The name El Coltivador stems from the fact that this singer rapper has a green thumb in his life off stage. What he likes to grow, we’ll leave to the imagination—we’ll just say that he’s essentially a reggae artist, a lover of jazz, soul and funk. He studied the piano from the age of five, grew up listening to groups like De La Soul, Public Enemy, and Run DMC from the States, and all the while practiced diligently at free styling until in 2010 he was ripe with ideas to lay down on his debut album. The five-song EP entitled High Soul is a truly inspired reggae/rap/dancehall concoction and a mega-collaboration for such a short album, featuring appearances by underground hip hop and dub artists Violent Beat, Dj Noko, Anti Honest and Willy Avalanche. In the years following the debut release, El Coltivador kept his emphasis on collaboration and has done a whole string of projects with Milan area artists, even showing up on a compilation album Project Vol. 2 Suburban. His latest ten-tack release entitled E + came out in 2013. You can pick up the CD at one of his shows. Recorded at Big Bang Family Studios in Stabio, the album features the collaboration of a long list of artists, including Boldi B and Dj Daf Tee, Willy Avalanche, Diamond and Nx, DJ Stoppa 24.7, Beri from Bellinzona, DJ Ras T from Palma and DJ Farmbeat. For El Coltivador’s live show, he keeps it simpler. Robi Gobbi, the legendary reggae and Italian folk guitarist, is his main man, and together they put on a live semi-acoustic roots, reggae and rock show, featuring songs from El Coltivador’s albums. The dynamic duo just rocked the Speakeasy in Milan in February for Emergenza Festival Italia. Be sure to check back in with us at Emergenza.net to find out if they made it to the semifinals.

MC