Cumbia – Super Sonido

If you ever get a hold of a Mexican cumbia bootleg record that has no song names and only the dj’s names on the front cover – rest assured it comes from the cumbia sonidera subculture movement in Mexico City that was happening in the 80’s. Much like the Northern Soul movement that took place in England in the 70’s, it was Mexican sonideros discovering rare, previously overlooked tropical/cumbia songs, […]

Although the roots of the bolero are said to have begun in Spain, it wasn’t until the early part of the 20th century that the genre progressed in the country of Cuba. Having emerged as a dance form and a musical cross with Cuban son – it would go on to evolve throughout Latin America in trio form, as probably one of the most recognizable vocal […]

Sorry about the last 3 days. Being a bit sick and running out of ideas for this month sucks. Anyway, without too much detail, I thought I’d throw up some tracks from accordionist  Aniceto Molina. Considered “El Embajador de la Cumbia“, Molina would end up becoming more popular outside of his country rather than in his own native Colombia – most notably […]

For the last 2 years I’ve been desperately trying to buy all the cumbia records from Ecuador that I possibly can. You’d think since the country is sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, that I would have a ton of success. But unfortunately I haven’t. It might possibly be that Ecuador didn’t have as robust a musical heritage/recording industry as the other two aforementioned countries, or quite possibly, […]

Not sure why I pulled these tracks from the Discos Fuentes label. Four really solid songs, but from a couple of different approaches to the early cumbia genre. The first three are from much more obscure groups/combos and are a good reflection of the traditional cumbia ensemble of the era. Whereas, the more popular/well-known Sonora Cordobesa had success in updating the cumbia genre with its much larger sound. Since most of these 45’s are Mexican reissues, I’m […]

As you know I like my 45 scratchy and slow, so with that I give you these slowed down Peruvian delights. The first one is La Cumbia del Japones by Los Destellos, notice the riff on Caliventura by Afrosound, not sure which one came first. (on a side note, I know it seems kinda messed […]

Colombian vs. Mexican cumbias. I’m too busy tonight to write anything else. Plus I don’t wanna start any wars. Enjoy! 1. Climaco Sarmiento y su Orquesta: Bombo Y Maracas 2. Che-Came El Mago De Los Teclados: Bombo Y Maracas 

Un saludo al gran maestro Peruano Carlos Pickling y todos los sonideros Mexicanos que tocan su rolas chingonas. Sin y con rebajada. Andale!!! 1. Carlos Pickling y su Conjunto: Cumbia Del Sol 2. Carlos Pickling y su Conjunto: Noche De Estrellas 3. Carlos Pickling y su Conjunto: Cumbia Del Sol (rebajada)  

It would come as no surprise that singer and accordionist Lisandro Meza was catapulted to major stardom in 1980/90’s Colombia. Starting out as a modest vallenato musician (accordion heavy cumbia) to being part of the Discos Fuentes super-group Los Corraleros de Majagual – Lisandro would solidify his career by modernizing the vallenato combo sound. Through the combination of electric bass, congas, and an introduction of brass instrumentation –  Lisandro Meza […]

Ramón Antonio Ropaín Elías was born in Río Frío in 1920, and was raised in Ciénaga, Magdalena, Colombia. He studied both piano and pharmacology, traveling to the United States for a time, before returning to Colombia in the 1950’s and settling in Barranquilla, where he became the piano player in the orchestra of Lucho Bermúdez.    […]

I just wanted to post the full Panamérika show for you. It seems that the interview got picked up by the Ibero 90.9 FM, which is a private college radio station in Mexico City. The funny thing is, there is a ton of pretty awesome record dealers right next to the Ibero (Universidad Iberoamericana) – I’ve come up huge there in the […]

When a man by the name of Uriel Waizel emailed me from Mexico City wanting to do an interview at my house, I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical at first. For a while now, I have been familiar with the online radio/tv station he works at: Panamérika.fm – they have spoken about Super Sonido in the past, so that wasn’t the […]

Rick from Manchester England sent these two to me. Some awesome Colombian music by way of England. He didn’t actually write anything about them, just sent me the Mp3’s and images. But totally appreciated nonetheless. I’ve never heard these two. Hmmm….what else was I going to say?….oh yeah…Enjoy! 1. Nacho Peredes: El Diablo De La […]

If cumbia began as a form of low-brow Latin American music, then it would be considered even a step lower when accompanied by the organ. If it weren’t for the infectious down tempo – it would be more like listening to music in an ice skating rink. It nevertheless acts as a good substitute for the accordion. Only an organ could pull off the melancholy sound that is given with […]

Can you see that I’ve been doing for the last 3 days? Anyone want to guess what I’ll do tomorrow? Well whatever it is, I promise it will be more extensive than this post. More swing than jazz – but I gotta run! Work and dj gig tonight. Go go go!!! Enjoy! 1. Pacho Galan: Afinando Los Trombones

Like my prior post, I’m pulling out all these hybrid crossover 45’s of the cumbia genre. However, I don’t have much to say about this track. In fact, I’m not even sure if there existed a band called “Mariachi Mexico” – seems like kind of a generic name. Also the song title is a bit odd, La Derrota De Damasco (The Road to […]

In Colombia, Los Llanos (the plains) are the vast agricultural lands of savannah that stretch all the way to Venezuela. Both the vallenato and cumbia originated in the northern Caribbean coast – whereas a different type of music from the plain region developed around the instrument of the harp. Musica Llanera, or so it’s called, never really got the attention that other […]

This 45 was given to me by my uncle in a bag along with some Michael Jackson records, a Los Destellos record, and another equally perplexing yet amazing 45 by a guy named Luis Bullion, which sounds like something Allan Vega would make if he was from Peru. Anyways, I asked my uncle where he […]

Around the 50’s and 60’s saw the dawn of big band cumbia, working its way from the countryside of Colombia into the urban middle classes. With that came  a less rural, more textured sound, which was usually accompanied by the clarinet (swapping the flauto de millo). This new form of cumbia, for the most part, would stay true to the original spirit of the rural Cumbia. However, the big band […]

I wanted to start the New Year off right by throwing up some free downloads from Dj Lengua’s new 7 song EP release Cruzando. Usually I try not put up anything from my label (Unicornio), I like to keep it separate from my audioblog. But Eamon (Lengua), suggested that I  should offer a few tracts […]

Be sure to check out my earlier post about Anibal Velasquez along with the PR kit from Analog-Africa’s release. So I’m really not going to get into much detail this time around. I just picked up this album recently and I couldn’t resist putting it up. I’ve had the song Mira Como Es on a CD for quite some time […]

Guarapo is a common Latin American iced drink made from cane sugar (jugo de caña). Although it can be found from South America to Mexico, the name is actually West African in origin: meaning “fermented drink”. The beverage is very popular in Cuba and Brazil. La Guarapera is the person/mobile vendor who makes the guarapo, usually from extracting the juice from an […]

I got hit listening to a bunch of Peruvian reissue records lately, which in turn made me want to post a few of my own Chicha gems. If I had to explain this new renaissance in Cumbia music though, in its most simplistic way, is that all this popularity is not without merit. The music is great and I am happy to see interest in this […]

I must be getting the same press kits as Oliver at Soul-Sides, some PR outfit sent me the Roots of Chicha 2 aswell. But be sure to check out Soul-Sides Cumbia article, O-dub kind of nails it – with respect to the resurgence/popularity of the cumbia genre. The one I really liked the best was Ranil’s Jungle Party. Pretty […]

It’s in the Caribbean coastal region of Colombia where the origins of the cumbia ensemble or the conjunto de gaitas began. However, unlike most popular Latin American music – the gaita was not just the amalgamation of African (drums) and European (lyrics) traditions – but it also fused an Amerindian ( flute) element as well. Folkloric groups from the Atlantic region of Colombia still perform this early genre of cumbia to […]

Dj Lengua and I had the great pleasure of helping out Dj and record collector extraordinaire Samy Ben Redjeb on his new compilation release entitled: Anibal Velasquez: Mambo Loco. Even though most of our selected tracks hit the cutting room floor, we were still happy to help him out with his record in anyway we could.  Samy, aka Analog Africa, has been […]

I did a post about this song Mi Cacharrito (my little car) almost 2 years ago, if anyone remembers or not. Anyway, I was literally given an alternate cumbia version of the song on 45 about 30 minutes ago from friend and colleague El Dj Roger Más.    You see, I made him a fried egg sandwich at my house […]