Cumbia is one of the world's great dance grooves. It is made up of merry guitars and accordions, torrid brass, and insistent, deep-toned drums and percussion, pounding out a lopsided, strutting 4/4 rhythm with a kick like nitroglycerine. Cumbia is the result of three colliding cultures that settled in Colombia at different times. Indigenous peoples were followed by the Spanish conquistadors, who added on Moorish influences from the sack of Granada. Finally, African slaves were brought in, and they supplied both the rhythm and the means to bring it forth. From its beginnings as a courtship dance among the slave population, cumbia gradually became the soul of the entire nation. The tunes on this compilation make it easy to understand why. They were licensed from the Sonolux label and date from the '60s through the '90s. Uniformly infectious and compulsively danceable, this is an essential party album, a good time on a disc. --Christina Roden
Album Description
Cumbia is one of the great Latin rhythms and Colombia's most popular dance music. The Rough Guide To Cumbia highlights the golden age of this infectious dance rhythm, exploring its folkloric roots in the rural communities of Colombia's Caribbean coast, and featuring tracks from the biggest cumbia stars. Artists include: Alberto Pacheco, Corraleja 71, Lucho Bermúdez, Lisandro Meza, Leonor González Mina, Edmundo Arias, Los Hispanos and Los Black Stars