Sergent Garcia: Una y Otra Vez

(Cumbancha)

Whether Sergent Garcia is a stylist extraordinaire or king of pastiche, a five-year wait sees him deliver an irresistible batch of 14 original songs. The fertile Colombian scene is springboard for ‘Time and Time Again’, fuelled by post Manu Chao energy, as befits a musician with a similar French indie-punk scene pedigree and Basque/French parentage. Exhilarating fusions of ska, reggae, cumbia, rap and Afro-Cuban rumba sit alongside some blissful folky moments, as with the swingy ‘Vasito de agua’. They’re underpinned by a playfulness that does not diminish messages concerning ideals, trickster politicians, the power of dance and of course love.