In my career as a performer and composer, I have released four albums, two with the OÍ group and two as a soloist. Below you will find information about these projects.
Urpi Barco & Lucho Hermida: Canciones con la orquesta universal (2019)
Canciones con la Orquesta Universal is a musical project that arises after more than four years of travel and experience. In this time, I dedicated myself to studying, visiting, listening, and recording different soundscapes in Colombia and Brazil. Songs emerged from this experience where traditional rhythms are mixed with different contemporary elements, to give shape to songs that forget frontiers and where diverse soundscapes take us on a trip that can be beginning and end. In keeping with this, Canciones con la orquesta universal came to life in the voice of Urpi Barco, who in her musical career has shown how to navigate the waters of improvisation, always carrying her musical roots influenced by Colombian, Brazilian, and Cuban music. In this project Urpi is not only a voice, it is pure sound. She brings her calm voice and also shows musical and rhythmic sensitivity in each song.
Diapasón en Acuarelas shows an artistic work that includes 19 songs (with the participation of important Colombian muscicians such as Gustavo Adolfo Renjifo, Maria Olga Piñeros, Carolina Muñoz, Juan Consuegra, Luz Marina Posada, Fáber Grajales, Ensemble Tríptico, Andrés Correa, Alejo García , María Vanedi, Mónica Zuluaga and Aguambó Iré among others). This project includes also 19 watercolors and 3 canvases and its is framed in traditional rhythms of the Colombian central region (bambuco, caña, pasillo, tonada, guabina, and danza).
The idea of releasing songs that can come to life in other voices was advised by the great maestro Gustavo Adolfo Renjifo several years ago. I developed the idea in a slightly broader sense, not only allowing musicians to take my songs, but also establishing a dialogue between music and plastic art, trying to see how colors merge with harmonies, melodies with strokes, rhythms and movements. I had the complicity of Mariana Leyva, a sensible and passionate artist. I didn’t have to talk much with her to feel that she was the right person to tackle this project. Her colors, strokes, and movements interpret my harmonies, melodies, and rhythms, a synesthetic game that we want to offer.
Diapasón en acuarelas (2012)
OÍ2 (2010)
OÍ2 is the second album in which I participated with the OÍ group. This album has 12 songs and was conceived from the dual concept of modern and traditional music, in which some songs were recorded entirely live and others in the studio. Half of the album shows Oí just as followers of Colombian Andean music demanded and welcomed our proposal: a traditional performance with guitar, tiple, and voice. In the other half, Oí explores alternative sounds at the service of folklore: collaborations with “La Revuelta”, “Pernett” and “Shangó Dely”, among other musicians. In the repertoire selected for this album, there are only two covers, as a tribute to the ancestors of Colombian Andean music, and the remaining ten songs are composed by the members of the band.
The EP OÍ was my first album recorded at a studio. It has 6 songs, with 2 unpublished songs (La Niña de la Flor, composed by me and En mi piel by Fáber Grajales), 3 covers, and one remix. This album was the cover letter for a musical proposal that mixed traditional repertoire with original songs. An excuse to share and dream. This album opened the doors of the media for us, as well as the ones of the Colombian Andean music audience.
OÍ (2008)
Luis Hermida 