Cumbia's evolution: African, indigenous, and European musical synthesis

Music is the voice of a people, and encapsulates historical, cultural, and political realities. Cumbia is a perfect example of how musical styles also change throughout time, reflecting the changes taking place in society, population migration patterns, and shifting norms of gender and social class. Starting as the music of Africans in diaspora in Spanish-held American territories, cumbia has morphed for centuries. Cumbia has “very long roots into the past,” (“Origin Myths,” 53). At different times, cumbia has taken on the sounds and instruments of the indigenous people as well as European settlers. Cumbia musicians like Rossy War and Los Hispanos exemplify the way European instrumentation, styles, forms, and structures have been hybridized with indigenous and African sounds to convey something unique to Latin America in general, and to specific countries like Colombia in particular. Cumbia has penetrated Latin America from Mexico to Argentina, but its origin myth or creation story situates its birth squarely on the Colombian coast. Cumbia has become a symbol of Colombian national identity, and just as significantly, the affirmation of black and indigenous culture as the “repositories of true tradition,” (“Origin Myths,” 66). When cumbia began to symbolize national identity and cultural pride, its popularity in urban regions represented post-colonial philosophy. The synthesis of black, indigenous, and European musical elements symbolized the mixture of these disparate traditions in Colombian society, indeed, in Latin American society in general. “Que Te Perdone Dios” by Rossy War and “Cariñito” by Los Hispanos Cumbia seem completely different on the surface, and yet a deeper analysis shows how they both represent cumbia and align with its artistic and political principles. For example, Rodolfo con Los Hispanos’s “Cariñito” starts off with call-and-response style conversations between the horn section and the electric guitar. Likewise, the percussion section bears the distinct marks of African-inspired drumming. After the introduction, the time signature shifts to the familiar and catchy 2/4, which is immanently danceable, one of the reasons why cumbia has taken root readily in dance halls throughout the region. Both songs use polyrhythms, which enhance their danceability, even though only Rodolfo con Los Hispanos explicitly refer to dancing all hours of the night in their song lyrics. Mid-tempo songs, both are also accessible to multiple generations of listeners. Cumbia is, after all, a mestizaje form, which refers to its hybridization and self-conscious mixing of diverse sounds (Wade 239). D’Amico describes cumbia as being “tri-ethnic,” essentially blending African, indigenous, and European elements. Both Rossy War and Los Hispanos seem to have shifted away almost entirely from African beats and indigenous instrumentation, while embracing the sounds of the instrumentation of techno-cumbia including electric bass and synthesizer. As with many cumbia songs, both “Que Te Perdone Dios” and “Cariñito” have a 2/4 time signature. Like Rodolfo con Los Hispanos’s “Cariñito,” Rossy War’s “Que Te Perdone Dios” includes African-inspired percussive elements that are overshadowed somewhat by the techno-cumbia instrumentation, most notably the synthesizers. On the other hand, in “Cariñito” includes the use of accordion with an electric bass front and center. The result is a completely hybridized sound, with a song structure that closely follows that of North American popular music. For example, both songs are divided into distinct sections that include versus, choruses, and bridges, even though they do not strictly follow the more rigid rock and roll structure. Whereas Rodolfo’s song encapsulates the lightheartedness that characterizes much of cumbia, Rossy War opts for more of a ballad approach to cumbia in “Que Te Perdone Dios.” Unlike Rodolfo con Los Hispanos,” Rossy War sings about personal issues in ways that seems to defy the political principles of cumbia. Rossy War shows how gender is critical to cumbia, too, allowing the female vocalist to express herself through music. Neither Rodolfo con Los Hispanos nor Rossy War are overtly political in their lyrics and in fact, sing about love, romance, and sexuality, and yet cumbia always has political overtones in that it encapsulates Latin American pride and identity. Romero shows how cumbia spread from the coastal regions of Colombia throughout South America, making a particular mark in urban centers of Peru. In Peru, techno-cumbia has been perceived as a “spontaneous expression of the people,” a political affirmation of culture and identity (Romero 217). Yet ironically as it became embraced as popular music as far away as Mexico, cumbia also represents the way mass media marketing and globalization have homogenized Latin American musical forms (Romero 218). The fusion of North American popular music, the simple 2/4 beat, and the heavy reliance on synthesizer and electronic instruments makes Rossy War’s song especially representative of globalized cumbia. Rodolfo even extols the globalized virtues of cumbia in “Cariñito” when he describes the “cumbia de Colombia...de Ecuador.” Even the name of Rodolfo’s group, “Los Hispanos” proudly salutes a pan-Latin American identity that is liberated from the constraints of colonialism. Cumbia’s poularity grew concurrently with Colombian national identity. As cumbia spread from la costeña to the interior and eventually to the urban centers, its character changed, its musicality shifted, and it symbolized “a discourse about liberation, freedom...or the seriousness of life,” (“¡Alegría! Costeño Music Hits the Heartland, 1940-1950,” 139). At the risk of oversimplifying both the complex rhythms of African music or the complex identity politics of Latin America, contemporary cumbia has signified the ways diverse communities have expressed pride and self-empowerment.