Accordion Cumbia
Located in 1 route
Cumbia in which the diatonic (or, in Celso Piña's case, piano) accordion is the lead voice, carrying the melody and improvising over a steady cumbia rhythm section of güiro/guacharaca, congas and bass. Rooted in the Colombian sabanero tradition and the Texas–Monterrey borderlands, it runs a danceable 95–110 BPM with bright, rustic accordion runs answering the singer or driving instrumental breaks. The feel is festive and folkloric, foregrounding the squeezebox's reedy, ornamented lines.
History
Accordion-led cumbia descends from the sabanas of Córdoba and Sucre, where accordionists like Andrés Landero and Alfredo Gutiérrez adapted the instrument to cumbia and porro, and from the Corraleros de Majagual's accordion-and-brass hybrid. Aniceto Molina spread the sabanero accordion cumbia across Mexico and Texas, becoming a jukebox institution. In Monterrey, Celso Piña 'el Rebelde del Acordeón' fused Colombian accordion cumbia with local and later rock/hip-hop tastes, and his 2001 collaboration album — with the crossover hit 'Aunque No Sea Conmigo' — brought accordion cumbia to a new urban audience. The style is a connective tissue linking Colombian, Mexican and Tejano cumbia scenes.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Sounds and Colours and Remezcla features on Celso Piña
- Peter Wade, 'Music, Race, and Nation: Música Tropical in Colombia' (2000)
- El Norte (Monterrey), coverage of Celso Piña