Mandale Cumbia

On the ancestral origins of cumbia

It is impossible to mark a precise moment for the birth of cumbia, but we can say that it arises from the encounter of the culture of the native inhabitants of northern Colombia, from the Europeans -who conquered their lands-, and from black Africans. -slaves brought to make the Europeans' business more profitable. And that started to happen during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

From the need for freedom, from the need to have joy in some way. That's where cumbia was born from. To accompany the pain, to generate joy from the pain, and also to express that pain, which transforms cumbia into an act of rebellion.

On the one hand, we have the aspect of the native peoples, with their bagpipes, with their waches, their flutes, their miyo maracas, and also with that inconsolable lament of the mountains. On the other hand, we have the culture of the African slaves, with their drums and their passionate dances. And finally, the inevitable Spanish influence, which can be seen in the costumes, but more than anything in the format of the copla, with which these rhythms were voiced.

There is something of that ancestral origin that is still present in the thousands of different forms of current cumbia, something that connects us with the deepest roots of Latin American popular culture. Maybe there we should look for the secrets of his power, of his magic, of his immense ability to make us dance over time.

​Fragments of the podcast "Bailando te Conocí", from Oscar Benítez

In Argentina, cumbia has been historically frowned up by middle and higher social classes. Associated by the uncultured, the vulgar, the obscene, the dirty, the other... people who play or listen to cumbia is often underestimated and mocked by many.

For more than eight years, the cultural organisation Cultura Cumbia has been working towards shifting cumbia’s negative image from Argentinian society, presenting this music as a fundamental expression of Latin American culture. By doing so, they organize gigs whit the widest variety of bands and put them together. From cumbia villera -from the slums-, to LGBTQ+ and middle-class cumbia, from the most mainstream to the most underground, from traditional to the newest expressions of cumbia. Resulting in culturally rich events where people from diverse backgrounds and social classes mingle, play and dance together.

The following body of work comes from three years of photographing the mentioned cumbia concerts.