"My speech therapist told me to try singing, to put lyrics to what I was playing on the piano," Cepeda recalls in conversation with New Times. "It was therapy, but also salvation."
Now, with more than thirty years in music and 15 studio albums, the Colombian artist returns with La Bogotá Deluxe Edition, an expanded version of his latest record featuring three new collaborations with Morat, Ha*Ash, and Luis Fonsi, and a commemorative vinyl designed for collectors. But more than a product, it's a portal to the past, memory, and a city that lives within him.
Bogotá as a Mirror
"Bogotá," in its original version, was already a powerful homage to the Colombian capital and what it represents in Cepeda's life. But this new edition takes that tribute a step further. "It's a love letter to the city where I was born, where I grew up, where I fell in love for the first time," he says. "But it's also about absence, about nostalgia, about what's no longer there."It all began when Cepeda bought back his childhood home. "I returned to the house, the street, the garden. Everything was just as I remembered. And yet nothing was the same. My parents were gone. My childhood was gone. Time itself had left."
That moment sparked something. Cepeda began walking the city again, this time with a songwriter's eyes and a son's heart. "I went on a personal tour of my life. The parks, the schools, the cafés, the houses of my friends, the places where my heart broke. All of it started turning into music."
A Record Made of Memory
The song "Bogotá" anchors the album. It captures the eerie, bittersweet feeling of returning to a place that once defined you — only to realize you miss not the place, but the person you were there."This album is the most honest I've ever made," Cepeda says. "We think we write for others, but really, we write for ourselves. I sing to the version of me who was in love, or grieving, or dreaming. Each track is a dialogue with my past self."
Grief is woven into the album, too — particularly the loss of his mother. "She passed away a few years ago. And while that pain never fully goes away — like a drunk guest who refuses to leave — the process of making this record helped me understand her absence differently. Not as a wound, but as a presence that lingers."
Music as Refuge
Speaking to Cepeda, you sense a calm that doesn't come from resignation, but from emotional maturity. "Music saved me," he repeats. "And it still does."It not only helped him overcome his stutter, but it alsot taught him how to connect with others. "What felt like a communication barrier became a bridge. That's the greatest gift music gave me."
That same bridge connects him with fans across borders, especially those who've left Colombia. "When you're far from home, songs hit harder. They remind you who you are. And I see that at every show—people bringing their kids, their friends, their in-laws. They want them to understand where they come from. It's like serving an emotional sancocho."
While most would associate Miami with tropical rhythms and the Latin diaspora, Cepeda's musical memories of the city go in a different direction. "Funny enough, my earliest musical connection to Miami wasn't boleros or son cubano — it was Southern rock. Tom Petty. That kind of Americana. I don't know why, but it resonates with me when I'm here."
That mix of the expected and the surprising is part of Cepeda's DNA. He's one of the few Latin artists who have seamlessly navigated between genres without losing his essence. His voice, emotionally unmistakable, ties it all together.
A Tour That Feels Like Home
Starting October 28, Cepeda will tour the U.S. with stops in Chicago, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Atlanta, Washington D.C., New York, Elizabeth (NJ), and Lynn (MA). The tour is titled Nuestra vida en canciones ("Our Life in Songs"), and for Cepeda, it's more than a concert; it's a reunion."Every show is a gathering of people trying to reconnect with their roots," he says. "It's like pulling out old family photos and flipping through them together. It's incredibly emotional."
And though today the shows are bigger and the logistics more sophisticated, he still remembers the early days. "Back then, it was just me and maybe one or two musicians. We'd rent gear, rehearse in random spaces, and take buses and trains. It wasn't glamorous. But it taught me that this craft goes beyond comfort. You sing because you need to — and because others need you to."
Full Circle
With the new vinyl, high-profile collaborations, and an international tour, La Bogotá Deluxe Edition feels like a full-circle moment. But for Cepeda, it's not a closing chapter; it's a new one."If these U.S. shows feel even a little like the ones we've had in Colombia and Spain, I'll be happy," he says. "Because that means the emotion still travels. That it still reaches people."
That journey is extraordinary for someone who once struggled to speak and now talks through music to millions. "I was a stutterer," he says with a soft smile. "And I became a singer. Life is wild like that."
Andrés Cepeda's voice — born from silence, shaped by memory — remains one of the most beloved in Latin music. And now, as he brings Bogotá to Miami and beyond, it's clear that his story isn't just about where he's from. It's about where we all hope to return: a place that once made us feel whole.
Andrés Cepeda. 8 p.m. Saturday, November 2, at James L. Knight Center, 400 SE Second Ave., Miami; 305-416-5970; jlkc.com. Tickets are $97-$412 via ticketmaster.com.
