A self-described Afro/ Indigenous/ Colombian/ Canadian/ Punk/ Folklorist/ Traditionalist/ Transgressive/ Diva/ Angel, Lido Pimienta spent the formative years of her life in Colombia, but as a teenager had to flee the violence and turmoil of her home country and immigrated to Canada, where she is based to this day. To hear her tell it, Lido was a bit of an outsider as a child, singing and making up songs sitting in a mango tree and shaking the leaves, with teasing neighborhood kids below. But like most that don’t quite fit the mold, Lido was a born artist, and by age 11, found a new place for her voice to shake things up - in a politically outspoken metal band.

We'll hear how her teenage rebellion ended up taking the form of rejecting pop music and embracing traditional Colombian sounds, and once again in Canada, finding her outsider community in the DIY and punk scene of Toronto. Lido’s absolutely astounding voice and her sound evolved into a trailblazing, multi-layered hybrid of Afro-Latin and electronic music, always with her lyrical activism, and feminism intact, and her signature interplay of loudness and softness. In 2010 she made the album Color, and then fast forward to 2017, Lido’s self-produced, self-released 2016 album La Papessa became the first Spanish language album to receive the coveted Polaris prize for Best Canadian Album of the Year, beating out the likes of Leonard Cohen and Feist.

This was followed by yet another quantum leap into the even more colorful and sonically rich world of Miss Colombia, Lido Pimienta’s critically hailed 2020 album, which was nominated both for a Latin Grammy and a 2021 Grammy award. As she continues to find ways to use her voice to rebel and unite, Lido Pimienta reminds us that we are more connected than we think we are, and music is the pathway. Listen in as together we create Lido Pimienta’s Mixtape Memoir. 

Credits:

Host/creator/creative director - Carmel Holt @carmelholt @sheroesmixtape @sheroesradio
Engineer/Mixing/Mastering - Brendan Baker from  Phenomephon
Theme music - Lucius @ilovelucius
Cover Illustration - Lido Pimienta @lidopimientart
Guest: Lido Pimienta / @lidopimienta
Label: Anti- Records / @antirecords