Carolina Oliveros Releases RAYO With ORQUESTA AKOKÁN
The Barranquilla-based singer-songwriter blends Afro-Caribbean traditions with contemporary production on her new album.
Carolina Oliveros, the singer-songwriter from Barranquilla, Colombia and vocalist from the group Combo Chimbita, will release her debut solo album, Ya Rompimos el Silencio, on November 6 via Chulo Records.
'Oye Camina' was released with the album announcement, which Felix Contreras debuted on NPR Music's Alt Latino. Jon Pareles at The New York Times said, 'An Afro-Caribbean guaguanco meshes with rhythm guitars hinting at Afrobeat and funk, as Oliveros layers vocals and instruments into ever more urgent, accelerating choruses.'
Today, Oliveros released 'RAYO (feat. Orquesta Akokán),' a Santería chant over a disco beat. The song celebrates the possibility of reconciling the opposing forces that live within us. It is a reminder that even in the heart of a storm, there is a profound harmony between the fire that ignites change and the water that sustains it.
'Together, we pay tribute to two of the most revered Orishas of the Yorùbá pantheon: Shangó and Oshún,' says Carolina of the track.
Inspired by her journey of healing from childhood trauma, Ya Rompimos el Silencio is an act of reclaiming voice, body, and memory. It follows the path toward truth, resilience, queer love, collective healing, and liberation. Each song becomes both a personal testimony and an invitation for others to break their own silences.
Sonically, the album reflects Oliveros' lifelong dialogue between worlds. Rooted in the Afro-Indigenous musical traditions of Colombia and the Caribbean, vocal harmonies serve as the connective tissue marrying bullerengue, cumbia, tambora, rumba, bolero, dembo, salve, and other ancestral rhythms with adventurous contemporary production. The result is a sound that feels simultaneously intimate and expansive, ritualistic and contemporary, that honors tradition while constantly pushing it forward. Songs move effortlessly between ceremony and celebration, contemplation and dance floor, revealing that healing itself can be an act of joy.
With Ya Rompimos el Silencio, Carolina Oliveros reveals another dimension of her artistry. It is a record rooted in the belief that music can carry memory across generations, that telling the truth can be transformative, and that breaking silence is not an ending. It is a decision to choose a freer way of living.
Ya Rompimos el Silencio Track List
01 Tu Voz
02 Pide
03 ORISHA
04 OYE CAMINA
05 RAYO (feat. Orquesta Akokán)
06 La Calle Caliente (feat. Héctor 'Papote' Jiménez)
07 Asfixiá
08 Espinas
09 EXU
10 MACHETERA (feat. Yaissa Jiménez)
11 Hija de Onassis
12 Ya Rompimos El Silencio (feat. Yesenia Zamudio)
Photo Credit: Itzel Alejandra
Photo Credit: Itzel Alejandra
