1. LA PAVA CONGONA - Andrés Landero y su Conjunto
This is an ultra funky jam from the early 60s that is very spare – just accordion, bass, and percussion – but within that deceptively simple format and really basic ingredients, Landero makes the Colombian equivalent to Rufus Thomas’ “Funky Chicken”, only for lowriders and cumbiamberos. Only this time it’s dedicated to the regional bird in the title, and the bass player imitates the rhythmic movements of the “pava” (something like a female turkey), which makes for an extremely bumping break about midway through the track. Feeling this was just ripe for a remix, I commissioned Sennor Sabor to bring it to today’s dancehall culture, and he worked wonders while maintaining its original integrity.
2. EL SOLTARIO (live) - Alfredo Gutiérrez
Vallenato, and sometimes its coastal cousin cumbia, often has a minor-key sadness amidst the upbeat rhythms and jaunty accordion, and Gutierrez is as capable as anyone of expressing emotional turmoil and depression within a party setting. This track has an incredible hook and a haunting, bluesy yodel refrain to it that somehow seems so right and yet somehow rather surreal at the same time. It must strike some sort of chord in the Latino psyche, because this monster hit has been covered by many groups and sometimes not under the same title; Dominican powerhouse trio Los Hermanos Rosario do a swinging merengue version, and there are cumbia renditions in Mexico and Central America as well. But Gutierrez is the original composer and I prefer his live version from the 80s because it’s more raw, the guitar is more up front, and Gutiérrez expresses his heart-felt desperation and hurt to spine-tingling effect.
3.CUMBIA DE SAL – Cumbia En Moog
If Bach can go Moog, so can cumbia! Found on the 1979 compilation Cumbia, Tobaco y Ron, this surprisingly funky novelty tune has one of those break-beat intros that loop makers drool for, and is hardly recognizable from its original 60s version by Los Falcons (worth checking out for its dark syncopated beauty). The whacked-out synth noodles and chipmunk chorus vocals only add to the “what the?” factor, in a good way. Lyrics sketch a night time party on the beach with drink and dance, with the smell of sea salt, the beat of the drums, and the rustle of swaying palm leaves providing a natural stimulant for the proceedings. Hats off to Fruko and Discos Fuentes for letting this experiment in afro-modernization happen.
4. LA NEGRA CELINA – Los Golden Boys
A classic cumbia interpreted here in a charmingly off-kilter way by Los Golden Boys, from their early album Riquísimo. The combination of nutty keyboards, an out of tune sax, plucky guitar, and funky raspa scratches make for a thoroughly enjoyable romp, even if it’s short, simplistic, and raw as a Ramones track! The lyrics call for lighting the candle so the people can dance – traditional cumbia takes place at night and the dancers hold a candle while they gyrate in circles – the candle is both the life force, and vitality of the cumbia itself. “Prende la vela” is a stock phrase in most Afro-Latin lyrics that can mean to ‘heat up the drum’, but also symbolizes the flash of sexual energy between male and female dancers. The original interpretation is by Cristóbal “Perequito” Pérez, though made famous by the orchestra of Porfi Jímenez, and versioned by many including most recently by Michael Ramos with his Charanga Cakewalk project.
5. TOBACO Y RON – Rodolfo y Su Típica RA7
This famous Venezuelan composition has been covered in many styles, from salsa to merengue, as well as earlier cumbia renditions, and later vallenato and chicha versions, but Rodolfo Aicaidi’s remains the definitive statement. “I bring the pure contraband (la contra)” he intones, alluding to the fact that music is like a drug, and tobacco and rum are ritual sacraments (and drugs) that go with any good bembé (a general term for a dance party which derives from the term for an Afro-Cuban Santería Lucumí ceremony). The interplay between the brass and percussion is what modern urban cumbia was all about in the 1970s!
6. PLAYA BLANCA - Joe Rodríguez
A slow sensual cumbia from the 1970s with Afro-Cuban piano tumbao and guajeo figures that lean heavily in the direction of salsa on the bridge. Many lyrics from Caribbean areas tell of romance on the white sands and express nostalgia and heartbreak at being away from home. Here Joe Rodríguez tells of a pretty girl who he can never forget; he wants to return to the white beach where his girl is waiting for him. An often covered tune by Venezuelan tropical star Nelson Henríquez, it is popular in Central America and Mexico as well. Its beguiling simplicity allows you to just feel the groove and imagine yourself returning to the warm tropical sands and the arms of your lover.
7. LOS SABANALES – Los Corraleros De Majagual
There is something so pure and funky about this tune – the lone accordion, deep melodic bass, proto-drum machine sounding clip-clopping percussion, and mournful country style choral singing (amazing to think this dates from the 1960s). The sentimental lyrics by vallenato genius Calixto Ochoa tell of a man who misses the woman he met back home in the grassland savannah (sabana), and to help him remember her, he is painting his beloved sabanero landscape exactly as it is, with the tree in the patio where she used to lie in the sun. He hopes that this will bring her heart closer to him. Lead vocalist and squeezebox maestro Ochoa ‘Africanizes’ the lyric by playfully improvising in a percussive style in counterpoint to the downbeat. A dancefloor killer that sneaks up on you.
8. MI MACHETE – Grupo Niche
Grupo Niche is tropical music group most commonly associated with salsa, founded in 1978 in Bogotá and founded by Jairo Varela and Alexis Lozano. Many DJs turn to the group’s classic cuts like “La Negra no Quiere” for some of that Colombian salsa sabor; but few mine their infrequent cumbia tracks, which is a pity, because cuts like this prove that Niche can kick it with the best cumbiamberos. It’s got everything you need – the rolling percussion, punchy horns, Afro-Colombian vocals – I especially like the combination of mesmerizing beats and social consciousness that the anti-violence lyrics promote.
9. CUMBIA SOBRE EL MAR - Pablo Mayor/Folklore Urban
I am always excited when an innovative artist takes on a classic tune or “traditional” genre and reinterprets it to stunning effect. Pablo Mayor is a genius Colombian piano player based in NYC who really turns things on its head with this recording – a wonderful jam that effectively infuses dance material with the modernity, freedom and sophistication of urban jazz without losing that quintessential rural authenticity that gives the best acoustic cumbia cuts a sense of value.
10. PIIJI GUYALERA - Pluma y Sus Cumbiamberos
Perhaps obscure anywhere else but Colombia, Pluma y Sus Cumbiamberos is a well-loved 1970s cumbia conjunto (group) that exemplifies the best example of the influence that the seminal brass-led Los Corraleros de Majagual had on the scene. This track is party gold; it’s the best Pluma has to offer, it’s like Los Corraleros but with a more raw 70s street edge, adding some electric guitar and reggae feel for augmented Caribbean flavor. Though they may be merely the offspring of Los Corraleros, Pluma sure holds his own here; crazy brass (check out the clarinet on this record), pumping organ, and bubbling percussion, coupled with mostly humorous song themes, dominate on this release that has yet to see the light of day digitally. Reissue anyone??
