The Psy-Fi Recommends Cumbia Albums To Janszoon Thread
 

Please, Psy-Fi, I want some recs!

:laughing: I was actually going to start a cumbia thread today.

Okay, to start with, here's a newer 9-piece instrumental cumbia group from Mexico City, Mexico named "Sonido Gallo Negro" which translates to "Black Rooster Sound" in English. The name of the album is "Sendero Mistico" (Mystic Path) and features a psychedelic sound running throughout the album along with some chica, and surf music blended into the mix. This is their second of three albums they've released so far since 2011...

Wow! Just listening to bits and pieces of the YouTube video and it sounds amazing. I dig the combo of the psychedelic/chicha and surf elements in there. Seems like great driving at night music.

^ I dig everything I've heard by them so far. All three of their albums are worth a listen (the third one due for an April release date, has several tracks already uploaded to YouTube.)

Here's one I posted several days ago in another thread... La Delio Valdez, a 14-piece cumbia group from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This is their self-titled debut album released in 2012, which has a much more traditional cumbia sound than the previously mentioned cumbia group "Sonido Gallo Negro."

Here's a compilation of various 70's Peruvian cumbia groups with mostly psych/garage-rock influences as well as a couple of soul & funk influenced songs. The CD version has 18 tracks rather than the 16 tracks shown here. Mostly original songs with a couple of recognizable covers...

Here's an album combining cumbia with dub. Cumbia group "Frente Cumbiero" (from Bogotá, Colombia) collaborating with Guyanese dub music producer and engineer "Mad Professor" (Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser.)
The first 26 minutes of the album is cumbia which gives way to a cumbia/dub combination for the rest of the album. Several Bogotá-based artists such as Liliana Saumet (Bomba Estéreo), Javier Fonseca (Alerta Kamarada), Kiño (Kmusic) and Shaun Turner also appear on the album.

Here's a group from Peru that makes ample use of the surf guitar sound. Los Diablos Rojos (The Red Devils), if The Ventures had been from Peru, I imagine they might have sounded like this.
I'm not sure if the bikini-clad woman on the album cover was in the band at the time as a musician or a dancer or was just put on the cover to give the album a bit of sex appeal.
I haven't been able to find a release date for the album but looking at catalog numbers from the record label, it appears to have been released sometime between 1970 & 1971 and, based on that observation, also appears to have been the band's debut album.
This album "Al Rojo Vivo" (Red Hot) was appropriately titled, as this is a smoking hot album from start to finish. For a good dose of cumbia with that surf guitar sound, I highly recommend giving this one a listen.

Digital cumbia

Another cumbia group from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 7-piece "Agrupación Ilegal Los Imparciales" with their third album "El Sonidero" (The Sound) which was released in 2016.
There are several different cumbia styles on display throughout the album. Primarily, Peruvian cumbia (chicha) with the Farfisa organ combined with electric guitars as well as the "spaghetti western" sound which is also a hallmark of the chicha sound.

Thanks for all of these man! I'm especially looking forward to listening to Frente Cumbiero.

^ No hay problema. ;)

I have plenty more, so I'll keep adding them to this thread. Here are some videos related to Frente Cumbiero...


Mario Galeano from Frente Cumbiero is also the co-founder (along with Will Holland of Quantic) of the collective known as "Ondatrópica"

Ondatrópica's Mario Galeano on the Future of Cumbia | Miami New Times

I'll add this one to the list, since I just mentioned them. The debut album from "Ondatropica" the collaboration between Mario Galeano, from Frente Cumbiero, and English producer Will ‘Quantic’ Holland. Not specifically a cumbia album, as there are multiple styles on display throughout the album, but there is cumbia here to be sure. There is also a 3-LP + 1 7" set which has 29 tracks on it rather than the 19 tracks shown here on the YouTube video which is from the CD version of the album.

Here's the debut album from one of the great Peruvian cumbia groups, the originators of "jungle cumbia" Juaneco y su Combo...

I'm slowly checking these albums and I have to tell you I am fucking loving that Sonido Gallo Negro album. Weirdly enough, I feel like quite a few of the tracks would fit in very well on the Repo Man soundtrack. I'm listening to "El Ventarron" right now and it really makes me want to hop into a flying Chevy Malibu. This album is seriously like all the best aspects of exotica and surf rock rolled into a sweet cumbia package.

Here's another group from Peru which were mostly an instrumental, electric guitar-driven cumbia group and are credited with being the forerunners of the chicha sound.
Like the previously mentioned "Los Diablos Rojos" they have much in common with instrumental surf-rock groups like The Ventures.
This album is a recently released compilation of some of their more psychedelic tunes from 1968 to 1975 and while the band was primarily rooted in cumbia, this CD features them playing several different styles of music in addition to cumbia...

Here's one from "Chico Trujillo" from Chile. This is their fifth album, titled "Chico de Oro" (Golden Boy) featuring a more traditional cumbia sound with more accordion and horns rather than the surf guitar and farfisa organ which is so popular in chicha.

And speaking of traditional... here's a 5-piece band from Los Angeles that plays Colombian vallenato music (a traditional cumbia) using accordion, backed up with percussion and bass.
This is their sixth album...

Here's the debut EP from a 9-piece group from La Plata, Argentina, that has a style similar to Sonido Gallo Negro...

Here's another good compilation of Peruvian chicha. This one has songs by various groups recorded between the years 1968 and 1982. Most of the songs are from the 70's, though.

This one is from a group based in Arequipa, Peru. Similar in style to Sonido Gallo Negro and La Cicharata. This is their debut and only album they've released yet...

Here's one from another Peruvian group. Los Wembler's from Iquitos, founded in 1968 by Solomon Sanchez with his five sons. Along with Los Destellos and Juaneco y su Combo, they were one of the pioneers of the chicha style of cumbia. The 5 brothers still perform and tour to this day and are touring Europe in 2018.
This is their third album "La Danza Del Petrolero" (The Dance of Oil)...

From Moyobamba, Peru, "Los Mirlos" (The Blackbirds) founded in 1968 and still performing today with two of the founding members (Jorge Rodríguez and Danny Fardy Jhonston.) Another one of the early pioneers of "Amazon cumbia" one of the many manifestations of Peruvian cumbia. This is their debut album "El Sonido Selvático" (The Jungle Sound)...

This one is the debut album by "Mákina Kandela" a 9-piece group from Santiago, Chile. The band members are from Colombia and Chile and the music is cumbia and merengue in the style of the music of the Colombian Caribbean coast.

Another cumbia group with a female lead vocalist. "La Walichera" from Buenos Aires, Argentina with their self-titled debut album. Cumbia with an occasional bit of reggae and dub blended into the mix.

Here's the debut and only album from "Compay Quinto" a Peruvian band founded in 1967 by guitarist Pancho Acosta, vocalist Pepe Baroni, and bassist Carlos Hayre. They were a bit different musically than the other Peruvian cumbia groups of that time because their music has a distinctly Cuban sound.

It looks like I missed quite a few posts from my month off. I'm definitely going to be checking these out.

Another great compilation of various Peruvian cumbia (chicha) groups. This was released by Barbès Records as a two volume set of chicha music from the late 60's to 70's. Several of the Peruvian groups I've already mentioned are featured on these two compilations. The "psychedelic" tag is rather loosely applied for the most part here but this is a must-have for anyone interested in the genre.

Here's another compilation album. A two disc set from the Vampi Soul label, featuring many Peruvian cumbia groups I've mentioned in previous posts. Los Destellos, Los Mirlos, Los Wembler's De Iquitos, Juaneco Y Su Combo, Los Diablos Rojos, and many more. This compilation is also focused on the chicha style of cumbia and is another must-have for anyone interested in the genre.

Psy-Fi, just wow! So much knowledge about cumbia music. I both admire and envy you. :D

Wish I had some time to listen to all the stuff you had posted so far.

Greetings, Sir_Cactoos. :wave:

Cumbia is one of my favorite genres and I listen to quite a lot of it but there's only so much time I can spend on it, so I'm always learning more and there's a lot of it out there.
I plan to keep posting in this thread and if you don't have time now, you can always return and listen some other time.

Cheers!

Some recent re-releases on vinyl from three different pioneering, Peruvian cumbia groups. I've mentioned all three of these bands in previous posts in this thread but this is the first time any of these albums have been re-released in any format since their original release dates in the 1960's & 70's and as far as I know, these albums were never originally released in 8-Track, cassette, or reel-to-reel formats.




All of these albums are must-haves in my opinion and it's a treat for me to see these finally being re-released after so many decades. I can finally afford to own vinyl copies of these albums without having to pay $100+ for an original pressing in good+ condition. And none of these albums have ever been given a CD release.

I just posted this album in another thread but it fits here also, so here it is again. From a band I previously mentioned on the first page of this thread; "Agrupacion Ilegal Los Imparciales" with three covers of well-known 60's songs (Tequila, Norwegian Wood, Misirlou) and one original (Color Doppler), all done in a groovy psychedelic cumbia style...

Here's a compilation of some contemporary cumbia from various countries (mostly from Argentina, though.) "El Nuevo Sonido de la Cumbia Psicodelica" (The New Sound of Psychedelic Cumbia)
Several of the groups appearing on this album have already been mentioned in this thread. Some sound more "psychedelic" than others to me...

Another great cumbia compilation album. Originally released as a two volume album set, this one features various groups from Colombia which were on the Colombian record label "Discos Fuentes", between 1950 and 1988.

Dear Psy-Fi,

Being so mesmerized and amazed of your deep passion to cumbia music, let me ask you about some book recommendations about this genre. Is there any English language publication worth to be read about this music? Any hint would be more than welcome.

Thank You very much indeed. :)

Good book, but unfortunately, it's already 5 years old.
Wouldn't have been a problem in the earlier days,
but the cumbia scene is growing and changing real fast.

http://i67.tinypic.com/1230igy.jpg

Unfortunately, I don't have any book recommendations at the moment. Almost all of what I know about the genre, comes from spending time searching online, looking for articles/stories/band and band member info, reading liner notes and backs of album covers (when I buy them or see them pictured online), occasionally going to a live performance where cumbia is played, talking with other people that enjoy the genre.
There doesn't seem to be nearly as much information readily available as I would like to see. It can often be frustrating trying to find specific information about a group or record that I become interested in and want to find out more about.
If I come across a worthwhile book on the subject, I'll let you know.

rostasi's rec might be your best bet at the moment. I might pick up a copy of it, myself, as I haven't read it yet.

Psy-Fi and rostasi, thank you both for this, I really appreciate it! In terms of books, I am searching for some sources that might be helpful to embrace the genre itself rather than the artists/bands description at the very moment, and I believe rostasi's recommendation would be the good starting point.

And of course, Psy-Fi's posts for knowing the most original and the best cumbia content, these are things I really love right now. :)

Another great compilation of Colombian Cumbia. This one from Soundway Records, covers 32 years, features 55 tracks, and clocks in at 2 hours and 37 minutes of running time.