He orchestrated a series of studio sessions that would become the group's 2020 debut album, Batuco. Son Rompe Pera traveled to Chile in 2017, developing a tight friendship with bandleader Macha (Aldo Asenjo) of Chico Trujillo - an institution of streetwise, rule-breaking Chilean cumbia. ![]() Then he connected us with Chico Trujillo and that's where everything changed." We stayed in contact but didn't really know what he was trying to get at. We eventually started playing and a crowd gathered. Our friends dared us to jump on but we were kind of embarrassed about people finding out we played marimba. "We were walking around and saw a room where some older folks were playing marimba. "This was back when we used to drink," remembers Mongo with a chuckle. The turning point for Son Rompe Pera came in 2013, on a casual day out with friends at Mexico City's Lagunilla tianguis - a sprawling flea market filled with oddball antiques and greasy food stands favored among locals and tourists nursing a pounding weekend hangover. Even as the brothers' love of punk and rockabilly began poking through their crisp guayaberas with colorful tattoos and coiffed, greaser hair, cumbia has always guided them back home. Tradition and modernity coexist peacefully within Son Rompe Pera, and cumbia is still very much its backbone. They continued performing with their father, but also got into skateboarding and psych music, soaking up experiences that expanded their worldview to reframe rock and cumbia as allied genres instead of foes. Son Rompe Pera would frequently perform at weddings and private parties, running through cumbia, danzón and cha-cha-chá classics, and even a few pop-rock favorites by Timbiriche and El Tri.Īs they grew up, the boys veered off into rock 'n' roll, playing in punk bands around Mexico City and Mexico State's gritty underground. They began performing nearly 20 years ago as a traditional marimba band led by their father José Gama Sr., who enlisted sons Kacho, Mongo and Kilos to flesh out the ensemble. After all, its members first cut their teeth as musicians in the streets, alongside neighbors and friends. Of course Mexico City rallied behind Son Rompe Pera. People who came to our shows before, who bought our merch and dropped a few coins in our hat when we were performing in parks during the pandemic. Seeing so many familiar faces was amazing. ![]() "We played Vive Latino before with Chico Trujillo, but this was our turn so it was nerve-wracking. "It was a very emotional experience," remembers Kacho Gama, who wields the marimba mallets in Son Rompe Pera alongside his brother Mongo. ![]() By the end of the set, thousands of elated dancers clapped and cheered, anointing Son Rompe Pera into the pantheon of hometown heroes. Dance circles formed throughout the arena, throbbing to the punkified cumbia blaring from the speakers. Despite the notoriously thankless slot where many a band has floundered, the psychobilly marimberos from Naucalpan, Mexico, convened a massive crowd that treated them like headliners. From reworking conservative genres for new eras, to teasing out modern sounds from old-school instruments, these artists represent the wide range of experimentation that makes up contemporary Latin music.Įarlier this year, in the blazing Mexico City sun, plucky cumbia band Son Rompe Pera was tasked with opening the main stage of the gargantuan Vive Latino Festival. In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, NPR Music is spotlighting a series of artists across Latin America who are engaging with their musical heritage in unique ways. Once regarded as an incorruptible pillar of tradition, the marimba becomes a revolutionary rock 'n' roll instrument for band Son Rompe Pera.
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