La Cafeteras’ new track Cumbia de Mi Barrio is each an ideal piece of cumbia and a message . An earworm that may illuminate a constructing block of Latino tradition.

A track got here throughout my display screen this week that grabbed me, “Cumbia de Mi Barrio” by Las Cafeteras, one among my favourite LA-based bands.  It’s a track that celebrates the singer’s neighborhood and its vibrant tradition, stuffed with music, dancing, and love.

To me, Cumbia de Mi Barrio captures the essence of the barrio and the particular recollections, and the sorrows which can be created there.

En mi barrio hay cumbia Y en mi cumbia hay amor

En mi amor hay historia Y en mi historia hay dolor”

(In my neighborhood there’s cumbia And in my cumbia there’s love

 In my love there’s historical past And in my historical past there’s ache)

The track is carried out as solely Las Caf (as it’s identified)  can do it –  a bit mysterious, a bit light-hearted, a bit tongue in test, and a bit pressing, and with a message.  The music is a number of the finest cumbia on the market, simply the fitting tempo, with a 1-2-3-4 again beat supporting Hector Flores’ deep-voiced lyrics and a lilting blended male/feminine refrain, all blended collectively in a narrative and a dance quantity. The refrain is an earworm – you’ll sing in, hum it, whistle it, for hours.  The bridges and breaks transfer the track alongside and add to the urgency and pleasure of the lyrics. The track is without delay a piece of musical artwork, a loving salute to the constructing block of Mexican and Latino tradition That is what Las Caf does – make music that shines a lightweight on the loves and ills of society, and makes you dance.

Cumbia de mi Barrio struck me so deeply as a result of I dwell in a barrio, the Barrio de San Sebastian, in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico. My barrio is filled with music, of celebrations, of prolonged households There are taco stands, tiendas, sidewalk card video games, avenue events and kids, kids, kids. Each is aware of everybody and watches out for and helps everybody else.

However as Las Caf reminds us, there’s ache. Typically my streets are closed off for funerals, generally kids go to the US and are “misplaced” – by no means return to Mexico, a heartbreak for folks. Households combat, cash could be tight, folks get sick or injured. Gentrification threatens, modernization bleeds a few of its taste and entices a few of its kids. The barrio is life.

However San Sebastian, like each barrio, has shared recollections between grandparents, dad and mom, grownup kids. In the event you grew up right here, it’s your residence, your security, your historical past, your community, your assist system, from era to era.

Cumbia de Mi Barrio captures all of this.  An excellent piece of music, of writing, of emotion.  However that’s Las Cafeteras. A Los Angeles -based band that mixes conventional Mexican music with fashionable appears like hip-hop, rock, and reggae. They’ve gained a nationwide following for his or her socially acutely aware lyrics and high-octane dwell performances which regularly contain Son Huasteco music and dancing and social messages.

Even should you can’t perceive the Spanish lyrics, Cumbia de Mi Barrio will make you progress and giggle and really feel. In the event you do perceive the lyrics, you’ll perceive rather a lot about Latin and Mexican tradition.

Patrick O’Heffernan