Acclaimed Colombian singer-songwriter, actor and activist Carlos Vives has released his 14th album titled “Cumbiana.” The new recording celebrates the roots of cumbia and the biodiversity of the great rivers and swamps of Colombia. Along with the album, Vives has also released a 45-minute documentary, “The Lost World of Cumbiana,” where he travels throughout Colombia, showcasing the musical and biological diversity of the South American nation.
The album features high profile guests such as Panamanian salsa star, actor and activist Rubén Blades; famed reggae artist Ziggy Marley; Spanish pop star Alejandro Sanz; Canadian-Colombian rising singer Jessie Reyez; and Colombian folk singer Elkin Robinson. Cumbiana was recorded in several studios throughout the U.S., the U.K., and Spain, as well as Vives’ native Colombia.
Cumbiana features a fantastic mix of cumbia, salsa, vallenato, reggae and modern music elements, including reggaeton.
Carlos Vives started to sing pop ballads in 1986, and in 1991, he turned towards classic vallenatos, making him the face worldwide of the new Colombian sound. His approach to playing vallenato music with pop and rock influences expanded the genre to international audiences. Vives has sold over 20 million albums worldwide, and his songs and albums have reached the top of numerous Billboard Latin music charts 33 times.
is the winner of 12 Latin GRAMMY awards. In 2019 he received the Latin Impact Award at the United Nations for his work “Tras la Perla de América,” that supports responsible, inclusive and sustainable development in the city of his birth, Santa Marta. Vives is also deeply involved with the organization Plastic Oceans.
Additionally, Vives is a significant supporter of education through the Latin Grammy Carlos Vives Scholarship and is the founder of the Rio Grande music school in Bogotá, where children develop artistic skills.
Cumbiana has received several Latin Grammy nominations in the categories of “Album of the Year” and “Best Contemporary/Tropical Fusion Album” for Cumbiana; “Song of the Year” for “For Sale” alongside Alejandro Sanz and “Canción para Rubén” alongside Rubén Blades; “Best Long Form Music Video” for El Mundo Perdido de Cumbiana and “Best Tropical Song” for his collaboration with Kany Garcia on “Búscame.”
Carlos Vives talked to World Music Central about Cumbiana and his philanthropic work.
WMC – Although you are known as a vallenato singer, your new album Cumbiana contains a wide variety of styles such as reggaeton, cumbia, reggae and salsa. Why have you incorporated these styles at this time?
CV – There are several songs that are using the Cumbia pattern. Some organically, others with computers, but of course it is not a folk album. Cumbia as a rhythm is not only used to make traditional songs, but its patterns, and those of all its variants, are used in urban music, without being labeled as cumbieros or folkloric patterns. Hip hop has been that connector that makes us want to use the arsenal of rhythms that Colombians have as a result of the union of American and African cultures. It’s like what happened in Panama that was the great trigger for all Latin urban currents.
WMC – Who are the guests in Cumbiana and why did you select these artists?
CV – I chose them because one discovers those affections, sometimes the choice of who we sing with is not something that is based on marketing strategies, but rather that during the same creative process of making the cumbiana songs, the ideas of wanting to get closer were born. In general, it is when there has been affection and connection, and when we have talked to these artists about these issues that connect us, such as what happened with Alejandro Sanz about the canciones de ida y vuelta (roundtrip songs that traveled between Latin America and Spain), or with Rubén about our deep Colombian-Panamanian relationship in music, and the same with Jessy, looking for the voice of a woman with a lot of personality, with that particular timbre that could move very well with my more cumbiera and vallenata voice.
CV – I found a lot of fondness in a singer who is succeeding in the Anglo world with her Colombian history, with her history with Carlos Vives and with the music of Colombia. Through my daughters I discovered Jessy and they asked me to make an attempt, to send my song to Jessy to see what she felt, and of course she gave it her great emotion and it shows in what she sent back, in how I got back the song enhanced, with that voice, with that mystery that she has in her voice and when you meet her she has it in her eyes. Then, this is how the unions have naturally occurred and in the following volumes of Cumbiana there are more reasons of fondness that are those that produce that spice and make other artists appear to thrive here in Cumbiana.
About the collaboration Jessie said, “If you go back to interviews I’ve done in the past, or if you scroll down my Twitter, you’ll see that I’ve been vocal about being a Carlos Vives fan for a long time. To have a collaboration with a legend who I respect, who is so tied to my heritage, a legend who is tantamount to Colombian pride whose songs have serenaded many childhood memories and family parties- is unreal; it’s a dream realized. Cumbiana is a capsule of life, love, joy and Colombian history and to have the privilege of collaborating on the first song, ‘Hechicera,’ doesn’t seem like real life. I’m honored.”
WMC – Cumbiana is more than an album, there is also a documentary with the same title. Tell us a bit about the documentary.
CV – The production of the documentary was interrupted by the pandemic, the challenge was that the audiovisual material was not complete and we had to manage to tell the story in the best way and be able to impact the hearts of the people. For me, the most gratifying thing about making the film was being able to tell the story of a culture whose descendants still inhabit the territory and who are at the origin of who we are and who have been lost in our memory.
WMC – What is the Tras la Perla organization?
CV – It is a small interdisciplinary group with whom I work at the Foundation that we call Tras la Perla in reference to the province of Santa Marta, a citizen initiative to come together to solve the most fundamental problems of this city on three fronts: neighborhood, city and region. Music taught me its territory and it is precisely this territory that I call Cumbiana, the land where we put our efforts and the help that comes from people’s affection for our cause. It is the way to give back to my land all the muse and all the music that it has given us.
More about Carlos Vives and his initiatives:
Official website: carlosvives.com
Escuela Rio Grande (Rio Grande School): riograndeescuela.com
Tras la Perla Foundation: traslaperla.org
Plastic Oceans: plasticoceans.org
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.