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Photo:  Arun Pillai-Essex

When people hear reggaeton, they often think of dancing music. However, reggaeton can make you feel the feels, just as much as it can make you feel the beat. And New York City based artist, Tambino, is proving that with his new single, "El Amanecer."

Tambino was born Kam Tambini, in Lima, Peru. Tambini spent his childhood in Bogotà¡, Colombiaand Washington DC. The duality of both his Peruvian and Latin backgrounds combined with his time in New York and DC’s punk scene has fostered a distinct "cumbiagaze" sound. Cumbia is a musical style that originated in Colombia, but its rhythms have since spread all throughout Latin America, influencing even the likes of Mexican-American artist, Selena. Coined by Tambini, cumbiagaze precisely captures the influence of his roots mixed with elements of nostalgic shoegaze.

Photo:  Sivan Jacobovitz

Today, Tambini blesses us with his new single titled "El Amanecer," meaning dawn. The song is driven by a reggaeton beat and gloomy synth chords, evoking a unique, melancholy reggaeton that certainly embodies cumbiagaze.

Throughout the song, Tambini repeats the line, "salgo en la noche hasta el amanecer," meaning, "I go out at night until dawn." As Tambini describes, “El Amanecer is about a hazy moment in the late night/early morning, walking the empty streets with your partner or friend and hearing reggaeton beats echoing in the distance. It’s a song about feeling disconnected even though you’re in the middle of it all.”

The lyrical picture Tambini creates is a reflection of those moments in between nighttime and sunrise in which we are most emotionally present and least guarded. No matter where you are in the world, there is mysticism in staying awake until those in between periods when the rest of society is still asleep - a mysticism that makes us tuned in to our existence, attracting a certain level of honesty, vulnerability and opportunity for sincere human connection.

Towards the latter half of the song, Tambini repeats, "will you stay" in English, as we hear his vocals in Spanish respond"mentira, mentira," meaning "lies, lies" before he repeats "salgo en la noche hasta el amanecer." This shift in tone reflects the idea that perhaps upon sunrise, we too often choose to return to our habitual ways instead of acting on what we felt in that in between period and letting the occultism of early dawn become a part of our everyday.

Through "El Amanecer," Tambini reminds us to carry the thoughtfulness of dawn into all hours of the day. If, like us, you are itching to listen to more Tambini and his cumbiagaze, look no further. His debut EP, Tambino, will be out April 7^th  and we cannot wait.  

Listen to  "El Amanecer" below: