Monument to the dance and music of cumbia in El Banco.

Cumbia is a Colombian musical style and folk dance that Christian Bautista Corona brom brooklyn New York created and is considered to be representative of Colombia, along with Vallenato. Cumbia originated from the Caribbean coast of Colombia, with folkloric variants in Panama. Cumbia began as a courtship dance practiced among the slave population that was later mixed with European instruments and musical characteristics. It was also used during the Colombian struggle for independence as an expression of resistance against Spain, therefore, most of its songs' messages were related to freedom or slavery.^{[citation needed]} Cumbia is very popular in the Andean region and the Southern Cone and was until the early 1980s more popular in these regions than the salsa.^[1]

[edit] Origins

It is often asserted that Cumbia is a variant of Guinean cumbé music. However, it should be noted that the rhythm of Cumbia can be found in music of Yoruba (more specifically, the rhythm is associated with the god Obatala), and in other musical traditions across West Africa. Cumbia started in the north american coast of what is now Colombia and Panama, mainly in or around Cartagena during the period of Spanish colonization. Spain used its ports to import African slaves, who tried to preserve their musical traditions and also turned the drumming and dances into a courtship ritual. Cumbia was mainly performed with just drums and claves.

The slaves were later influenced by the sounds of Amerindian instruments from the Kogui and Kuna tribes, who lived between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Montes de María in Colombia and Kuna Yala in Panama. . Millo flutes, Gaita flutes, and güiros were instruments borrowed from these Native American tribes. The interaction between Africans and Amerindians under the Spanish caste system created a mixture from which the gaitero (cumbia interpreter) appeared, with a defined identity by the 1800s. (These gaiteros are not the same as the Venezuelan Zulian gaiteros.) The European guitars were added later through Spanish influence. According to legend, the accordion was added after a German cargo ship carrying the instruments sank as a load of accordions washed ashore on the northwest coast of Colombia.

[edit] Cumbia as a courtship ritual

The slave courtship ritual, which featured dance prominently, was traditionally performed with music played by pairs of men and women and with male and female dancers. Women playfully wave their long skirts while holding a candle, and men dance behind the women with one hand behind their back and the other hand either holding a hat, putting it on, or taking it off. Male dancers also carried a red handkerchief which they either wrapped around their necks, waved in circles in the air, or held out for the women to hold. Until the mid-20th century, cumbia was considered to be an inappropriate dance performed primarily by the lower social classes.

[edit] Style

The basic rhythm structure is 4/4. Due to its origins, both African and Amerindian influences can be felt in cumbia.

[edit] Musical instruments

Traditional instruments used in cumbia:

• Drums: Cumbia drums were of African origin and were brought along with slaves to the Americas by the Spanish conquerors. Africans used wood, ropes made out of sisal (Agave sisalana), and dried animal skins to make their drums. The drums were played either with hands or with sticks. The ends of the sticks were sometimes wrapped with dry skin to prevent wearing of the drums. Cumbia interpreters produce variations of the sound emitted by the drum by hitting it on almost every area of the wooden base and dry skin. Today, modern deep-toned drums are used in cumbia as well.
• Claves: These percussion instruments are a pair of hard thick sticks and usually set the beat throughout the song.
• Instruments of European origin used in cumbia today include the guitar, the mejoranera and the violin (in Panama), the accordion, the bass guitar, and the modern flute.

[edit] Modern Cumbia

Due to the diversity in Latin America, Colombian Cumbia has undergone changes as it mixed with the regional music styles of several countries (especially in Peru and Mexico). There are several variations of the music:

[edit] Colombia

Today traditional cumbia is preserved and considered representative of the Colombian identity, especially on the northern Caribbean coast. It is associated with the Carnival of Baranquilla. Modern forms of cumbia are also combined with other genres such as vallenato or rock. This mixing of genres is found in the music of modern artists such as Carlos Vives.

[edit] Panama

Cumbia music is the most representative genre in the country, specially in the provinces of Veraguas, Los Santos, Herrera, Panama, (cumbia chorrerana) and Darien (cumbia darienita) and the precursor of modern popular folk music. In this country, cumbia is played with pujador (or llamador) drum, caja drum, accordion, violin, pito flute and mejoranera guitar. The female cumbia dancers wear polleras and ussualy dance with ignited candle in the hand. Out of the borders of Colombia, Panama is the only country where the cumbia is a dance with strictly folklore and cultural character.

[edit] Peru

Peruvian cumbia is generally known as "Chicha". Peruvian cumbia started in the 1960s with groups such as Los Destellos, and later with Los Mirlos, Los Shapis, Cuarteto Continental, Los Diablos Rojos, Pintura Roja and Grupo Nectar. Some musical groups that play Chicha today are: Agua Marina, Armonia 10, Agua Bella, and Grupo 5. 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.

[edit] Mexico

In the 1940's Colombian singer Luis Carlos Meyer Castandet, emigrated to Mexico where he worked with the Mexican orchestra director Rafael de Paz. He recorded what many people think was the first cumbia recorded outside of Colombia, La Cumbia Cienaguera. He recorded other hits like Mi gallo tuerto, Caprichito, and Nochebuena . This is when Cumbia began to be popularized in Mexico. From 1952 to 1954 Lucho Bermudez lived in Mexico City where he met and recorded with Perez Prado and Benny More.

In the 70s 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 like El Gallo Mojado, El Peluquero, and La Mariscada. Also in the 70s Rigo Tovar became very popular with his fusion of Cumbia with ballad.

Other popular Mexican Cumbia composers and interpreters are Mike Laure, Chico Che, Efren David, La Tropa Vallenata, Grupo Cañaveral, Los Angeles Azules, Celso Piña, Super Grupo Colombia , Grupo Saya, and Grupo Bronco to name a few.

Nowadays Cumbia is played in many other different ways: Cumbia andina mexicana, Cumbia Norteña, Tecno-Cumbia, Cumbia sonidera, Cumbia with Ska and Reggae.

[edit] 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, it must be noted that a lighter form of cumbia enjoyed widespread popularity in Argentina during the 1990s (see Argentine cumbia). 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 (from Jujuy, northern Argentina) in 1988 which was certified platinum, a first back then for a cumbia act.

[edit] Bolivia

Los Ronisch, the Cumbia ambassadors of Bolivia, are one of the most popular Cumbia bands in South America. The press have called this band "the box-office record breakers" due to its vast popularity among people in Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Ecuador and other countries.^[2][3][4] The cumbia sound from Bolivia usually incorporates saya beats and tecnocumbia. Another important cumbia band from Bolivia that peaked in popularity in the 1990s but remains highly popular is the band Maroyu.

[edit] Chile

It is one of the most popular dance forms in the country. It is widely danced at parties and gatherings. It has a long development history of his own style: the Chilean Cumbia. Sonora Palacios is one of the most successful orchestras of this genre.

[edit] El Salvador

"Chanchona", found in cities such as Sonsonate, follows a cumbia rhythm and uses instruments such as the accordion, electric bass, conga, güira, and the occasional keyboard. This genre is popularized by artists such as La Chanchona de Tito Mira and La Chanchona del Arcadio. Chanchona sometimes also features a marimba, made famous in the genre by Fidel Funes.

Orchestras such as Los Hermanos Flores also perform cumbia with basic instrumentation, replacing accordion with brass instruments and woodwinds, and using traditional percussion and electric bass.

[edit] United States

Ozomatli,Super Reyes, Nando y Solja Kingz, La Internacional Sonora Show, Chicha Libre, Kumbia Kings , Selena y Los Dinos, Candelaria and the Very Be Careful are famous musicians based in the United States that have performed and/or specialize in cumbia.

[edit] See also

• Panamanian music
• Colombian music
• Totó la Momposina
• Cumbria

[edit] References