Colombian-Canadian musician Lido Pimienta has never shied away from speaking her mind.
As Colombia's presidential election approached, she expressed fear over right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who once said he wanted to “disembowel” the left.
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De la Espriella later dismissed the comment as a figure of speech, but Pimienta warned that leftwing artists like her “would be target number one” under his presidency.
Since her breakthrough album La Papessa won Canada's Polaris Prize in 2017, Pimienta has made genre-defying records that challenge racism, colonialism, and misogyny.
Her latest album, Caribenya, takes a different approach: it's a dancefloor record inspired by the joy and resilience of Colombians amid political turmoil.
A Voice Against Exploitation
“People tell me I have the best voice but that I'm ruining my career by always singing about politics,” Pimienta said in a video call from her family home in northern Colombia.
Rocking in a multicolored hammock, she questioned the purpose of her platform if she cannot use it to challenge systemic oppression.
“What is the point of having a voice, though, if I can't speak freely and resist how my country and our people are being exploited?”
she asked.
Growing up in Barranquilla during a civil war, Pimienta faced racism as a Black girl with Indigenous Wayuu roots.
She found refuge in the DIY punk and hardcore scene, where she could be an activist and resist racism.
