Lido Pimienta (Colombia/Canada)

This year, for the very first time, the Canadian-Colombian artist Lido Pimienta will perform at Oslo World. An unforgettable live performer, Pimienta is also one of the most adventurous and ambitious young pop artists on the global scene today. On every new music release, she seeks uncharted territory, melding together inspiration from the larger world of contemporary art with a keen ear to new movements in pop and club music.  

Pimienta was originally booked at Oslo World a few years back, but the show got cancelled. Back then, she had just released Miss Colombia, which became her definitive breakthrough. On the album, her shape shifting voice and sense of exploration was on full display, combining her family’s mixed roots in the Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Wayuu communities with an ambitious sonic palette, packed with global-beats influences, lush synths and pop hooks. It was nominated for Grammy awards in the Best Latin Rock and Alternative Album Category. 

Then, things changed. On her next album, La Belleza, she ventured into European classical music, combining inspirations from Gregorian chants and sixteenth century castrato singing with modern recording techniques. An immodestly ambitious combination of orchestral grandeur and personal storytelling, the album was announced as an ode to beauty in all its forms.  “The thought of making ‘classical music’ never occurred to me before, but making experimental electronica on Miss Colombia was not premeditated either,” Pimienta says. “All I create is a natural evolution of my curiosity and stubbornness.” The quote neatly sums up her career thus far: Lido Pimienta is an artist on the move. Just expect the unexpected - she won’t disappoint.