About this Artist
COLOMBINA PARRA created the band Ex in 1996 with Pablo Ugarte, Hernán Edwards, and Octavio Bascuñán. That band followed a project called Barracos. However, Ex opted for a harder and more important role for the lead singer (the daughter of the famous poet Nicanor Parra, and niece of Violeta Parra), whose voice distinguished the band as one of the most interesting of the prolific rock scene of the late ’90s.
Smart topics (female but not feminist) chosen by the group, and tunes ranging from rock to fast-paced, darker sounds (as in “Las mismas porquerías” or “Nadie esta”), gave the band a distinguished and unique sound, and they filled their agenda with live performances around Chile. But in 1997, Pablo Ugarte announced his departure from the band.
After the departure of Ugarte the band transformed to a trio, this time with Colombina playing bass. They began to prepare a new album that was never issued. The later departure of Bascuñan created a long pause for the band, which Edwards and Parra took for time to study and graduate as architects.
Following the publication of a single album and years on hiatus, the group announced its reformation in 2004, when Colombina was also part of the trio Besos con Lengua and the band settled on a trio format. Since 2004 the band began a second period of activity, with two new albums.
In the year 2006 Ex returned to life. The name of the band was changed to Los Ex and an album called Cocodrila (for which they recruited Claudius Rieth as the new bassist) began performing live in January 2007, opening a new episode for the group with songs like “Llorar aquí mismo” or “Vida Social,” one of the most widespread releases of that year. The album was mentioned as one of the most exciting in 2007, and definitively gave Los Ex a rock group identity. Cocodrila was presented in Santiago and the provinces, and had its debut in Argentina in mid- 2007.
A sequence of three music videos made by Altered Productions (of the songs “En la piscina,” “Me has pegado,” and “Quiero ser la blondie”) revitalized this album, and preceded the launch of the third studio album of the band, called Pistola de plastico, released in November 2008.
Colombina choose to work on a new project in 2011, launching her solo debut album, Flores como gatos, based on a style closer to Cuban trova rather that the rocker’s codes that distinguish her first musical projects. All the songs of Flores como gatos were written in 2010 when Colombina was pregnant with her second child. She moved to Las Cruces, alone with her guitar, and composed a number of songs, marked by smooth melodies and intimate and familial texts. In 2011, with the production of Hernán Edwards (guitarist of Los Ex) and her brother Barraco Parra, she recorded these songs.
In 2013, Colombina launched a new album, Detrás del vidrio. For this Colombina recruited Barraco Parra and the drummer Aldo Benincasa. The album was recorded in the studio of Caco Lyon and was produced by the famous Chilean producer Christian Heyne. Detrás del vidrio was nominated in the category of Best Pop Album in the Altazor awards in 2014.
Currently Columbina is working on a new album expected to be ready at the end of the year.