Five 21st-century cumbia masterpieces
Cumbia music has roots that stretch back centuries, with its combination of indigenous folk sounds, African rhythms, and the influence of European colonialists intrinsically weaving the sound into the history of South America.
Although cumbia’s heyday saw it dominate the airwaves of nations like Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and countless others back in the 1960s and 1970s, those infectious rhythms have never truly subsided. Even if you look at the mainstream pop charts of Latin America today, the lineage of cumbia is still rather hard to ignore; it is, after all, as timeless as humanity’s need to dance.
Discos Fuentes was a core part of cumbia’s golden age, for instance, and although that iconic label doesn’t churn out as many innovative grooves as its heyday, many of its most influential records are still being repressed to this day. What’s more, you have modern labels like Vampi Soul uncovering previously obscure, impossibly rare cumbia records for 21st-century audiences, allowing an entirely new, global generation to fall in love with the infatuating sounds of South American cumbia.
Both in an effort to prove that cumbia is still going strong in the modern day and to shine a light on a selection of the artists that are keeping that flame burning this side of the new millennium, here we have collated five examples of 21st-century cumbia masterpieces.
Before any maracas are thrown in anger, it should be noted that this list is certainly not exhaustive, but it does aim to give a flavour of how cumbia has adapted to modernity, and how its core principles have spread across the globe.
Five 21st-century cumbia masterpieces:
Empanadas Ilegales – ‘Chicharra’
Hailing from much further north than cumbia’s spiritual homeland of Colombia, Empanadas Ilegales have been blending those distinctive rhythms with a vast amalgamation of influences since their first emergence in 2017. ‘Chicharra’, the stand-out effort from the Vancouver-based outfit’s most recent LP, Sancocho Trifásico, acts as a perfect encapsulation of the group’s expansive sound, drawing upon jazz, dub, and psychedelia but always placing the spirit of cumbia at the centre of operations.
An infectious instrumental befitting of Discos Fuentes’ cumbia golden age, Empanadas Ilegales are not only carrying the torch of that legendary cumbia sound into the modern age, but they are also adapting and adding to the sound in a way that will keep the scene moving organically. If every modern cumbia artist stuck rigidly to the same formula that was employed back in the 1960s, it is difficult to imagine many audiences caring to listen. Yet, with their endlessly diverse offerings, the Canadian outfit bring some excitement and unpredictability to 21st-century cumbia.
Julián Mayorga – ‘El día que el Tolima se hundió hasta el fondo del mar’
On the topic of modern artists expanding upon traditional cumbia’s remit, Julián Mayorga is undoubtedly the most experimental name currently attached to the cumbia world. Upon listening to Chak Chak Chak Chak, the Colombia-born, Spain-based songwriter’s 2024 offering, you would be forgiven for feeling totally bewildered by its experimental, avant-garde, electronic sound.
Throughout it all, though, cumbia is the touchstone which ties everything together, acting as a constant source of grounding, as well as giving the record the kind of rhythmic appeal that has given cumbia its lasting appeal over the past few hundreds of years. OK, the occasionally disorientating experimentalism of ‘El día que el Tolima se hundió hasta el fondo del mar’ probably isn’t what most people think of when arriving at the cumbia section of their local record store, but its roots are undeniable.
Hermanos Gutiérrez – ‘Cumbia Lunar’
Distinctly more laid back than Julián Mayorga is the guitar duo Hermanos Gutiérrez, who have been afforded some considerable global attention thanks to the universal appeal of their sun-soaked, easy listening and cumbia-inspired discography. Formed in Switzerland and with roots in Ecuador, the brothers owe a core part of their sonic manifesto to cumbia’s history, and their sixth studio album, Sonido Cósmico, was a particular triumph as far as 21st-century cumbia is concerned.
Across the entire record, the pair craft beautiful instrumental soundscapes with cumbia at their core, albeit with more of a midtempo feel than some of the fast-paced, dance-heavy rhythms that denoted cumbia’s golden age. ‘Cumbia Lunar’ is particularly adept, however, at blending the style’s heritage with Hermanos Gutiérrez’s own distinctive output, sounding as though it was created for the soundtrack of an obscure Colombian sci-fi B movie from back in the 1970s.
Mitchum Yacoub – ‘Cumbia No Get Enemy’
Amping up the African influences that have always been present within the realm of cumbia, the Egyptian-American multi-instrumentalist Mitchum Yacoub boasts one of the most infectious, groovy cumbia tracks in recent memory, in the form of ‘Cumbia No Get Enemy’. A Latin rendering of the great Fela Kuti’s legendary Afrobeat masterpiece ‘Water No Get Enemy’, the instrumental track is just as commanding at that original track, but with the added appeal of cumbia, which goes hand in hand with Afrobeat when it comes to their shared musical heritage.
After all, cumbia, from its earliest origins, owed a lot to the influences brought to South America by the enslaved African population. Looking at styles like Afrobeat and highlife side-by-side with cumbia, it is easy to draw those connections, but luckily Yacoub has already done that for us all, with this endlessly replayable track.
Los Bitchos – ‘Las Panteras’
Bringing the sunshine sounds of cumbia to the perpetually overcast skies of the United Kingdom, Los Bitchos have been a constant source of modern cumbia mastery since their inception in 2017, and their debut album Let the Festivities Begin!, from 2022, remains an unavoidable highlight of modern cumbia.
With the group taking influences from all over the globe, thanks in part to its pan-continental line-up, stretching from Australia to South London, Sweden, and Uruguay, Los Bitchos have struck upon a fittingly diverse sound during their tenure, but cumbia appears to be a constant source of sonic inspiration, particularly on tracks like ‘Las Panteras’.
With surf rock riffs and a euphoric sense of celebration permeating the entirety of the track, Los Bitchos perfectly surmise the musical diversity of 21st-century cumbia, while also exemplifying the fact that those dusty old records from back in the 1960s and 1970s have lost precisely none of their original appeal, still capable of spurring artists onto excellence and audiences onto dancefloors decades later.
