The Rough Guide to Cumbia

Not to be confused with World Music Network’s original Rough Guide to Cumbia, this is a completely new compilation of cumbias, gaitas and associated sub-genres of African-influenced dance music from Argentina, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America. In truth, cumbia is such a popular and varied genre that it’s impossible to represent it over just one CD – the moniker ‘Rough Guide’ seems particularly apt here. Featured are classic swing-infused big-band cumbias from Lucho Bermúdez and Pacho Galán, the tropical accordion sounds of Aníbal Velásquez y Su Conjunto and Los Corraleros de Majagual and plenty of cumbias that owe a huge debt to New York salsa. Adolfo Echeverría Y Su Orquesta’s ‘Noches de Cumbia’ and Juan Piña y La Revelacion’s ‘La Canillona’ are two fine examples of this hybrid of salsa and cumbia, losing none of the fire and flair of hard salsa but adding a distinctive 4/4 cumbia beat. Unfortunately, other than Medardo Padilla Y Su Conjunto’s opener there is little on the album to represent cumbia in its original flute-led format and nothing from the Afro-Colombian singers Totó La Momposina and Leonor Gonzalez Mina, which makes it a shame that the album instead chooses to close with three relatively contemporary cumbia tracks. Out of these, Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano Orchestra’s Latin jazz number and El Hijo De La Cumbia’s digital cumbia/dancehall fusion feel out of place, with neither adding much to the cumbia canon. However, apart from this unnecessary diversion it’s hard to bemoan any new cumbia compilation, as it’s still criminally under-represented in the UK, particularly for a genre which contains some of Latin America’s finest musicians.