Soroche, a Baltimore band with a bold claim on their website — 'Cumbia Is The New Punk' — have released a new album, Aseismic, on Washington DC's Electric Cowbell Records. To mark the launch they threw a block party at Llamada Plaza in Washington, and the record itself is a fast-spinning fusion of cumbia, ska, punk, folk and a dash of rock'n'roll — what the band call 'a danceable alchemy that crosses cultural dancefloors'.
For anyone new to the genre: cumbia began on Colombia's Caribbean coast in the 19th century as a folk dance blending African, Indigenous and Spanish traditions. Its catchy offbeat rhythms, driven by Afro-Colombian percussion, spread across Latin America and became a 1950s ballroom craze. The genre faded somewhat after the salsa boom of the 70s, but stayed huge in Mexico, Central America and Peru — where it's known as chicha.
The punk connection isn't new either. In the 80s, working-class youth across Latin America fused cumbia with punk and ska: Brazil's Os Paralamas do Sucesso, Argentina's Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, and later Mexico's Los de Abajo, who mixed rock, ska and cumbia on their 1999 album. Cumbia went truly global in the 90s — a 1998 Nescafe TV ad featuring Colombian musician Rodolfo Aicardi's La Colegiala was a watershed moment. More recently, Japan's Minyo Crusaders have been remixing Japanese folk music with cumbia and Afrobeat, hitting the World Music charts with their latest release.
That blending of influences comes naturally to Soroche founder and songwriter Rich Buenemann, who grew up between Colombia and the US, collecting cumbia and vallenato records alongside the punk and ska of his youth. Their new album reflects that soul-searching over roots and culture — the title Aseismic, per the band's press release, nods to the avoidance of looking too deeply into the past.
Musically it delivers. The opening track, Panamana, layers the band's migrant roots into a package of cumbia, ska and punk, with spirit from punk icon Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys on one track. Other highlights: fuzz guitars and scratchy riffing over a cool Farfisa organ and Colombian cumbia drum on Balas Perdidas, accordion on two cuts (including a shout-out to vallenato great Aniceto Molina), and a zydeco-flavoured closer, La Luna, with guest vocals from DC all-female cumbia band La Marvela. Ten tracks, most around three minutes — pop-song length, and they move fast. Expect Soroche to fill plenty of dancefloors with this material in the near future.
Worth noting for collectors: Nacional Records has reissued Joe Arroyo's landmark 1986 album, and Craft Latino has reissued the 1969 Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe smash Cosa Nuestra — both widely seen as early classics of Nuyorican sound.
Highly recommended for vinyl and world-music fans, and a good excuse to check out Baltimore's live Latin-fusion scene next time you're in town. (Source: Bangkok Post Life)
