Cumbia music by country

The diverse types of cumbia throughout Latin America

Due to the diversity of Latin America, Colombian and Panamanian cumbia music have undergone major changes as it has mixed with the regional music styles of several countries, especially with those of Ecuador, Peru and Mexico.

Argentina

In Argentina, due to its identity crisis, there is a social divide that is exemplified by the cumbia villera phenomenon that represents and resonates with the poor and marginalized dwellers of villas miseria, (shanty towns, and slums). Argentinian cumbia lyrics typically glorify theft and drug abuse. Pablo Lezcano, ex-member of Amar Azul and founder of Flor Piedra and Damas Gratis is known to be the creator of the cumbia villera "sound". However, a lighter form of cumbia enjoyed widespread popularity in Argentina during the 1990s. Antonio Rios (ex-Grupo Sombras, ex-Malagata) is a good representative of the Argentinian cumbia from the 1990s. The emergence of cumbia as a massively popular form of music in Argentina came perhaps with the release of Tarjetita de Invitacion by Adrian y Los Dados Negros in 1988 which was certified platinum, a first back then for a cumbia act.

Bolivia

The cumbia sound from Bolivia usually incorporates Afro-Bolivian Saya beats and tecnocumbia.

Chile

In Chile, cumbia is one of the most popular dance forms in the country. They have a style of their own, Chilean cumbia, and some of the most successful orchestras of this genre include Sonora Palacios, Viking 5, Giolito y su Combo, and La Sonora de Tommy Rey. However, Cumbia's popularity has been declining since the success of reggaeton in the early 2000s, losing part of the preferences of the popular sectors of society. However, it has regained popularity in late 2010s. thanks to the new rhythms like Nueva Cumbia Chilena, a particular fusion of cumbia and punk-rock styles.

Nowadays, Cumbia is gaining new attention as a result of emergence of acts formed by younger musicians usually labelled as "La Nueva Cumbia Chilena" (The new Chilean Cumbia), including bands such as Chico Trujillo, Banda Conmoción, Juana Fe, Sonora Barón, Sonora de Llegar, Chorizo Salvaje, Sonora Tomo como Rey, and Villa Cariño, among others. These new bands offer some of the classic tones and sounds of Chilean cumbia blended with rock or other folk Latin American styles.^[1] La Noche and Américo are also very popular acts, although they perform a more traditional style of Chilean cumbia, in some extend related to the style that dominated during the 1990s. The other substyle of the Chilean cumbia is called "sound", and it is the most popular cumbia style in the northern part of the country.

Colombia

Today, traditional cumbia is preserved and considered representative of the Colombian identity, especially on the northern Caribbean coast. The best representation of traditional Cumbia is shown every year on the Festival de la Cumbia in El Banco, Magdalena.^[2] The festival was created by one of the most important Colombian Cumbia composers, Jose Barros, in order to preserve the original rhythms of traditional Cumbia music. Modern forms of cumbia are also combined with other genres like vallenato, electronica or rock. This mixing of genres is found in the music of modern artists, such as Carlos Vives, Bomba Estéreo, Andrés Cabas, and Humberto Pernett.

Since the 1980s, in the city of Medellín, there has been growing interest among young and middle-aged people in "rescuing" the masterpieces of the '50s. It is the only city in Colombia where ballroom numbers of Cumbia, Porro and Gaita (an orchestrated variant of Porro Pelayero, or Palitiao) are still widely enjoyed and danced to by all ages of all social classes.

El Salvador

Orchestras such as Orchestra San Vicente, Los Hermanos Flores and Grupo Bravo perform cumbia with basic instrumentation, replacing accordion with brass instruments and woodwinds, and using traditional percussion and bass guitar.

Mexico

In the 1940s, a Colombian singer Luis Carlos Meyer Castandet emigrated to Mexico where he worked together with a Mexican orchestra director Rafael de Paz. There he made a record called La Cumbia Cienaguera, which is considered to be the first cumbia recorded outside of Colombia, He also recorded other hits like Mi gallo tuerto, Caprichito, and Nochebuena. At this moment, cumbia began to gain popularity in Mexico.

In the 1960s Mike Laure included rock and roll elements into the Cumbia, to create a new style.

In the 1970s Aniceto Molina also emigrated to Mexico, where he joined the group from Guerrero, La Luz Roja de San Marcos, and recorded many popular tropical cumbias, such as La Cumbia Sampuesana, El Campanero, El Gallo Mojado, El Peluquero, and La Mariscada. Moreover, in the 70s a Mexican singer called Rigo Tovar became very popular with his fusion of Cumbia with ballad.

Among some other popular Mexican Cumbia composers and interpreters, there are Efrén David, Super Grupo Colombia, Grupo Kual, La Tropa Vallenata, Celso Piña Y su Ronda Bogotá, Fito Olivares, Grupo Cañaveral, Los Angeles Azules, Alberto Pedraza, Los Angeles de Charly, Los Caminantes, and Grupo Bronco, to name a few.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua became a stronghold of Cumbia music during the 1950s and 1960s. The country has its own variation of cumbia music and dance.^[3] Mostly known for its cumbia chinandegana in the Northwestern section of the country, it has also seen a rise in cumbia music artists on the Caribbean coast like Gustavo Layton.

Panama

Cumbia is a dance and musical genre with strictly folklore and cultural character in Panama.

Peru

Peruvian cumbia, particularly from the 1960s to mid-1990s, is generally known as "Chicha", although this definition is quite problematic as both Peruvian cumbia and Chicha currently co-exist and influence each other (good examples include Agua Marina's popular cover of Los Eco's "Paloma Ajena" and Grupo Nectar's cover of Guinda's "Cerveza, Ron y Guinda"). Peruvian cumbia started in the 1960s with groups such as Los Destellos, and later with Juaneco Y Su Combo, Los Mirlos, Los Shapis, Cuarteto Continental, Los Diablos Rojos, Pintura Roja, Chacalon y la Nueva Crema and Grupo Néctar. Some musical groups that play Peruvian cumbia today are: Agua Marina, Armonia 10, Agua Bella, and Grupo 5. These groups would be classified as Cumbia but often take songs and techniques from Chicha and Huayno in their stylings or as songs. Grupo Fantasma was a Peruvian-Mexican cumbia group. Andean Cumbia, is a style that combines Andean music and cumbia. This style has even become popular in Mexico, as some groups like Grupo Saya claim to be Cumbia andina mexicana, Mexican Andean Cumbia.

See also

• Argentine cumbia

References