A song came across my screen this week that grabbed me, “Cumbia de Mi Barrio” by Las Cafeteras, one of my favorite LA-based bands. It is a song that celebrates the singer’s neighborhood and its vibrant culture, filled with music, dancing, and love.
To me, Cumbia de mi Barrio captures the essence of the barrio and, the special memories, and the sorrows that are created there.
En mi barrio hay cumbia
Y en mi cumbia hay amor
En mi amor hay historia
Y en mi historia hay dolor”
(In my neighborhood there is cumbia
And in my cumbia there is love
In my love there is history
And in my history there is pain)
The song is performed as only Las Caf (as it is known) can do it – a bit mysterious, a bit light-hearted, a bit tongue in check, and a bit urgent, and with a message. The music is some of the best cumbia out there, with just the right tempo, with a 1-2-3-4 back beat supporting the deep-voiced lyrics and a lilting blended male/female chorus, all molded together in a story and a dance number. The chorus is an earworm – you will sing in, hum it, whistle it, for hours. The bridges and breaks move the song along and add to the urgency and joy of the lyrics. The song is at once a work of musical art, a loving salute to the building block of Mexican and Latino culture This is what Las Caf does – make music that shines a light on the loves and ills of society, and makes you dance.
Cumbia de mi Barrio struck me so deeply because I live in a barrio, the Barrio de San Sebastian, in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico. My barrio is full of music, of celebrations, of extended families There are taco stands, tiendas, sidewalk card games, street parties and children, children, children. Everyone knows everyone and watches out for and helps everyone else.
But as Las Café reminds us, there is pain. Sometimes my streets are closed off for funerals, and sometimes children go to the US and are “lost” – never return to Mexico, a heartbreak for parents. Families fight, money can be tight, and people get sick or injured. Gentrification threatens, modernization bleeds some of its flavor and entices some of its children. The barrio is life.
But San Sebastian, like every barrio, has shared memories between grandparents, parents, and adult children. If you grew up here, it is your home, your safety, your history, your network, and your support system, from generation to generation.
Cumbia de mi Barrio captures all of this. A brilliant piece of music, of writing, of emotion. But that is Las Cafeteras. A Los Angeles-based band that combines traditional Mexican music with modern sounds like hip-hop, rock, and reggae. They have gained a national following for their socially conscious lyrics and high-octane live performances which often involve Son Huasteco music and dancing and social messages.
Even if you can’t understand the Spanish lyrics, the music will make you move and laugh and feel. If you do understand the lyrics, you will understand a lot about Latin and Mexican culture.
