Monsieur Periné Returns to Miami Beach for Bolero Apocalíptico Tour

My first encounter with Monsieur Periné was at the Virginia Key Grassroots Music Festival in 2014, where I was directing the live arts programming. The duo struck a chord with me, and I've followed their trajectory ever since.

The Colombian band, helmed by vocalist Catalina García and multi-instrumentalist Santiago Prieto, has earned plenty of accolades along the way, including the trophy for "Best New Artist" and a nomination for "Album of the Year" at the 2015 Latin Grammys, with further nominations for "Song of the Year," "Record of the Year," and "Album of the Year" in 2018. The duo's latest album, Bolero Apocalíptico, also won "Best Alternative Music Album" at the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards.

Monsieur Periné will kick off the U.S. leg of its Bolero Apocalíptico Tour on May 25 in Sacramento, eventually making its way down to the Miami Beach Bandshell on Saturday, June 8.

The self-described "gypsy-jazz" outfit often collaborates with a rotating cast of musicians while writing and recording songs and on tour. Bolero Apocalíptico, produced by five-time Grammy winner Rafa Sardina, features contributions from the likes of Brazilian reggae band Natiruts, French-Chilean vocalist Anita Tijoux, and Puerto Rican musicians Guaynaa and Pedro Capó.

Still, after all these years, García and Prieto don't take themselves all too seriously, something that the band's name points to. (Monsieur Periné roughly translates to "Mister Taint.")

"We were mocking the snobbish attitude we found in Latin America, that assumed that anything from abroad, especially Europe, was better or more elegant than our own native cultural offerings," Prieto tells New Times over the phone.

It was while reading one of author Michel Houellebecq's books, in which sexual scenes are represented in very detailed terms, that Prieto first encountered the French word for perineum. From there, the "monsieur" was added for extra class, in effect making it a subtle punchline hiding in plain sight.

As much as the duo seem to share a distaste for the establishment, a strong undercurrent of optimism runs through everything they do. Prieto describes how "as musicians, we work with vibrations, with sounds, and can easily see the effect that music has on people, and how it transforms their lives and their souls. We know that the ultimate goal is love in the craft of music and in life. Living in love and gratitude."
"It's just like life. You have to live it, to experience it," García adds. "You may think it's one way, but life comes with a lot that can't be told beforehand, so you have to embrace and experience it in order to understand how to love and be loved."

The pair has found a way to translate this idea of love, which comes in many forms sonically, personifying the concept of genre-defying. Their catalogue incorporates sounds like gypsy jazz, bossa nova, reggae, salsa romántica, and other styles from South and Central America and the Caribbean. Picking out songs individually from their repertoire, you could attribute them to totally different artists, but they manage to all maintain a commonality that is uniquely their own. It's something that Prieto attributes to the duo's lived experiences.

"Colombia being culturally diverse, and also looking beyond our borders — like gypsies migrating without borders, we like this eclectic way of living and making music," he adds.

Given all the buzz around artificial intelligence and its impacts on various industries, including music, the band doesn't seem all that worried about it.

"I haven't used it a lot, but I think it could be useful to maybe create new sounds when you're stuck on something or things like that, but I think it never can approach the emotional or soulful part of music," Prieto shares.

García adds, "It's so hard to find human emotion in AI expressions. For me, it's not even close."

Still, the two remain curious to see how the technology develops as a tool to facilitate the process of creating music but are skeptical that it will ever be able to truly replicate the human experience.

Maybe it speaks to this ineffable human quality, but García and Prieto have cultivated a global community behind them. From their travels and ties to various cities, they continue to connect with like-minded souls. Whether it's for collaborations in creating music or sold-out shows, Catalina says they "always find the time to stay and not just go to play but also create" while they're traveling.

Monsieur Periné's music is delightful to listen to in any medium but make it a point to see the pair live. See if you can tap into their vibration for yourself.

Monsieur Periné. 8 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; miamibeachbandshell.com. Tickets cost $53.56 via dice.fm.