Cumbia

S1: Welcome to the KPBS Summer Music Series. In this episode , we'll talk to some Nieto de la Frontera , a power trio of San Diego musicians that combined sound system , culture , hip hop , production , aesthetic , and the sounds of Latin America's most prolific dance music. Cumbia plus binational band LA Diablo combines traditional cumbia music with the gritty spirit of Tijuana. Tonight. That's next. Welcome to the KPBS summer music series. San Diego's own Music Discovery podcast that features encore presentations of our best in-studio performances and interviews celebrating our diverse music scene and beyond. I'm your host , Kurt Conal. The band LA Diablo combines traditional cumbia music with the gritty spirit of Tijuana. They bring their binational dance party wherever they go. Midday Edition's Jade Hindman sat down with La Diablo. But first we hear their song , La Receta.

S2: So , you know , normally someone would go get the ideas. Let's emphasize good luck to them that we might do an unknown or minor number. BEAUBIEN And. MCCARRON Haram control that be.

S3: And today the band behind that music , LA Diablo , joins us in the KPBS studio. Hey , welcome , Ivan Rodriguez. Thank you. In the car. Hi. Adrian Rodriguez on accordion and vocals. Jose Bolanos , you're writing all the social media for the band and everything.

S4: Is a little bit of everything. Yeah.

S3: Welcome you all.

S4: Thank you. Thank you.

S3: We appreciate you joining us here on Midday Edition for having fun.

S4: Ivan , myself , we're brothers. And we would go down to Tijuana to to this youth group. There was at a at the seminary down there , just kind of to hang out with kids our age. And they would do retreats in in the city of Monterrey , Mexico. Under is one of the biggest cities for cumbia , like in all of Mexico. What really caught our eye was one time we were at a little place over there and there was a like battle , kind of like when they do rap battles , but it was one accordionist against another accordionist who clinics basically. And they were instead of fighting , they were actually playing music against each other. And that was like music. Yeah. And there was a big culture shock and what they were playing was Colombian cumbia.

S3: So this is a sound unlike anything you guys had ever heard.

S4: At that time. I know , but yeah , it didn't exist. It's still to this day , there's not many bands that play what we play right now , like underground in this region. Yeah.

S3: Yeah.

S4: Roots Colombian cumbia is like the origins of cumbia. The sound itself is very traditional , very folk. But the essence of it is actually more inclined to like the punk rock like because we're going against the current will playing in all kinds of events where you don't expect this. Like we've showed up at hip hop events , hardcore punk events , reggae. We'll just play wherever and and we don't care if it's one person or we played up to 50,000 people. When everybody for people it's just like , Yeah , we just want to party.

S3: Get everybody up. Yeah. But what's so weird is like , I hear punk rock , but when I listen to the music , I hear these. This African influence. Yeah. Like , tell me about that. The origins of cumbia.

S4: Well , the beginnings of what became cumbia. We're from Africa. That's where the drum rhythms came from. Colombia actually has the first free African nation in America , which I link to the city of Palanga. They there they had a stock of wiring , which was a lot of drums. More percussive. Yeah , there's more percussion. Cumbia has a lot of influence from Africa , and its origins are African in part , but they're also indigenous because the sounds , the melodies are melodies that simulate the sounds that the birds of the region would make. So a lot of the melodies that we play now with the sound natal style are basically kind of emulating the sound of birds from that region and the way they sing. And and also the another part of it that's indigenous is like there's a instrument called White Shaka. It's kind of like a guido where you just scrape it. And that's also a native instrument. But the cumbia that we play also has the European influence , because as a diatonic accordion , which comes from Germany or from Italy , but mainly from Germany , the type of accordions that they use in Golem are more German than than anything.

S3: Interesting to get all of that unique sound together , you guys have to use unique instruments. So let me hear some of that. What do you have ? You've got something called.

S4: As a watch and then.

S3: You got.

S4: An accordion. And.

S3: And. Very nice.

S4: There's an instrument called a vallenato. It's kind of like a larger version of a bongo , but it's only a single drum and the head is made of literally x rays. So it has a very low pitched sound when you hit it in the middle , but a high , high end on the edges. So it has a big variety of sounds. And usually for cumbia , they also use what's called a tambour alegre. Sort of like a conga. Yeah , like a conga. It's like and then we call it repeat , which is kind of like fill drum fills. Sure. And then there's the Yamaha , which gives a constant beat. What gives ? Cumbia. Cumbia ? Yeah , my lawyer is just like that. Kind of like a metronome. Boom. That's like , yeah , my ear will do that sound. And then they have a tambura , which is the lowest pitch sound. We use the floor and we use actually drum kit , like a five piece drum kit from Guatemala. But the way we play it is the way they play it over there. Awesome.

S3: Awesome. Well , hey , I know that there's one song that demonstrates all of that very well. It's called La Pedrosa , and it means the powerful one. Let's take a listen.

S2: We're not going about it on the side. That said , about a lady who is an outside observer related to that. For. You. Please. Please.

S3:

S4: We are of a specific subculture , kind of like Chicano , but at the same time we have another part , which is we're transborder. Like , we actually have something for every day.

S3: Every day.

S4: And what cumbia itself is , is is a fusion of three different cultures. And that kind of reflects what we are. We're a mix also ourselves of like we're we are American , but we are also Mexican. You know , our nationality of some of us is not Mexican. We are from both places , but we're from neither at the same time , which is kind of weird. Like near like , you know. Yeah , yeah. That's what they say. Near , like , you know , I means not from here. Not from there.

S3: Trust me. I understand.

S4: That's something that it doesn't matter where you're from , where you're from , as if you're just willing to have fun and are open to it. You're going to , right ? Yeah. Is a universal language.

S3: LA Diablo , thanks so much for stopping by , y'all.

S4: Oh , thank you. Thank you. Back.

UU: Back. Who's that guy ? I can see that. I've got to get back.

S1: Next up , new music from Zunino de la Frontera. 710.

UU: 710. This account. No one said anything to me that I would say.

S1: Our next artists embody the spirit of our diverse border region and celebrates the beauty of Baja California with their own take on Latin America's resurging dance music , cumbia. So Nito de la Frontera is made up of a power trio of veteran musicians Carlos Paez of the B-side Players , Luke Henshaw of Planet B and First Power Crew and DJ Unite with Tribe of Kings and also First Power Crew. They each bring decades of experience to the project , and the results are an exciting cumbia sound that fuses the party energy of soundsystem culture with the hip hop production aesthetic of big drums and loud bass. Midday Edition's Jade Heinemann spoke with Sunita de la Frontera. The first we begin with their song. Sunny Dallas.

UU: Up , up , up , up , up , up , up , up , up , up. Up , up , up , up. Up , up , up some.

S2: You bet. So much so.

UU: That she met a letter.

S2: From the letter with the White Rocks gold medal match in the Chinese gold medal in the subject matter. I wasn't with the letter and they want an agreement and they want to give me time to go and get the level on metallic in the south south side of. You better get out. La la , la. Maybe I can lock him up. I'll be looking at him en masse all my life. I don't know , I. They keep make everything they want to play. Time for your happiness. I will.

UU: Support Salazar. Salazar.

S3: That was Sonia de la Frontera with some sunny day. DEROSE From their new album , Sony , Dario Guerrero's. And I want to introduce Anita de la Frontera with Carlos Paez vocals. Luke Henshaw on production and deejay Unite on the Turntables. Thank you for joining us on Midday Edition.

S5: Thank you. Thank you for having us. Okay.

S3: Okay. So you each earned a name in your respective genres and music scene deejay Unite and Tribe of Kings. Carlos Paez. B-side Players. Luke Henshaw. Planet B.

S5: And we all came together for the love of cumbia music.

S3: And DJ Unite for people that may not know what cumbia is.

S5: It originally actually comes from Africa , from the Kumba dance. Cumbia is a sort of festival music for Colombians , and it's a very blue collar type of music , and it spread throughout Latin America and in Mexico. They latched on to it really strongly and started making their own version of cumbia. And so now you can hear it basically at every family gathering and you can hear it on cars driving by with their radios pumping. So it's a rich part of Colombian cultural history as well.

S3:

S5: He started a band from Tijuana , Mexico , called The Los Moonlight , and they would make these records back in the days called Musical Al-Ahly , which is danceable music. So they would always have like at least two cumbia tracks in each record , making sure you had a party song on the record for , you know , for those quinceaneras that that's the way the records were back then. It was like a mixture of different genres of music. So it'd be like two boleros , two cumbia , two ballads. Bands like Lost Moonlight , Solitary Ojos Boogie's , Lost Freddy's. All these bands would always put these records out. I would always have a couple of cumbia tracks because they were heavily influenced by the Colombian cumbia music , which is strictly like party music.

S2: That was ideas that were. I. What's the.

UU: Body ? Yeah. They call me on my the body.

S3: And you know , the same question to you.

S5: Being a deejay when I was around 18 , I had a friend named Johnny who wanted me to come play at his family party since I had mixed records. So we would bring this big six foot coffin filled with his uncle's wreckage , and he would select the records for me , and I would play them. And then I started realizing what tunes were working really well at the parties , and I started really taking a liking to the rhythms and everything. So it slowly went from that. I got a taste for Kumbayah around when I was 18 and from there I started studying and getting in depth on to where it came from and who the big groups were and what styles of cumbia that I liked the best.

S3:

S5: I had heard it here and there , but it wasn't until Unite was spinning that he was doing double duty in downtown at a bar and an art gallery next door. So I went next door to the art gallery and he was just playing it and the bass was just chicken , and that shaker was just so hypnotizing. And three days later , I met Carlos , and we just hit the studio.

S3: And for all of you , this journey started with cumbia mondiale. Tell me about. That.

S5: That. I call it world cumbia. And that's just the translation. It's cumbia Mondiale. The song just celebrates different cultures all around the world.

UU: Families in. But I will not. The Saudis. Have you guys been there complaining you ? OBAMA Well , I. And while your California.

S2: In Latin America.

S3: That was UNIDO de la Frontera with their song Cumbia Mundial the track from their 2014 album.

S5: And , you know , you you never really hear the music correctly until you hear them through gigantic sub or birds and a big soundsystem. And then , you know , the the soundsystem culture in the sort of culture is similar to Jamaican Soundsystem culture and ways as well , because you may just have a soundsystem set up in the neighborhood. It may not be the venue , you know , and they play the music and everybody can come out and dance and have a good time when we deliver our music. Why ? It's not necessarily what you would consider the average band. What we'll do is we'll run through the turntables and the sampler and we'll have Carlos singing live in front of it. So this type of setup can be used out on stage at a concert. It can also be in the middle of a club. We can actually make our shows into one big dance party instead of a traditional concert.

S3: Carlos Cumbia It really is a storytelling genre. Tell us about the song. Lucha Continua.

S5: Lucha Continua. It's translates to in English , too. The struggle continues , and it's something that I'm really familiar with. I'm a border child. I was raised in Tijuana , San Diego , all my life , crossing back and forth. My family lived in Tijuana and my dad would always have opportunities over here across the border , my mom as well. So it was like a working family that was crossing back and forth four times a week. So I would see the Third World Country struggle on that , the Juana side , and I would also see the struggle here on the U.S. side , which is just some of the same problems that we're facing today , like homelessness and racism. All those things are things I used to sing about back when I started having a voice in my youth as a musician. And they're the same topics I sing about today.

S3: And here's a clip from La Lucha. Continue to.

S2: Go meet a guy.

UU: Like , oh , well , let me help you out. One box where we will see guys in any. If I was going. La la , la , la , la. Yeah.

S2: Yeah.

UU: You check on the.

S3: That was La Lucha Continua by Finito de la Frontera from their new album , Sunny Dario Garrido.

S5: It's just , you know , we're not really representing just San Diego. We are representing this whole region that we live in. And La Frontera means the border. It's a culture and it's a way of life out here. If you want to talk about food , wherever we travel to , there's no better Mexican food than Tijuana , San Diego , Mexican food or even seafood. I mean , there are some seafood spots down south and , you know , Mazatlan. But as far as food , there's no other better Mexican food in the world than San Diego. Tijuana I'm not talking about Los Angeles sometimes , but San Diego iguana. And that's just food. But also , I mean , the music , there's some bands and there's some new music coming out of this region of this of the South Bay , lower east side , south side of the border. That is really inspirational right now. It's like a new sound and it's very exciting because with every struggle , like this whole pandemic is a struggle in itself. And there's always new music behind a new struggle. So Sonny La Frontera is definitely like a new sound coming out from all these hard times that we're experiencing right now. If I might add , also , I think that it's really important because most opinions are formed off of what they hear in the media about Mexico , especially about Tijuana.

S3:

S5: That Might is kind of like a visual song of taking a trip down the coast across the border , down coast to Baja. There's so many other little beach towns other than Rosarito and Senala , San Diego , and we grew up in this in San Diego , but we also back in the days we had the privilege of crossing the border and going serve K 38 and going down on a Baja trip to go eat fish tacos and drink a beer. That's such a beautiful thing that we all have seemed to forgotten because of the labeling of Tijuana as the most dangerous city in the world. So this is a whole song celebrating the beautiful vibe of Baja California and the Ocean Pacific.

S3: I've been talking with Senato de la Frontera members Carlos Paez , Luke Henshaw and DJ Unite. Thank you all for joining us today.

S5: Thank you for having.

S2: If you don't mind my saying nothing , no idea when get the maybe they will not pick us up.

UU: And I'm sorry. I'll mention God and I'll stop on.

S2: I do not mean nylon. Speak his mind. I think Mississippi. Alabama is young and we saw this 1989 is not only about not being able to team up , but most likely to San Diego , 1941 and along the Mississippi northern side. They got. Outside of. I think might. On the face of it , they get on these guys. They will not let us see their side. But we're not the only guy. And we'll stop on his side. On the side. Okay. Got it.

UU: Be guided by.

S2: An understanding of.

UU: On the long run.

S1: Madonna Thanks for listening to the KPBS summer music series. John Decker is Interim Associate General Manager of Content. Lisa Jane Morissette , operations manager. And Megan Burke is senior producer. To catch a new episode every two weeks , subscribe wherever you get podcasts and for performance videos and more great artists visit KPBS Dawgs Summer Music Series. I'm Kurt CONAN.