radiomeuh