Cúmbia do Sabiá mixtape

March 26, 2014 1:05 PM

Yes, there’s cumbia in Brazil!
posted by Tom-B (14 comments total)

I never understood why the Samba never took off. Jungle rhythm, lots of travel around the dance floor, it is just as sexy as Salsa if not more.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:28 PM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

(sorry meant to post this as more inside) More mixtapes by Pequi
posted by Tom-B at 1:39 PM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

I love cumbia, so thank you for this.

But I'm confused as to the framing of the post. Cumbia has been in Brazil since at least the 50s (the article linked notes this as well).

Is there a history of cumbia not being popular in Brazil? This seems hard to believe. But real history is often crazy, so...
posted by jammy at 1:44 PM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Damn, this is good. The international hipsterization of cumbia is one of my favorite cultural phenomena of the last almost-decade. Glad it hasn't stopped quite yet.
posted by neroli at 1:55 PM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah, cumbia has been in Brazil since the 50s, but as a generic hispanic/caribbean influence, not a discrete musical style. It was mainly absorbed by Carimbó (which deserves a post of its own). It was only post-hipsterization that we started to figure out "hey we got cumbia too".
posted by Tom-B at 2:04 PM on March 26, 2014 [4 favorites]

Thanks for this, it made my rainy afternoon school work much more fun!
posted by wilky at 4:16 PM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Very nice. I like cumbia. We have a friend from Columbia where it reigns king (or queen), and that was my first exposure to it. Having married a Puerto Rican, salsa is very important in our house, but cumbia is a nice spice to mix in.
posted by Eekacat at 4:35 PM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yessssss. I have always loved cumbia (how could you not?) but it is especially welcome today, when it is like 25 degrees outside in late March. Listening to this, I swear my apartment is 10 degrees warmer.

Thanks for this post!
posted by lunasol at 5:36 PM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Samba didn't take off where? It's all over the place on 'Latin' dance floors.
posted by empath at 5:41 PM on March 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

Cool post, thanks! I am pretty uneducated about the differences between salsa/cumbia/samba/carimbó/etc., and this is a fun jump into the cumbia part!

And about samba: long shot but empath, do you happen to know how to find samba dances in the Chicago area? I have a friend there who loves dancing and was just today asking where he can find people who want to samba with him...
posted by aka burlap at 8:08 PM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

I imagine samba didn't take off like salsa because it wasn't adopted by the US (like the popularity of karate vs kung fu). Samba is more physical (than standard cross body salsa*) and not a partner dance AFAIK, so classes are difficult to populate and demonstrations usually involve girls wearing samba outfits, which can put off some people. I did some classes with Ella Mesma ten years ago and she was struggling to get a handful of people to attend a class a week, whereas there is a salsa class with five times as many people happening every night.
Ironically there are three or more community samba bands for every salsa band.

*There are many more forms of salsa, and many are very physically demanding but they are more difficult to find because they are more difficult to do.

A quick scan of Youtube seems to suggest that Cumbia involves boots and bras. And accordions.
posted by asok at 5:18 AM on March 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

NPR: Cumbia, the musical backbone of Latin America
posted by Tom-B at 2:32 PM on March 27, 2014

> not a partner dance AFAIK

It can be: Gafieira
posted by Tom-B at 2:36 PM on March 27, 2014

New to me and looks like a lot of fun! Check out the move here, reminds me of this move from the Gangnam Style video.
posted by asok at 3:49 PM on March 27, 2014 [1 favorite]