Bienvenidos a Andrés Digital original Cumbia Round Up. This is Round 25, the Fighter is still on his feet to spread the message of Cumbia + Bass and Love and this is a special again, presenting the new Kumbia Queers Album “Pecados Tropicales”. First comes the Promomix presenting 5 Songs from the upcoming Album – Tiro al Blanco – Quizas maniana – Metamorfosis Adolescente – Valeria – Desaprendiendo – Motochorra
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Here we have a lil Interview with Juana and Ali
– Tell me something about the History of the Kumbia Queers. Where do you come from, who are you.
ALI – We got together in Buenos Aires at the beginning of 2007. We met at the Belladona festival, an all girl fest organized by the SHE DEVILS (the punk band from Pat, Pilar and Ines, our bass, guitar and drummer) that are some kind of a legend in Argentina. I was traveling across south america djing and doing an electronic solo proyect called AFRODYKE and the girls knew me from ULTRASONICAS my mexican punk garage band, the we hook up with Juana, who was playing gigs with her band JUANA CHANG AND THE WOOKIES. We had so much fun at the festival that we wanted to play together, but the logical thing was to make a rock band, and i didn´t want that, so i propose to play cumbia, the name came first, KUMBIA QUEERS mocking the macho miami based band, also it sounded like “queens” wich we are not, so we start rehearsing, but we didnt knew any cumbias, so we start to play the songs we knew by heart, like Ramones, Madonna, Black Sabbath, the Cure and that´s how “Kumbia Nena!” our first CD came out
– I heard that some of you are living in Mexico others in Argentina. How do you workout your songs
Juana – Yes, Ali lives in Mexico and we work out our songs when we are touring or in the studio.
ALI – Yes, I live in Mexico DF, but i travel a lot back and forth since 5 years a go, also I tour a lot, so i´m not home very often…So Juana comes with a finished song or I come with a song then the whole Band arrange it. Or maybe Pilar (the Guitarrist) have a bit of a song, or Ines does some beats on the computer, or maybe when we rehearse we come out with something new…or maybe they send me some stuff over the Internet and I record a voice and send it back. We are 6 girls in the band and we all do songs, so in this new record there´s a lot from all of us. That´s why it has 15! songs on this CD
– The Kumbia is very variable in searchin Partners in Crime, you cross it with Punk. So Punk are your Roots and Cumbia your Culture ?
Juana – Our root is rock and “Do it yourself” is the Culture here if you want to do something.
ALI – I guess you can say that. We felt very related in the way cumbia bands work. They are alienated from the mainstream, it’s a very own scene and they are constanly traveling. Altough it´s a lot of diferences too…like cumbia bands can play 5 or 6 times at night, they don´t have dressing rooms and they can interchange musicians like underwear….Yes it´s our culture. Every latinoamericano has Cumbia in their DNS, either if they like to accept it or not.
So the Ladys have an exclusive Download (Limited to 100 so be fast) of the opening Tune Kumbia Punk! from the Album “Pecados Tropicales”
– How did Cumbia changed for you since its beginning as folcloristic dance till todays electronic mashups.
Juana -Since cumbia started in Colombia, it moved and traveled a lot. From South Argentina or Chile to Tijuana or Ciudad Juarez in North Mexico there are hundreds of different cumbia Styles. Cumbia was always treated as a minor rhythm because it is simple and very danceable and it was always the music of the streets and the partys.
ALI – Well for me Cumbia is a feeling, an emotion. It really touched me the first time I heard it, like Rock and Roll. Rock it´s more about being rebellious and angry, and cumbia it´s more about celebrating life, happiness. And it’s music I could believe in, it´s just pure sex, jajaja. I love cumbia in all the forms. Cumbia roots from Colombia, like Andrés Landero or Octavio Mesa. Psychodelic amazonic cumbia like Los Mirlos, los Destellos, and Chacalón. Mexican sonidero cumbia, like sonido la Changa or Samurai, but also crazy poblano cumbia like Los de Akino, Los Telez, Super Grupo G, la cumbia villera de argentina like Los Pibes Chorros, Damas Gratis, Metaguacha. It was a blessing when Pablo Lescano from Damas Gratis produced our 2 CD “La gran estafa del tropipunk” we learned a lot….and i love all the digital cumbia as well, specially, Chancha via circuito and el Remolon from Zizek Crew, Sonido del Principe, Uproot Andy…in Mexico Den5shion, Acorde On….
– Youre playing a lot of Gigs in different Countries. How different do the people react to the Cumbia.
Juana -The first time we played in a Cumbia place people starred at us and stopped dancing. Cumbia is usually a macho thing and we are not a traditional cumbia band. We learned a lot since then and the second time we went to that place in Mexico they finally danced. But most of the people that come to our gigs are rockers, they leave their heads at home and they surrend their bodies to dance.
ALI – They love it! They don´t have the prejuices that are in latinoamerica where cumbia has always been looked down, specially by metaleros and salseros!!!
– Tell me something bout your new album “Pecados Tropicales”. Where will it be available. How long did you worked on it.
Juana -“Pecados tropicales” is our theird album, it has 15 songs. We worked alone this time. We started in Buenos Aires in December 2011 and we finished it in june 2012.
ALI – Ines our drummer produced it. She worked hard on it for about 4 months: We presented it in Mexico August 10 and we will be promoting it in Europe, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay the following months. We will have an electronic release via our Vienna label http://www.comfortzonemusic.com/ if you want to get it!!!
The photos are from Daren Sanchez
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Amigos y Amigas I step back to my mixing desk mashing up some music. Hope you enjoyed what you read, what you heard, catch the Ladys on their trip and have lots of fun on their shows. Siempre a sus ordenes Andrés Digital
