DIGITAL CUMBIA
by Kaleb Pogue
Traditional Latin sounds infused with four on the floor beats and a crowd as diversified as the music spanning from vaqueros to hipsters; the world of Digital-Cumbia is a strange, psychedelic and awe-inspiring wonderland that only raises the questions of how, what, when, where, and why this genre exists and how it's come to be and just where this strange world is going to evolve and grow. Originating from dark corners of the Peruvian and Colombian barrios and making its way across Latin America and north through Mexico and into the US, Digital cumbia has been making waves since the early 90's throughout clubs and festivals. Mixing classic Indian and Caribbean folk music with European inspired synth heavy house beats and American trap funk. The strange mixture of music all began with techno cumbia a stylized pop version of Cumbia started centrally by Super Show de los Vazkez and climbed to popularity with the late Selena Quintanilla's use of the rhythmic sounds in her songs in the 90's. As time progressed the music morphed into a more traditional house and electro style featuring an increase in synth leads and four on the floor beats thanks to the Colombian based collective, sidestepper and then later into the 2000's with Ziezik urban beats club. The modern Digital-Cumbia is a microcosm of folkloric music with Caribbean slave pop and European house creating a very interesting sub-genre that’s culture can only get stranger. With Latin America being the melting pot that it is, it only makes sense that digital cumbia would be a mix of everything as well. The genre sees such diversity in its clubs and parties that pinpointing common aspects of the crowds would be similar of finding one speck of chili powder in a corn cup. With common dances going from classic to all out ass clapping twerking the clubs are always humming with energy and liveliness.
DJ’s go from simple country boys that have turn-tables and a laptop to the more complicated DJ's such as Corpus Christi's own El Dusty whom has been spinning electro with cumbia since (need date) .These are not the crazy clubs that one would expect, the culture rising up is unified under a shared Latin culture and love for heritage and the future together. While the past for Digital cumbia may be relatively unknown make no mistakes, the future of digital Cumbia is bumping, bright, and here.