Bacilos (Bacteria) – Latin pop-folk group
In 1995, three members of Bacilos got together in Freire’s garage, where he created a small recording studio. His garage was located in a small Miami district, which was home to many Cuban immigrants, hence the name Little Havana. In that garage, the band recorded their most famous album Caraluna, which brought them a Grammy Award for the Best Latin Pop Album.
When the trio just started playing together, they were all studying at the University of Miami. Villamizar and Lopes were majoring in business while Freire was studying film production. The students got together because of the shared passion for music. Soon they realized that it would become the focus of their lives.
Bacilos were dreaming about packing the Miami bars and clubs with fans. That’s why they initially started playing punk rock music. The second reason for making this choice was the preferences that dated back to their youth. Bacilos loved Prince, Guns’n’Roses, and Rolling Stones. It’s interesting to note that Lopes, who was born in Brazil, discovered Latin music only after moving to the USA.
Just like Lopes Villamizar also wanted to play English pop music. He especially liked the Beatles. However, his mom, who was a music teacher, taught him a few Latin songs. She was the one, who helped the boy discover Columbian, Peruvian, and Brazilian music.
