Before cumbia belonged to dance floors across Latin America, before electric bass rattled speakers from Bogotá to New York, before accordions carried cumbia melodies across Colombia’s coastal plains, there was the drum, the maraca and the breath of the bagpipe called a gaita. follows that sound forward.
Bringing together Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, accordion master Carmelo Torres and Colombian music giant Julio “Fruko” Estrada, the project is less a supergroup than a living family tree, tracing cumbia’s evolution across generations and traditions.
Los Gaiteros provide the roots, preserving the gaita-and-drum traditions of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, where Indigenous and African musical influences helped shape cumbia’s distinctive rhythmic language. Torres — a disciple of legendary accordionist Andrés Landero — represents the sabanero tradition that carried cumbia’s melodies to the accordion. Fruko — bassist, producer and architect of Fruko y Sus Tesos — helped Colombian tropical music go electric. Three branches. One unmistakable pulse.
“The instruments and arrangements can change, but cumbia still brings people together to dance, tell stories, and carry the memory of a community,” Los Gaiteros percussionist, flautist and music director Gabriel Torregrosa tells PureHoney.
That connection became tangible during the recording sessions. Rather than laboring over arrangements, the musicians found their common language almost immediately. “We talked about all kinds of things except music,” Torregrosa recalls. “When it was time to play, there was nothing to discuss. we simply played and felt the music.”
Producer Rory Morison captured that chemistry by recording the musicians live. For Fruko, the experience transcended technique. “For me, it is a spiritual, cosmic connection that cannot be fully explained in words,” he says. “The music itself shows us the way.”
Madre Cumbia bring music that plays the band to Miami Beach, where cumbia’s wandering branches will encounter an audience carrying its own musical memories. “For Colombians living away from home, a rhythm or a song can bring back a place, a family gathering, or someone they love,” Torregrosa says. “We want to share those roots while celebrating how far their branches have reached.”
Madre Cumbia, featuring Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Fruko, and Carmelo Torres, 7 pm Friday, November 20 at Miami Beach Bandshell in Miami Beach. miamibeachbandshell.com/event/madre-cumbia/ ~ Abel Folgar
