Lido Pimienta is a Colombian-born, Toronto-based interdisciplinary musician praised by NPR Music, Pitchfork, Fader, Noisey, Remezcla, Stereogum, & Rolling Stone.
Lido Pimienta, is a Colombian Canadian musician, whose 2016 album “La Papessa” won the 2017 Polaris Music Prize. Her music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, including traditional indigenous and Afro-Colombian musical styles and contemporary synthpop and electronic music.
Originally from Barranquilla, Colombia, she is currently based in Toronto.
She released her debut album, Color, in 2010. The album was produced by Michael Ramey, Pimienta’s husband at the time, and released by Iberoamerican music label KUDETA. Pimienta was reportedly unhappy that Ramey would not teach her anything about production at the time and thus took the time to learn the production process herself before following up with La Papessa in 2016. She has also collaborated with A Tribe Called Red on several tracks for their 2016 album We Are the Halluci Nation.
Pimienta identifies as queer. She is of mixed Afro-Colombian and Wayuu descent.
Also a visual artist and curator, Pimienta’s work is described as exploring “the politics of gender, race, motherhood, identity and the construct of the Canadian landscape in the Latin American Diaspora and vernacular” and in 2017 her work was exhibited in the group exhibition FEMINISTRY IS HERE at Mercer Union gallery in Toronto.
She has been a speaker at Red Bull Music Academy, creates visual art and is working on a graphic novel, has shared stages with Cuco, Helado Negro and Austra, and recently performed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s Dia de los Muertos celebration.
Pimienta – an Afro-Indigenous, queer feminist – produced it at home w/ help from Prince Nifty.
The LP boldly celebrates Lido’s ecstatic musical hybridity of electronic cumbia.
NMR (photo: press Lido Pimienta)
