Elsa y Elmar is the name of the musical project of Elsa Carvajal, a singer-songwriter from Colombia. The music of Elsa y Elmar can be described as

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

, and it integrates elements of folk, tropical, and Latin music. In 2014 Carvajal won the Grand Prize in the Latin category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for her song "Me Viene Bien", and in 2016 she played in front of 40,000 people as the opening act for

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

at their concert at the

Estadio El Campín The Estadio Nemesio Camacho El Campín, commonly known as El Campín, is the main stadium of Bogotá, Colombia. It was inaugurated on 10 August 1938 and has a capacity of 39,512 spectators. It is the home ground of the Categoría Primera A teams ...

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. Since 2018 she has lived in Mexico.

History

Born in

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander Department, Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the ninth most populous city i ...

, Colombia, Carvajal took some classes in musical appreciation and flute at the age of nine, but admitted that she had little discipline to continue with them. At the age of 16, she enrolled in a jazz academy, and then in 2011, she traveled to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

in order to study at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

. Carvajal came up with the concept of Elsa y Elmar in 2012 during her time in Boston. In an interview with Colombia's W Radio, Carvajal explained that she liked the idea of being accompanied rather than being a solo star, and that the people who surrounded her and supported her music were her "sea" – the name "Elmar" is a play on "el mar", meaning "the sea" in Spanish. In 2013 she recorded a six-track EP titled ''Sentirnos Bien'', produced by

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

-born Colombian Mateo Lewis, himself a former student of Berklee. The EP was released in digital format on October 13, 2013. One of the tracks from ''Sentirnos Bien'', "Me Viene Bien", was entered into the second session of the 2014 John Lennon Songwriting Contest for new songwriters and won the Grand Prize in the Latin category. On completing her studies at Berklee, Carvajal moved to San Francisco, where she assembled a band to accompany her live performances. Elsa y Elmar's first full-length album, ''Rey'', was released on September 25, 2015. It was preceded by a single, "Exploradora", which was accompanied by a video shot in various parks and beaches around San Francisco. Carvajal described ''Rey'' as "spiritual pop". In 2015, Elsa y Elmar performed at a number of music festivals, including Estéreo Picnic Festival in

, Colombia and Festival Coordenada in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, Mexico. On April 13, 2016, Elsa y Elmar performed as the opening act for British band

's concert at the

in Bogotá. 2019 brought the release of Elsa y Elmar's second full-length album: ''Eres Diamante'', and a nomination for

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967) "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that ar ...

at the

Latin Grammy Awards The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music, Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish language, S ...

. On April 28, 2022 Elsa y Elmar released another LP: '' ya no somos los mismos''. According to Carvajal the album is about a difficult breakup and the process of closing that chapter of her life, healing, and looking for new meaning. The experience left her so shaken that she didn't know if she would continue making music. The album was recorded in

Hermosillo Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo municipality, the state's ...

, Mexico and is accompanied by a short film (directed by Jorge Leyva) that combines twelve of the album's songs.

Discography

* ''Sentirnos Bien'' (2013) * ''Rey'' (2015) * ''Eres Diamante'' (2019) * ''Cuatro Veces 10'' (2020) * '' ya no somos los mismos'' (2022) * ''Palacio'' (2024)

Awards and nominations

Note: At the

23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards The 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday, November 17, 2022, at the Michelob Ultra Arena, Las Vegas to honor the best musical releases within Latin music released from June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022. The nominations were ...

, '' ya no somos los mismos'' was also nominated for Best Engineered Album, the nomination is given to Julián Bernal, Nico Cotton, Carlitos González, Alberto Hernández, Michel Kuri, Malay, Felipe Mejía, Jv Olivier, Juan Sebastián Parra, Alejandro García Partida, Alan Saucedo, Raúl López, Lewis Pickett, Harold Sanders & Dave Kutch, the engineers and mixers of the album.

References

{{authority control Living people Colombian pop singers Colombian women pop singers 21st-century Colombian women singers Colombian singer-songwriters Colombian women singer-songwriters Colombian guitarists Colombian women guitarists Year of birth missing (living people) Women in Latin music Spanish-language singers of Colombia