The Rough Guide to Cumbia

Amazon.com
Cumbia is one of the world's great dance grooves. It is made up of merry guitars and accordions, torrid brass, and insistent, deep-toned drums and percussion, pounding out a lopsided, strutting 4/4 rhythm with a kick like nitroglycerine. Cumbia is the result of three colliding cultures that settled in Colombia at different times. Indigenous peoples were followed by the Spanish conquistadors, who added on Moorish influences from the sack of Granada. Finally, African slaves were brought in, and they supplied both the rhythm and the means to bring it forth. From its beginnings as a courtship dance among the slave population, cumbia gradually became the soul of the entire nation. The tunes on this compilation make it easy to understand why. They were licensed from the Sonolux label and date from the '60s through the '90s. Uniformly infectious and compulsively danceable, this is an essential party album, a good time on a disc. --Christina Roden

Tracks:

Cumbia Gienaguera - Alberto Pacheco
La Luna Y El Pescador - Romulo Caicedo
Cumbia De Colombia - Henry Castro
Colombia Tierra Querida - Lucho Bermudez Y Su Orquesta
Maria Candela - Tamara
Yo Me Llamo Cumbia - Leonor Gonzalez Mina
La Banda Borracha - Alfredo Gutierrez Y Sus Estrellas
Fiesta En Corraleja - Chico Cervantes
La Pollera Colora - Corraleja 71
Guepa Je - Romulo Caicedo
Cumbia Sobre El Mar - Edmundo Arias
Salsipuedes - Lisandro Meza
Cumbia En Azul - Jaime Llano Gonzalez
La Negra Celina - Cristobal Perez Y Su Conjunto
Cumbiambera - Pepe Molina
Navidad Negra - Leonor Gonzalez Mina
Atlantico - Los Hispanos
La Piragua - Los Black Stars
Tolu - Guillermo Gonzalez Y Su Orquesta
Cumbia De Sal - Los Falcons
Cumbia Sampuesana - Jaime Llano Gonzalez
Danza Negra - Lucho Bermudez Y Su Orquesta

Amazon.com

Cumbia is one of the world's great dance grooves. It is made up of merry guitars and accordions, torrid brass, and insistent, deep-toned drums and percussion, pounding out a lopsided, strutting 4/4 rhythm with a kick like nitroglycerine. Cumbia is the result of three colliding cultures that settled in Colombia at different times. Indigenous peoples were followed by the Spanish conquistadors, who added on Moorish influences from the sack of Granada. Finally, African slaves were brought in, and they supplied both the rhythm and the means to bring it forth. From its beginnings as a courtship dance among the slave population, cumbia gradually became the soul of the entire nation. The tunes on this compilation make it easy to understand why. They were licensed from the Sonolux label and date from the '60s through the '90s. Uniformly infectious and compulsively danceable, this is an essential party album, a good time on a disc. --Christina Roden

Album Description

Cumbia is one of the great Latin rhythms and Colombia's most popular dance music. The Rough Guide To Cumbia highlights the golden age of this infectious dance rhythm, exploring its folkloric roots in the rural communities of Colombia's Caribbean coast, and featuring tracks from the biggest cumbia stars.

Artists include: Alberto Pacheco, Corraleja 71, Lucho Bermúdez, Lisandro Meza, Leonor González Mina, Edmundo Arias, Los Hispanos and Los Black Stars

Customer Reviews:

La Cumbia no esta herida!.......2006-02-18

This is truly an excellent cumbia collection. Every song is beautifully arranged and evokes a kind of nostalgia for this "music of the coast." If you are someone who values variety in a CD compilation, however, you might want to give the samples on this amazon website a good listen before you purchase the CD. While the cumbia songs are wonderfully pure and truly representative of this fantastic music, they do sound very similar (which isn't a surprise, of course, because this is a CD of cumbia!). If you like what you hear, then you should certainly get this disc. The music is rhythmically infectious, romantic and will definitely survive many rotations in your CD player. If you enjoy this kind of music, I also have to recommend the "Colombia" CD by Putumayo and any album by Toto La Momoposina, a fantastic Colombian singer, especially "Carmelina" and "Pacanto."

FANTASTIC!.......2002-07-27

I'll make it short-this is truly the best collection of authentic Cumbia out there. Well done Rough Guides! If you're interested in Latin music, you some times come upon a couple of tracks with this infectious beat and wonder where you can get more. Well, here it is! This CD has all the great Cumbia bands of the past and present. Every single track is a gem in it's self, and is guarenteed to make you dance, sing (even if you don't understand a word, like me), and feel fantastic! Buy it, you won't regret it!

Cumbia Perfect!.......2001-10-03

The "Rough Guide to Cumbia" CD is more than I hoped for. It is absolutely perfect. It is so good that the painter (from Colombia) who is painting our hallways rang my doorbell to ask about it. He wants a copy too. He danced out the door. These are some the older and great performers with an authenticity that is obvious. My only small complaint is the selection by Lisandro Mesa. I think he has better recordings of this song. The range of artists and forms of cumbia is extensive and, as I said, perfect.

Amazing!.......2001-01-11

This is my second purchase of a "Rough Guide" world music cd, and both have been stellar (the other is the Hawaiian music compilation). This cd is a delightful addition to my music collection. The music is expressive, colorful, and rhythmic, without any cheesy over-production or invasive pop-culture influences. Those of you who enjoyed Buena Vista Social Club will love this! I would highly recommend this compilation to any music fan.

Excellent overview of music frim Cumbia's "Golden Era".......2000-08-02

When buying the CD one realizes that this is just not another hastily-compiled Cumbia compilation. The beautiful cover art and lengthy liner notes indicate that there is some direction to the piece. The writer of the liner notes obviously knows a very good deal about cumbia in general and great songs in particular. Just about every song in here is a keeper, I especially enjoyed "La Cumbia en Azul" By Jaime Llano Gonzalez. Anyone used to traditional cumbia arrangements will be blown away by hearing his Hammond B3 ordan work. A Wonderful, democratic collection!

Rock Music:

Rock Music

rock music

Recommended Music:

Let's Hear It for the Boys, Vol. 2

Variations in F Minor

The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant

Forty Great Country Duets

Thunderbird 6-Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Threads

Trunk of Funk [Box set] [Limited Edition] [Original recording remastered]

Travel On

The Mixes [CD-single]

The Power of the Cello

The Lexicon of Love

The Best Arabian Album in the World...Ever!, Vol. 3 [Import]

Too Bad to Be True

Heroes Symphony

Les Nubians Presents Echos, Chapter One