CUUUUUMBIAAAA!!
With Afro-Caribbean roots and spread (and evolved) across Latin American and beyond, Cumbia is more than a music genre but a massive movement that conquered the world with its joy. Considered even a lifestyle for thousands.
MELBOURNE CUMBIA FEST 2023 will immerse you in a sensational tropical fantasy of colours and dance, with two of the main acts of cumbia in Australia: the traditional Afro-Colombian band La Descarga, and the Argentinian cumbia band The New Monos. Alongside dance performances and Latin raised DJs, we ensure you wont be able to stop moving.
MELBOURNE CUMBIA FEST 2023 DJs will revisit a diversity of cumbia subgenres, including the very roots of cumbia, the traditional Afro-Caribbean music, and subgenres such as psychedelic cumbia chicha, cumbia Chilombiana, cumbia villera, Chilean neocumbia or Mexican cumbias rebajadas.
PERFORMANCES
La Descarga (6-piece band)
La Descarga is the forerunner of Colombian tropical roots music in Australia.
Born in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia, as a tribute to the folkloric rhythms of the coasts of Colombia and as a preserver of its cultural heritage, it has evolved through diverse musical and cultural collaborations into an innovative Latin-Australian band where folklore mixes with contemporary Aussie stamps.
Across its history, La Descarga has performed in many of Australia’s most beloved festivals including MOOMBA, Port Fairy Folk Festival, Darwin Festival, Brunswick Music Festival, Australian Multicultural Festival, White Night Melbourne, Fringe Festival, Reservoir Stomp, Waterfront Festival and Darebin Music Feast. La Descarga has released several singles including 'Eliminala', 'Alla en el rio' and 'Chande Gozoso' and will release their long awaited debut album on 2023.
The New Monos (6-piece band)
With their roots in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Melbourne-based band The New Monos combine inspiration from their South American heritage and diverse musical experience with the flavor of contemporary Buenos Aires, mixing Cumbia, Reggae, Folklore, Rock, Rumba, Hip-hop and Latin beats, all expressed with the passion of the Tango.
Julia Towers (DJ set)
Julieth Torres Valoyes, A.K.A. DJ. Julia Towers is a DJ born in Bogotá, Colombia.
Her beginnings in the party scene were in her hometown of Bogotá, a vibrant city where the mix of cultures and sounds gave her the inspiration to bring her musical taste to Melbourne, where she began spinning tunes in 2020 at private events, and she found the push to break into the DJ scene through a number of musicians, DJs from around the world and ISU TAKI collective.
Julia has played in bars across Melbourne not to mention a series of private events, where she has come to be known for constantly experimenting with sounds that integrate her Afro Latin roots and all types of urban music. Her musical selection is a mix between old school and alternative music, as well as fresh and funky, going through various genres, taking you on a magical journey that you will not want to end, transmitting a message of union without borders because for Julia, music knows no limits.
Otorongo (DJ set)
Otorongo is a music selector originally from Chile but currently based in Naarm (Melbourne). He is known for transporting audiences to pristine ecosystems: tropical floodplains, mountain rainforests, or wherever your imagination feels the most comfortable. Otorongo's sets are filled with ethnic percussions, nature samples, and exotic instruments, and are driven by ancient rhythms carefully blended to ensure you feel free to dance. Usually playing from ethnic downtempo to eclectic Afrofuturism, passing through chillrave and tribal tech. This time he will share his taste for cumbia from yesterday and tomorrow.
ISU TAKI collective (Event production)
ISU TAKI is a collective of Naarm-based Latin-American DJs/promoters that began as a response to the lack of representation of emerging movements of underground dancefloors across Abya Yala (aka Latin America). These movements have in common the vision of re-vindication of the diversity of folkloric and traditional music by incorporating modern electronic beats to traditional melodies. ISU TAKI has been generating a space for new music genres such as folktronica, Andes grooves, Andes step, Afrofuturism, tropical bass, digital cumbia, Afrobeats, and more. As a result, a vibrant community has grown around it, including the installation of the traditional Andean dances troop, Wayra Muru. ISU TAKI has organised events since 2019 across Naarm, and expanded to actively collaborate with other collectives in NSW and QLD. With residencies in some of the busiest venues in the city, renowned bands and artists have performed at their events.
Melbourne Cumbia Fest 2023 is proudly presented by ISU TAKI, as part of @mavartsau's NewPrint2 program.
NP2 is supported by On The Road Again(@creative_vic), a Victorian Government initiative to bring live music back across the state, and the Australia Council for the Arts(@auscouncilarts).
Art by the one and only @yefferson.huaman
This event takes place on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. ISU TAKI respectfully acknowledges elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge ancient knowledge not only from Kuli Nation, but all across both continents: Australia and Abya Yala. Always was, always will be