Cumbia: The Musical Backbone Of Latin America

By Jasmine Garsd, NPR

Whether you’re in a convenience store in Ushuaia, the southernmost tip of Argentina, Mexico City or East L.A., you’re likely to hear cumbia blaring from a stereo. In Latin America, no musical style has been as widespread, unifying and, I would argue, misunderstood as cumbia.

Gustavo Cordera, of the Argentine rock group La Bersuit Vergarabat, once said in an interview: “Latin rock feels jealous of cumbia music.” He was on to something: Cumbia is the musical backbone of the continent.

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo courtesy of Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto]

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