Argentine cumbia

Argentine cumbia is an umbrella term that comprises several distinct trends within the same tradition: the dance and music style known as cumbia in Argentina.

Originally from Colombia, Cumbia has been well-known and appreciated in Argentina for a long time, but it gained nationwide scope and attention when it became popular among the lower-class people in main urban centers, the large cities of the Río de la Plata basin, in the 1990s.

Among the most important cumbia bands and singers that popularized the genre are Ráfaga, La Nueva Luna, Amar Azul, Gilda, and other traditional cumbia bands like Los Palmeras, Cali and Los Leales. Chocolate had similar success across the water in Uruguay.

Most bands are composed of synthesizer keyboards as main instruments, electronic sounds and percussion, and a musical score very charged with vocal harmonies, bells, and trumpets (usually electronically synthesized).

In the 1990s, cumbia first found a place among the lower classes, who attended large dancing halls called bailantas, often to listen and watch live concerts by cumbia groups. Some bands, most notably Ráfaga, chose a glamorous style with theatrically presented messages about romantic love and sensuality, hope and despair. Others took to more explicit themes, such as sex, alcohol abuse and the cumbia subculture itself, often in a very light, irreverent style, sometimes intentionally humorous.

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