Ramon Chicharron

A Montrealer at heart and nomadic in spirit, singer and multi-instrumentalist Ramon Chicharron mixes sounds, cultures and languages, honouring his Colombian roots and dishing out the Afro-Colombian beats cumbia and champeta in a blend with salsa.

Soon after settling in Québec nearly 15 years ago, he decided to create his own musical project, which he named Ramon y su son. A smart blend of cumbia, Cuban son and cha-cha-cha, this creation spotlighted the sensitive, political/militant and entertaining work by this young artist. In 2011, he recorded his début EP, Pal’ Monte. Continually in search of a sound closer to his roots, he turned to alternative music and, adding touches of electro, found the opportunity to define a sound all his own.

Ramon y su son became Ramon Chicharron in 2015 with the release of the album Uepaje that celebrates ancestral Afro-Colombian beats, to which he added trombone, clarinet and guitar; creating a fusion he called cumbia chicharronica. His very distinctive voice creates a desire to travel, and his lyrics lead listeners to ponder current issues such as the situation of migrants and the environment. Ramon believes in the power of music to awaken consciences.

At the crossroads of originality and tradition, his compositions and his stage presence became a guarantee of compelling events, soon causing his name to be added to the list of artists worth keeping an eye on. Evidence of this is the “Coup de Cœur” award he received in 2016 at the Festival traditions du monde in Sherbrooke.

His EP Merecumbé, composed in the Costa Rican jungle in 2018, continues to celebrate traditional beats, taking on more electronic sounds and psycho-tropical melodies. 

In 2020, Ramon added a string to his bow on the album Pescador de sueños. Faithful to his inspirations and to his daring approach, he collaborated with the West African female griot Djely Tapa (Recuerdos), the Colombian hip-hop collective Zalama Crew (Pescador and Soy de aqui), Haitian-Québec rapper Vox Sambou (Soy de aqui) and Boogát (Apretao). Comradeship and human contact are the watchwords of these fresh and contemporary rhythms, composed in Montréal and Miami.

Ramon Chicharron is a regular at the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique. Like a warm breeze that perpetuates the summer, his performance in 2018 at the Festival’s 32nd edition lingers in people’s memories.