PAN M 360 at Nuits d’Afrique – Pahua : A Latina Tornado

Pahua, real name Paulina Sotomayor, is a Mexican DJ, producer and songwriter. She plays folktronica, this new genre that mixes traditional sounds and electronic music. 

Her concert began late, which made me miss a large part of the recital by the Brazilian Luis Salgado, at Balattou, which was otherwise very good, in a very different register. 

As soon as she arrives on stage, Pahua envelops the audience with her disarming smile, her enthusiasm to be among us. She is surrounded by computers, but also by percussion and two musicians, an electric guitarist and a percussionist, both wearing enormous white glasses. 

Palhua composes, sings and is also a percussionist. Which gives a more percussive version in concert than that of his first album, Habita, released at the end of 2023. Groove quickly took hold and a majority of the audience started dancing. A mixture of cumbia and other Latin American rhythms stirred up Le Ministère. 

The electronic arrangements, mixed with traditional recorded instruments, notably accordion, flutes and trumpet, add musical material to the rhythm. There are also more meditative, more folk moments. 

Paulina Sotomayor also knows how to sing and clearly enjoys it. In addition, behind the stage, a video constantly shows images of both the urbanity and the nature of Mexico and Latin America. 

Because, if Pahua is Mexican and proud of it, we sense in her a desire to embrace all Latin American cultures. She will also, in a future project, be interested in Brazilian baile-funk, she told us in an interview. 

On her album Habita, she multiplied collaborations with musicians from across the continent, from Costa Rica to Chile. It is part of a larger ecosystem of folktronica, which would benefit from being better known here. 

Pahua is undoubtedly a Mexican artist to follow. And Le Ministère public seemed to enjoy it to the fullest.