Yerba Buena Gardens Lunchtime Concert: Cumbia Tokeson

Cumbia Tokeson is a new concept in cumbia music. The band fuses chicha (the Amazonian psychedelic guitar cumbia popular in the 1960s and ’70s) with accordion-driven melodies and the hard grooves of Colombian cumbia, adding in reggae, funk, and punk.  The band took shape in 2009 as two Bay Area groups began collaborating: cumbia punk heroes Fuga and cumbia dance band La Colectiva. Starting in the local underground scene, the bands played protest rallies, house parties and clubs such as Slim’s, often jamming together after gigs, playing cumbia and son jarocho, but more in a rumba style as they improvised. Out of such jams came a unified sound, and Cumbia Tokeson was born. The band is finishing its first EP. Presented with the Consulate General of Mexico.