Camilo performs at EagleBank Arena on Nov. 4, 2022. (Photo by Will Colbert)
Beyonce has the Beyhive, and Justin Bieber, the Beliebers. If you’re Camilo Echeverry, you have La Tribu. The super fans came out in full force Friday night to see the Colombian singer-songwriter at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia.
Camilo would beat the drum for La Tribu (the tribe in Spanish) to begin the Nov. 4 show. A bright violet glow illuminated the musician from Medellin as he pounded away on a floor drum with a pair of percussion mallets. Flickers of purple dust flew in the air with each strike.
“Kaleidoscopic” is how Rolling Stone magazine described Camilo’s latest album, De Adentro Pa Afuera. It’s a befitting description. The album is a window into Latin American music genres that rarely intersect on one record — banda, bachata, cumbia, and Latin pop.
“Alaska” is a prime example and one of the more apparent crossover songs on “De Adentro Pa Afuera.” Fans erupted when they heard the low-pitched buzz of the tuba that opens Camilo’s collaboration with the Tijuana-based band Grupo Firme. “Todos dicen que el alcohol le hace daño a la memoria/Parece que claramente no he bedido suficiente para borrar nuestra historia,” (“everyone says alcohol damages your memory/It seems I clearly haven’t had enough to erase our history,”), sang Camilo on the fun-loving Mexican banda tune.
Watch the official music video for “Alaska” by Camilo and Grupo Firme on YouTube:
Camilo’s music tramples artificial geographical boundaries set for musical genres. He does something similar to demographic borders. Parents rushed down the aisles with their infants to snap selfies as he performed the family-friendly “Pesadilla.” The bouncy number recounts the fable of a man who loses his lover, only to awaken and realize it was just a nightmare.
Love and heartbreak are themes in many of Camilo’s songs. He performed “NASA,” “La Mitad,” and “Manos de Tijera” — poetically written ballads that lean into longing. If these songs were written from real-life experiences, it might be safe to assume they were inspired by events well before Feb. 2, 2020. That’s when Camilo and Venezuelan singer/actress Evaluna Montaner got married.
Montaner joined her husband on stage to perform their duos “Por Primera Vez” and “Machu Picchu.” It was one of the concert’s many feel-good moments and a hint of Camilo’s allure. His music is a celebration of love in all of its complexity. As he would put it, “love is a revolution.” It’s a universal message that was also conveyed during performance interludes.
Watch the official music video for “Machu Micchu” by Camilo and Evaluna Montaner on YouTube:
“Tribu, there’s nobody like you in the world, not even close…sometimes we forget that. You’re unique…,” said Camilo before his performance of “Ambulancia.” The song is his foray into bachata, a genre that originated in the Dominican Republic but has taken the world by storm in recent years. Camilo swung his hips from side to side as he danced to the four-count beat.
Montaner rejoined her husband onstage to close the show. The pair performed the heart-warming “Índigo.” The song is named for and dedicated to their infant daughter. Confetti shot into the sky and descended on the first few sections as they shared the joys of parenthood with La Tribu.
Other highlights from the show include performances of:
- “Ropa Cara,” Mis Manos (2021)
- “Millones,” Mis Manos (2021)
- “Tutu,” Por Primera Vez (2020)
- “Favorito,” Por Primera Vez (2020)
- “Pegao,” De Adentro Pa Afuera (2022)
- “Aeropuerto,” De Adentro Pa Afuera (2022)
- “Kesi,” Mis Manos (2021)
Here are some photos from the Camilo show at EagleBank Arena on Nov. 4, 2022. All photos are copyright and courtesy of Will Colbert.
