In the contemporary landscape of global electronic and folk crossover music, few projects capture the intimacy of place quite like Hogar, the upcoming album by producer El Búho (Robin Perkins). Serving as the centerpiece of this broader sonic exploration is the latest single, “Nuevos Horizontes,” featuring the evocative vocals of Colombian cantautora Ana María Vahos. Released via the artist-driven, eco-conscious label Shika Shika—which Perkins co-founded—the track acts as a bridge between two distinct artistic journeys: Perkins putting down permanent roots in rural France, and Vahos returning to the ancestral landscapes of her familial origins in the high-altitude Andes of Colombia.
The single, accompanied by an evocative music video directed by Sebastián Gómez Agudelo, delves deeply into themes of displacement, belonging, and genealogical memory. At its core, “Nuevos Horizontes” is anchored by a poignant lyrical refrain delivered by Vahos: “Cuando voy a la montaña, voy a mí” (“When I go to the mountain, I go to myself”). This profound declaration frames the mountain not merely as a physical destination, but as an internal sanctuary and a repository of personal identity.
Geographically and culturally, the song draws its power from Horizontes, a secluded mountain village nestled 2,250 meters above sea level in the rugged terrain northwest of Medellín. In this hyper-local community of just 195 residents, traditional urban identifiers dissolve; houses do not bear standard municipal street numbers, but rather display the names of their owners proudly on their facades. It is within this living archive of memory that Vahos’s heritage resides, with generations of her family having lived, worked, and weathered the elements of the Antioquian highlands.
Hogar, set for official release on September 18 following a global listening party on September 13, translates from the Latin root focus—the hearth fire positioned at the very center of a human dwelling. The album explores how modern nomadic creators define sanctuary through acoustic ecology, weaving field recordings of domestic life, global travels, coastal islands, and communal gatherings into a cohesive ambient-folk tapestry. This report provides an exhaustive examination of the genesis of “Nuevos Horizontes,” the collaborative dynamics between Perkins and Vahos, the philosophical framework of the Hogar LP, and the broader cultural implications of transnational musical synthesis in the twenty-first century.
Detailed Chronology
The Genesis of a Transnational Collaboration
The creative lineage of “Nuevos Horizontes” spans continents, decades, and distinct traditions of musicology. To understand how a British-born, globally nomadic electronic producer came to collaborate with an Andean singer-songwriter from San Pedro de los Milagros, one must trace the circuitous path of Robin Perkins, known professionally as El Búho. Growing up in the north of England, Perkins developed an early fascination with the natural world and global cultures, which eventually led him to pursue Latin American Studies at the University of Glasgow.
Perkins’ academic pursuits were not confined to the library; they propelled him physically across the globe. He spent formative years living and working in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Mexico City. These immersive experiences in Latin America deeply altered his musical sensibility, moving him away from purely Western electronic paradigms toward an organic synthesis of indigenous folk traditions, field recordings, and organic downtempo electronica. In 2015, this vision crystallized when Perkins partnered with Argentine producer Barrio Lindo (Agustín Rivaldo) to launch Shika Shika, a record label and collective dedicated to cross-cultural sonic experimentation, environmental activism, and the preservation of indigenous musical idioms.
Meanwhile, Ana María Vahos was carving out her own distinctive path within Colombia’s vibrant independent music scene. Born in San Pedro de los Milagros in 1993, Vahos immersed herself in the rich acoustic storytelling traditions of her homeland. Operating primarily as a cantautora—a traditional singer-songwriter who relies on the stark, unfiltered combination of her voice and an acoustic guitar—she established a reputation for profound lyrical introspection. Her artistic trajectory hit a major milestone in 2022 with the release of her critically acclaimed debut album, Los Días, a record that established her as a vital new voice in contemporary Colombian folk music.
The convergence of Perkins and Vahos was facilitated by the borderless nature of modern digital collaboration combined with a shared reverence for the earth. As El Búho, Perkins sought out voices that could ground his intricate, nature-infused electronic production in genuine human emotion and cultural history. Vahos’s ability to weave poetic narratives around rural identity made her an ideal collaborator for the Hogar project.
Production and Visualizing the Highlands
The recording process for “Nuevos Horizontes” required bridging the acoustic space of Vahos’s voice with Perkins’ meticulous sound design. Working remotely and across time zones, the artists crafted a sonic landscape that mirrors the misty, undulating topography of the Colombian Andes. Perkins layered subtle electronic textures, rhythmic pulses, and environmental atmospheres beneath Vahos’s arresting vocal delivery, ensuring that the technology never overshadowed the organic emotional core of the performance.
To visually capture the essence of the track, director Sebastián Gómez Agudelo was brought on board to helm the music video. Agudelo’s cinematic approach avoids polished, commercial tropes in favor of an intimate, documentary-style journey. The video follows Vahos as she traverses the geographical continuum between the bustling, urban density of Medellín and the remote, mist-shrouded seclusion of the village of Horizontes.
Throughout the visual narrative, the camera captures Vahos moving through familiar streets, interacting with her extended family, and ascending into the hills that her parents and grandparents called home. By anchoring the video in these hyper-specific locations—the distinct architecture of Horizontes where names replace numbers on doors—Agudelo and Vahos created a visual testimony to generational continuity. The video does not merely document a homecoming; it visualizes the psychological shift that occurs when an individual reconnects with their ancestral earth.
Supporting Context & Metrics
The Acoustic Ecology of Hogar
To fully appreciate “Nuevos Horizontes,” it is necessary to examine the broader album project from which it springs. Hogar, scheduled for release on September 18 via Shika Shika, represents a thematic and geographical milestone for Robin Perkins. The album was constructed during a deeply transitional period in Perkins’ life: the process of putting down permanent roots in France for the very first time.
This biographical detail creates a fascinating thematic counterpoint between the producer and his featured vocalist. While Perkins’ creative journey on Hogar is one of arrival and stabilization—building a hearth in a new European home—Vahos’s contribution on “Nuevos Horizontes” explores the concept of home as a place of return, a spiritual and physical sanctuary located in the past and the mountains of her ancestors.
The sonic architecture of Hogar relies heavily on acoustic ecology. Perkins utilized an extensive archive of field recordings gathered over years of global travel, domestic life, and artistic exploration. The album incorporates the ambient sounds of remote islands, the chatter of long evenings spent in the company of friends, the rustle of wind through forests, and the domestic hum of daily existence. These raw sonic elements are woven seamlessly into electronic arrangements, creating a listening experience that blurs the boundary between ambient music, ethnographic field recording, and contemporary folk.
Etymological and Cultural Significance
The title of the album, Hogar, carries profound etymological weight that informs the entire musical project. Derived from the Latin word focus, which translates literally to "fire" or "hearth," the term originally designated the physical fire burning in the absolute center of a primitive human dwelling. Over centuries, the linguistic evolution transformed the word from the literal flame to the entire structure built around it—the home.
Perkins harnesses this ancient definition throughout the album. In an era marked by digital hyper-connectivity, ecological displacement, and urban migration, Hogar asks listeners to reconsider what constitutes a hearth. For Perkins, the hearth is constructed from audio memories—the sounds captured on cassette recorders and digital microphones during moments of genuine human connection. For Vahos, as expressed in “Nuevos Horizontes,” the hearth is the geographical and spiritual coordinates of the Andean mountain.
Key Production and Release Metrics
To contextualize the scale and reach of the release, the following data points outline the operational framework surrounding “Nuevos Horizontes” and the Hogar campaign:
- Album Hogar
- Featured Single: "Nuevos Horizontes"
- Primary Artist / Producer: El Búho (Robin Perkins)
- Featured Vocalist / Co-Writer: Ana María Vahos
- Record Label: Shika Shika (Co-founded by El Búho and Barrio Lindo)
- Release Date (Album): September 18
- Global Listening Party Date: September 13
- Geographical Settings: Medellín and Horizontes village (altitude 2,250 meters, Antioquia, Colombia); San Pedro de los Milagros (birthplace of Vahos); rural France (where Perkins established his current home).
- Demographic Scale of Horizontes: 195 residents, notable for utilizing resident names rather than numeric street addresses.
- Prior Discography References: Ana María Vahos’s debut album Los Días (2022); Shika Shika label active foundation year (2015).
Official Statements
While direct, extended press interviews regarding the immediate rollout of the single reflect the intimate and organic nature of the Shika Shika collective, statements provided by the artists and label materials shed light on the philosophical underpinnings of the work.
Robin Perkins, reflecting on the conceptual framework of the album during the finalization of Hogar, emphasized the intersection of personal geography and sound design:
"Making this record coincided with a profound moment in my own life—finally building a permanent home and putting down roots in France after years of perpetual movement. I found myself listening back to years of field recordings, private moments, travels across continents, and quiet evenings with friends. Hogar became an exploration of what that word truly means, tracing it back to the fire in the center of the house. It is about gathering those acoustic embers and building a sanctuary out of sound."
Ana María Vahos, discussing her creative relationship with the mountain landscape and her collaboration on “Nuevos Horizontes,” articulated the deeply personal connection to her familial roots:
“Cuando voy a la montaña, voy a mí. For those of us who carry the Andes in our blood, the high country is not just scenery; it is an mirror of our identity. In Horizontes, where our houses bear our family names instead of numbers on a grid, home is permanent and written into the earth itself. Collaborating with Robin allowed me to take this deeply local, intimate feeling of homecoming and translate it into a universal language through song and guitar.”
Label representatives from Shika Shika further contextualized the release within their ongoing mission to champion organic electronic music that respects cultural heritage and environmental awareness:
"Releases like ‘Nuevos Horizontes’ define the exact mission of Shika Shika. We are not interested in sterile club tracks or fast-consumption streaming pop. We want to facilitate conversations between global electronic producers and traditional folk artists who hold the stories of their lands. By fusing Robin’s sonic ecology with Ana María’s profound poetic storytelling, we are offering listeners a genuine space for reflection, memory, and belonging."
Future Outlook
As the global music community prepares for the full release of Hogar on September 18, following the global listening party scheduled for September 13, the cultural impact of collaborations like “Nuevos Horizontes” points toward a maturing niche within electronic and folk music. The project demonstrates that electronic production does not need to flatten cultural specifics into generalized, globalized lounge music; instead, when handled with anthropological care and artistic reverence, electronic music can serve as an amplifier for hyper-local traditions and indigenous storytelling.
For Ana María Vahos, the release of “Nuevos Horizontes” and her collaboration with an internationally recognized producer like El Búho expands her audience beyond the borders of Colombia, introducing her distinct cantautora style to listeners across Europe, North America, and beyond. It validates the ongoing relevance of traditional guitar-and-voice formats when placed in dialogue with contemporary acoustic ecology.
For Robin Perkins and the Shika Shika label, Hogar marks a conceptual maturation. By turning his microphone inward—capturing domestic stability rather than just exotic travel—Perkins has created his most deeply personal work to date. The success of “Nuevos Horizontes” suggests that audiences are increasingly hungry for art that prioritizes authenticity, ecological mindfulness, and a sense of rootedness in an increasingly fragmented world.
As listeners tune into the September 13 listening parties and anticipate the full September 18 album drop, “Nuevos Horizontes” will stand as a testament to the power of memory. Whether in the mist-shrouded alleys of Horizontes where houses bear human names, or within the digital grooves of a transnational electronic album, the human search for the central hearth—the focus, the hogar—remains an enduring artistic compulsion.
