Colombian singer-songwriter Andrés Cepeda is relaunching his independent record label, Andrés Cepeda Música, and marking the occasion with a live album that features a posthumous duet with Celia Cruz, Billboard reported on Aug. 5, 2025.

The album, Andrés Cepeda Big Band 2, arrived the same day as the label relaunch — a Wednesday release that doubles as the first project of Cepeda's new independent era. It was recorded during 12 concerts held in June 2025 at the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá, with a full orchestra accompanying 12 songs including 'El merecumbé,' 'Momposina,' 'Año viejo' and 'Rayito.' Billboard

The most striking detail sits inside one track. 'Las pilanderas' features the voice of Celia Cruz, the late queen of salsa, made possible by the discovery of an original stored-away tape of her performance. How that tape was found and who held it has not been detailed; what is confirmed is that the recording existed, was uncovered, and has now been woven into a new arrangement.

Cepeda's path to running his own label is a long one. His career spans more than three decades, starting in the early 1990s when he rose to fame as part of the group Poligamia. He went on to work with Warner, Sony and FM Entretenimiento before stepping out on his own. He is a five-time Latin Grammy winner — recognition from the Latin Recording Academy that places him among the most decorated artists in the Spanish-language industry.

The 'Big Band' concept itself is not new. It began in 2018 under Sony Music Colombia, meaning Cepeda has been building this orchestral project across label boundaries before bringing it under his own roof. The relaunch of Andrés Cepeda Música effectively puts both the artist and the concept under one independent structure — the label that owns the master recordings, controls the release schedule, and answers to no corporate parent.

For a five-time Latin Grammy winner with three decades of catalogue behind him, going independent at this stage is a bet on creative control and ownership. The master rights — the ownership of the original sound recordings — stay with the artist rather than a major label, a calculation that has drawn established artists across genres toward the independent route in recent years. The first test of that bet is now out: a live album recorded across a dozen nights in Bogotá, carried by an orchestra and, on one track, by a voice recorded years ago and nearly forgotten.