Music: Magic Realists

Aterciopelados updates South American traditions

Colombia, birthplace of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and many of the fables about El Dorado, has long been a land where people search for the extraordinary. So two years ago, singer-guitarist Andrea Echeverri and bassist-producer Hector Buitrago of the Colombian rock duo Aterciopelados (ah-tair-see-oh-peh-lah-dose) trekked to Colombia's Putumayo region, befriended a local shaman and joined in what Buitrago calls a healing ritual. "They make this drink, and everyone has it," says Echeverri. "You get terribly sick and get in touch with the divine part of yourself and see beautiful things."

Some of that same sorcery--minus the stomach-upsetting side effects--is present in the...

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