Cumbia Lab

Frente Cumbiero

Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor (Vampisoul, 2011)

Frente Cumbiero is one of the bands involved in the new cumbia scene in Colombia. It is basically the project of musician and DJ Mario Galeano, joined by an adaptable group of contributors. Some of the musicians involved in Frente Cumbiero’s latest recording, Meets Mad Professor, include Pedro Ojeda, Elbis Alvarez and Marco Fajardo.

Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor is the result of a collaborative three-day recording session with legendary dub producer Mad Professor that took place in 2009. This was part of the British Council’s Incubator project in which Mad Professor’s son, Joe Ariwa, and other musicians of Bogota’s music scene also participated.

Cumbia’s popularity has increased internationally in recent times. It was originally an Afro-Latin rhythm from the Atlantic coast of Colombia. In the past years various forms of cumbia have emerged, ranging from exciting rootsy forms to electronic, retro psychedelic and pop formulas. Frente Cumbiero combines live instruments and Afro roots with electronics, revitalizing cumbia for new generations.

Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor contains instrumental pieces where Colombian cumbia and Jamaican dub find a common ground. The recordings took place at Javeriana University. Four pieces are the work of Frente Cumbiero and out of the improvisational sessions came out three collective compositions. The seven tracks were later remixed by Mad Professor in his London studio, Ariwa. So the album contains the seven original tracks and then the same tracks remixed and totally transformed by Mad Professor in his magical musical lab.

The captivating Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor transforms cumbia into a cutting edge musical form full of echoing dub effects for the new generation of modern dance music fans.