The revolutionary singer, accordionist, and bandleader CELSO PIÑA, “El Rebelde del Acordeón,” mashes up cumbia with tropical sounds from norteño to sonidero, adding liberal dashes of ska, reggae, and hip hop to suit his tastes. Piña was born and grew up in Monterrey, and started his musical career playing locally with his three brothers. He shifted his focus from norteño to cumbia after seeing Aníbal Velásquez and Alfredo Gutiérrez in the mid 1980s, and then expanded his sonic pallet to become a fusion pioneer. Collaborations with the likes of Lila Downs and Cafe Tacvba have kept him “in demand everywhere.” (Austin Chronicle)
DOS SANTOS’ alluring grooves explore the intersections between “cumbia and salsa, jazz's hinterlands, and the complicated legacy of American popular music.” (Noisy) Based in Chicago, the group’s five members (Peter Vale, Alex Chavez, Daniel Villarreal-Carrillo, Jaime Garza, Nathan Karagianis) have individual careers in a range of styles—including jazz, R&B/soul, traditional Mexican folk, punk, cumbia, salsa, and electronica—and a collective history of critical involvement in arts education and social justice organizing. They bring all of this to bear in creating a sound they call an idealized new progressive American music, as rooted in Chicago as it is communicable with the world.
RIOBAMBA is an Ecuadorian-Lithuanian producer, DJ, and cultural activist based in Brooklyn. Her rowdy, deeply researched live sets reflect back nightlife’s power as a site of joy and resistance, amplifying connective tissues between YouTube clips, dembow brujería, bodega soundtracks, and noise hyperreality. She’s a member of techno-feminist booking agency DISCWOMAN’s roster, and is founder of the label APOCALIPSIS.
