{
  "slug": "cumbia",
  "name": "Cumbia",
  "aliases": [
    "cumbia colombiana",
    "cumbia villera",
    "porro",
    "tropical"
  ],
  "description": "Colombia's Caribbean coast: Indigenous gaita flutes over African drums, later scored for big band and exported down the whole continent until Peru, Mexico and Argentina each had a cumbia of their own.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "Colombia's Caribbean coast",
    "year": 1850
  },
  "lineage": [],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 80,
    "max": 110
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-30",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/cumbia/",
  "trackCount": 7,
  "curatedBy": [],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "wilson-choperena-and-juan-madera--la-pollera-colora",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/wilson-choperena-and-juan-madera--la-pollera-colora/",
      "title": "La Pollera Colorá",
      "artist": "Wilson Choperena and Juan Madera",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/wilson-choperena-and-juan-madera/",
      "year": 1960,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Effectively Colombia's second national anthem. A clarinet figure, a red skirt, and a melody that has survived being played at every wedding in the country for sixty years.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Wilson%20Choperena%20and%20Juan%20Madera%20La%20Pollera%20Color%C3%A1",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NcwQJqab-cM",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "lucho-bermudez--colombia-tierra-querida",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/lucho-bermudez--colombia-tierra-querida/",
      "title": "Colombia Tierra Querida",
      "artist": "Lucho Bermúdez",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/lucho-bermudez/",
      "year": 1970,
      "label": "CBS",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Bermúdez took coastal cumbia, scored it for a full orchestra and put it in the ballrooms of Bogotá and Buenos Aires. The record that made it national rather than regional.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Lucho%20Berm%C3%BAdez%20Colombia%20Tierra%20Querida",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PwPNMEFLdUE",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "los-corraleros-de-majagual--cumbia-cienaguera",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/los-corraleros-de-majagual--cumbia-cienaguera/",
      "title": "Cumbia Cienaguera",
      "artist": "Los Corraleros de Majagual",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/los-corraleros-de-majagual/",
      "year": 1962,
      "label": "Discos Fuentes",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The Discos Fuentes supergroup, with accordion and brass fighting for the same space. Rowdier than Bermúdez and much closer to how the music sounded outdoors.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Los%20Corraleros%20de%20Majagual%20Cumbia%20Cienaguera",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OWCOVeE76BM",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "jose-barros--la-piragua",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/jose-barros--la-piragua/",
      "title": "La Piragua",
      "artist": "José Barros",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/jose-barros/",
      "year": 1969,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A boat, a river and a man remembering both. Barros wrote it about the Magdalena, and it is the most literary lyric the form has.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Jos%C3%A9%20Barros%20La%20Piragua",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji_Wm_elSko",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "toto-la-momposina--curura",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/toto-la-momposina--curura/",
      "title": "Curura",
      "artist": "Totó la Momposina",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/toto-la-momposina/",
      "year": 1993,
      "label": "Real World",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Totó spent decades insisting cumbia's centre was the drums and the gaitas, not the orchestra. Recorded in London, and the least polished record on this list by design.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Tot%C3%B3%20la%20Momposina%20Curura",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PXsWLjDglNo",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "los-hijos-del-sol--carinito",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/los-hijos-del-sol--carinito/",
      "title": "Cariñito",
      "artist": "Los Hijos del Sol",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/los-hijos-del-sol/",
      "year": 1978,
      "label": null,
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Peruvian cumbia — electric guitars, a Farfisa organ, Amazonian melody. Proof the form mutated the moment it crossed a border, every time.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Los%20Hijos%20del%20Sol%20Cari%C3%B1ito",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wir8Af--SHY",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "sonora-carruseles--micaela",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sonora-carruseles--micaela/",
      "title": "Micaela",
      "artist": "Sonora Carruseles",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sonora-carruseles/",
      "year": 1998,
      "label": "Discos Fuentes",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Late, loud and unashamedly for dancing. Included because cumbia is a living commercial music, not a heritage exhibit, and this is what it sounds like working.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sonora%20Carruseles%20Micaela",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MG95ZV__0LM",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}