MEXICO CITY (AP) – Caliber 50 sings of hope after COVID-19 on their new album, “Vamos bien.”
The regional Mexican music group knows first-hand the serious effects of this disease, since all its members suffered from it last year and one of them was about to be intubated. For this reason, this production launched on Friday is dedicated to doctors on the front lines.
“The fairest thing was to dedicate this album to all the medical personnel, to the people who suddenly unfortunately lost, to our friends, to the family,” said vocalist Edén Muñoz in a recent interview by video call from Mazatlán, Sinaloa, the city where the grouping originates from.
“We made a small altar there on our album, on the back cover, we obviously put with great respect the photos of many of the people close to us that we unfortunately lost … It is a thank you to the medical staff who have been raffling it and have been in the front line of battle with the responsibility of saving the greatest possible lives ”, added Muñoz.
The members of Caliber 50 were infected in May, and of them the guitarist Armando Ramos was the most affected. In the video for the album’s homonymous song, also released on Friday, he recreates his story from a night out where he was infected, until he left the hospital in a wheelchair after having been between life and death.
“It is something very crude, very direct, but at the end of the day it is very true where sometimes we put the party first and we put that anxiety that confinement causes us and you are really playing a toss-up in life because there you get infected,” Muñoz said. “To the degree of almost being intubated, your life is really in danger and not only his, but also the people who are close to us, that we also infect them and that comes like that snowball getting bigger.”
The video was shot at a friend’s clinic and shows the facial marks left by doctors’ masks and surgical suits, in this case worn by members of the band completed by drummer Erick García. It also shows statistics of the evil that has claimed more than 160,000 lives in Mexico.
But they also looked for a balance in the album and that it had moments of joy or romance.
“The whole album can’t be sad, we also had to take the bull by the horns and suddenly propose things like salsa, which we have out there, cumbia, love songs, beautiful songs,” said Muñoz.
One of the pleasant surprises is the cover of “I love you so much, so much” by OV7.
“Everyone likes that song,” said Alejandro Gaxiola, a tubero for the Latin Grammy-winning band. “It all started with a tutorial that Edén did around here on how to convert a pop song to regional and he did it on his YouTube channel and people were really liking it. I think we made the very right decision to put it on record ”.
He also highlights “She dances alone”, a song in which they talk about a girl who does not need a partner to be able to have fun.
“You cannot miss a party theme on Caliber 50 records, chatter,” said Ramos. “A woman who does not need anyone, or feel more or less than anyone; she grabs her chatter by herself, she doesn’t use bules to swim, as we say here ”.
The release of “Vamos bien” adds to the joy of “Las number 1 de Caliber 50”, the compilation album that they released in mid-January with the 17 songs that have managed to place at the top of the Mexican regional music chart. on Billboard, more than any other band.
“We are really excited and very proud,” said Muñoz. “Because we represent Mexican music, we represent our state, we also represent this new generation of artists who are also seeking to transcend, like all those who have influenced our music, like the old school … Hopefully God allows us to continue counting and adding more ”.
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