Bridging Paris and Medellín, French-Colombian bassist and singer Ëda Diaz’s new album Suave Bruta is woven with haute-couture pop and a plethora of Afro-Colombian rhythms, with Ëda Diaz’s upright double bass, the insistent pulse

On her debut album Suave Bruta, across eleven tracks blending traditional Afro Colombian rhythms with electronic experimentation, Ëda Diaz manages to reconcile different parts of her identity, two rich and complementary aspects that she has long viewed as opposites. Wonky Colombian salsa, electrified currulao and an eccentric Colombian-made dembow all sparkle with real-world samples from the buzz of a hairdressing salon to birdsong, and samples cut from classic Latin American tunes, all underpinned by the production of Anthony Winzenrieth evoking Björk, James Blake or Juana Molina.

French on her mother's side and Colombian on her father's, Ëda Diaz learned from an early age to juggle languages, cultures, rhythms and unique ways of making music on her many trips back and forth between Paris and Medellín. Ëda Diaz dedicated over fifteen years to classical piano performance at the Conservatoire de Boulogne Billancourt. But every summer, amid the sound of the tiple guitar and the clinking of aguardiente glasses in the courtyard of the family home in Medellín, her grandmother introduced her to the fiery tangos of Carlos Gardel, the romanticism of boleros, the joyfulness of bambucos and an entire repertoire of popular songs from the great traditions of South American music. Ever since, Ëda Diaz has been obsessed with bridging these two continents together.