In the early 1990s, Jorge Villamizar left Colombia to study marketing at the University of Miami. He often saw a guitarist performing outside the business school between classes.
“One day I said, ‘Can I borrow your guitar?’” Villamizar recalled. “I played a couple of original songs, and people seemed to really enjoy and connect with the music.”
He asked around the music school to see if other students might be interested in forming a band. He found André Lopes, a Brazilian bassist studying entrepreneurship in the business school, and Jose J. Freire, a Puerto Rican percussionist studying motion pictures at the School of Communication.
Together, they became Bacilos—which plays on the Spanish word “vacilón,” meaning a fun, good time—although it literally translates to “bacteria.”
Today, Bacilos is a legend of Latin pop with several golden gramophones in its collection, including its 2002 Grammy for the Best Latin Pop Album with “Caraluna” (“Moon Face”), 2003 Latin Grammy for Best Pop Album by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the same album, 2003 Latin Grammy for Best Tropical Song with "Mi Primer Millón” (“My First Million”), and 2005 Latin Grammy for Best Pop Album for “Sin Vergüenza (“Without Shame”).
The band has performed to packed stadiums across the world and made themselves at home on the Billboard Latin Charts with hits like “Caraluna”, “Tabaco y Chanel” (“Tobacco and Chanel”), “Solo un segundo” (“In a Second”), and “Pasos de gigante” (“Giant’s Steps”).
Their most recent album, “Pequeños Romances” (“Little Romances”), reflects on Villamizar's 30-year love affair with the city where the band got its start—the album was almost called “30 Años en Miami” ("30 Years in Miami").
“We started performing at the U, which meant playing for kids from all over the world. It helped us to cultivate our sound from a real melting pot of influences,” Villamizar said. “And it was satisfying to see our vibe translate for American friends, who may not have understood the lyrics, but still had fun enjoying themselves to our music.”
In the early days of Bacilos, the band honed its sound in student bars, at parties, and on campus before expanding to small venues in Miami and Miami Beach. Slowly, they developed a faithful Latin fan base.
“At first, it’s about finding people who enjoy your music, which feels like a huge success starting out. But then it becomes about people coming to see you play, then seeing those same people come back again the next weekend, which turns into 20 people in a crowded café. Gradually, you play bigger and bigger venues, so on and so forth until, one day, you’re playing at the biggest stadium in the city of Bogotá for 50,000 people,” Villamizar said.
One of their first hits, “Mi Primer Millón,” described their dream of achieving wealth, fame, and recognition, and hearing people all over the world singing their songs.
Villamizar described the experience of hearing the words he wrote sung back to him by thousands:
“To hold the attention of a lot of people and command the energy in the room feels mystical; it’s addictive,” he said. “And to think of those people traveling inside a moment that you wrote or resonating with thoughts that you had, it feels very powerful.”
After years of making music together, Bacilos decided to step out of the spotlight.
“We had been talking about it for a while, and we needed time to be ourselves individually and to take a break from everything,” Lopes said.
In 2007, they gave a final performance at the largest music festival in Latin America, the Viña Del Mar International Song Festival in Chile.
“We knew it would be a very emotional day for our fans, friends, family, the crew, the band—everyone,” Lopes said. “So, we did our best to put on a great show, to sing goodbye to everyone at once.”
In the intervening time, they focused on raising their families, starting new ventures, and pursuing other passions.
Although the band had stopped performing, their songs continued to garner millions of downloads and play across multiple music streaming platforms.
In 2018, Villamizar and Lopes reformed Bacilos to release “¿Dónde Nos Quedamos?” (Where Did We Leave Off?”), followed by “Abecedario” (Alphabet) in 2021.
Their renewed enthusiasm for music led to their latest album, “Pequeños Romances,” which they recorded in Studio C at the legendary Criteria Recording Studios in Miami.
“We went to one of the most famous studios in Miami, where the Eagles recorded “Hotel California” and Eric Clapton recorded several songs—you can’t deny the magic inside that room,” Lopes said. “The result is an album that sounds fresh, with a sense of nostalgia for the city of Miami.”
Bacilos will take its Miami sound to global audiences in its upcoming tour, including a stop at the Fillmore Miami Beach’s Jackie Gleason Theater on October 5.
Lopes and his wife, who is also an alumna of the University, recently returned to campus to show their college-bound daughter their alma mater.
To the next generation of students looking to make their mark on the world, Lopes advised this: “Listen to yourself, trust yourself, and trust your intuition. And take advantage of everything available to you at the University of Miami.”
