The Original Sound of Cumbia (subtitled The History of Colombian Cumbia & Porro as Told by the Phonograph 1948–79) is a compilation album of Colombian cumbia and porro that was compiled by Will Holland and released by Soundway Records on 5 December 2011.
Background and release Cumbia and porro are genres of music and dance from the Colombian Caribbean. Cumbia originated in the department of Magdalena around the confluence of the Cauca and Magdalena Rivers. It is popular across Latin America and has also influenced music in the United States and Europe. Porro is a related genre that has its roots in the music of late 19th century wind bands in the departments of Bolívar and Córdoba. Both genres were originally played on instruments from African, European, and indigenous Colombian musical traditions.
In the 1930s–50s music from Colombia's Caribbean coast underwent a transition in style and sound, as bandleaders like Pacho Galán and Lucho Bermúdez played and composed traditional music with large orchestras modelled on big band and mambo groups. Cumbia and porro became popular in the interior of Colombia, and cumbia in particular started to be seen by Colombians as the national music style, which had up to that point been bambuco. In the 1960s cumbia orchestras shrunk in size, and bands like los Corraleros de Majagual introduced new instruments and brought the genre greater international popularity.
British musician and producer Will Holland selected the tracks that appear on The Original Sound of Cumbia from singles and LPs that he collected during a five-year stay in Colombia. The album was released by Soundway Records on 5 December 2011.
Critical reception
David Katz, in a review for BBC Music, called the album "a must for even the most seasoned cumbia hound." Nigel Wood of the Irish Times wrote that "the Soundway label is a byword for quality World archive collections, and this is a gem." In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote that "the music found in this collection sounds as radical and vital in the 21st century as it did during the period documented here." Music journalist Robert Christgau wrote in his review that "there's not much of the surface sparkle of the Disco Fuentes cumbia comps here, but boy, are these guys determined to stand out and have fun."
Several reviews praised the liner notes of the album, written by Holland, which Songlines described as "passionately lengthy".
Track listing
References
External links