Fonseca released this Friday a new album, ‘Antes que el tiempo se vaya’, which he described in an interview with EFE as a “tribute” to the passing of the years and a sample of the sound he has worked on throughout his career: “tropical with some pop touches”.
The singer-songwriter explained that there are twelve songs with rhythms such as salsa, with the help of Rubén Blades; merengue, “from my corner”, which incorporates the accordion, and even for the first time cumbia, with ‘Barco de papel’, and even rap, in ‘No me resisto’, accompanied by his compatriot Nampa Básico.
In this, his eleventh studio production, the Colombian says that “it’s crazy” to work with the Panamanian salsa singer and all the other collaborators, which also include the Venezuelan band Rawayana, Manuel Medrano, Río Roma and Juanes, who accompanies him on the title track, another merengue in his style.
“I loved it because I went to do a mix of a merengue with an accordion and Juanes’ electric guitar, I think it makes it very unique,” said the nine-time Latin Grammy winner.
Accustomed to titling his albums with a single word, this time he says he “let it loose” because ‘Antes de que el tiempo se vaya’, is a “very powerful phrase”, a reflection not to waste it.
“I feel that if before my flag of gratitude, let’s say in my lyrics, has been very present, I think that now it is through this, of honoring time, which for me is like the same message, put in a different way. To thank life, to thank the family, the land where one was born”, he said.
In that sense, he points out that ‘Nunca me fui’, along with Blades, is a song with which he identifies himself as an immigrant in the United States.
“It’s like a theme of nostalgia and melancholy and gratitude for the land where one is from, no matter how many years one has been away, because I have been living outside Bogotá for 14 years and every time I land in Bogotá I feel as if I had never left,” he said.
Fonseca presents his album ‘Antes que el tiempo se vaya’ (Before Time Goes By)
Fonseca, who produced the album together with Andy Clay, said he is impressed by the multi-generational reception of the world tour of his previous album, ‘Tropicalia’ (2024), which he defined as “the most important” of his career.
“People sing them all, and they connect with the songs I wrote twenty years ago as well as with those that are part of ‘Tropicalia’. It is very special to feel that people are still connected and that I have been accompanied along the way by different generations,” he said.
He believes that this is due in part to the folkloric base of his tropical sound, which connects with the cultural roots of different ages. “These types of genres do not go out of fashion because they are part of the roots of different cultures and different countries” and “the vast majority of people at some point go through the folklore of their country and their land, either by their parents or their grandparents”.
“I think that the fact of carrying these mergers is definitely multigenerational,” he stressed.
And although he maintains that in the new album he did not go straight with a “roadmap” to the tropical, as with ‘Tropicalia’, he does preserve the sound he has worked on for many years, which he is proud of for its ability to unite different audiences.
“I love that, because I think my music speaks to anyone,” said Fonseca, who is also preparing a new tour for next October, which will begin in Bogota.
The Colombian will also sing on June 26th in Doral, as part of the World Cup celebrations, one day before the match between Colombia and Portugal, which will be held in Miami.
For the Bogota native, the soccer party is another example of how both sport and music have the power to unite everyone. “I don’t think we’ve ever needed so much in the world, I think the World Cup comes at a very appropriate time,” he said, reported Agencia EFE.
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