“During the pandemic, I was hearing drums all the time,” says Carolina Oliveros, who leads the New York-based group Bulla en el Barrio. “Not only bullerengues, but also tamboritos panamanians, solomas – like panamanian styles – also I’ve been listening to salve, which is a rhythm from Dominican Republic. I’ve been studying all that stuff, so that’s why my songs sound kind of different. I don’t sound traditional. I always want to try to create a bullerengue that sounds more traditional but also sounds like me with my own influences.”

Since 2015, Bulla en el Barrio has been envisioned as a collective and a study group of the traditional rueda de bullerengue – dance music originating from the Caribbean coast of Colombia that transmits ancient African rhythms and knowledge. The group’s main focus and mission is to recreate the participative energy and vibes of la rueda, the circle. It’s a concept that allows people with no prior musical experience to clap, sing, dance, socialize, and celebrate life in an open space. With time, Bulla became a talent hotbed and has since performed at MoMA PS1, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Flushing Town Hall, Queens Museum, Afro-Latino Festival, Mi Gente! Festival, Indiana University, Wepa Festival (Austin, TX), the Kennedy Center in DC, and more.

Oliveros and Bulla co-founder Camilo Rodriguez – both in NY tropical futurism band Combo Chimbita – first experimented with writing their own bullerengue during their monthly residencies at Barbès in Brooklyn, culminating in “Rueda de Bullerengue,” two singles released by Names You Can Trust in 2017. Thanks to these recordings, these two Bulla en el Barrio compositions are now sung in music festivals and ruedas all over Bullerengue territory.
Bulla en el Barrio’s new songs have since made it into the bullerengue repertoire, not only in Colombia but in London, Mexico, Chile, and Panama. “They were already singing ‘Colombia sin Panama’ in festivals, and we hadn’t even recorded it,” says Rodriguez. “They just heard Carolina singing it in a video and then the group Tonada – I wrote that song and I’m not even from that region so it’s been really crazy.”

Bulla now presents eight original songs recorded live, preserving and documenting the participative and rough vibes of the ruedas and live performances. “We’ve been playing together since 2015,” says Rodriguez. “The group is a space to study, connect, to learn, so this record captures a moment where we were – taking a picture of a process. This was just what was happening at that time. It was a way to document what we were doing and our process learning, documenting bullerengue.”

On November 24, 2023, Figure & Ground x Sonorama release Vámonos que nos vamos, Bulla en el Barrio’s debut album comprising new original bullerengue spirituals (on Side A) and traditionals (on Side B) written by Oliveros and Rodriguez. Engineered, mixed and produced by Lily Wen (who produced Combo Chimbita’s debut album at Abya Yala in 2017), the group recorded the album live to 2-inch tape at Figure 8 Recording, Shahzad Ismaily’s house studio in Brooklyn. Limited to 500 vinyl copies, the 12-inch LP release features a full-color lyric insert and an opaque white vinyl disc.