Barcelona boom

Rumba catalana, also known as rumba flamenca, was born in the 1950s in Barcelona’s Gracia neighbourhood, mixing gypsy guitar with Cuban rhythms. This hybrid, frenetic street music, frowned on by purists as tacky sub-flamenco pop, absorbed everything from Perez Prado to Elvis Presley and dominated the charts in the 1960s and 70s with Peret. What happened next? We explore the legacy of one of the most enduring, infectious sounds in Spain.

Peret – Tracatrá (from the 1965 movie A Toda Gas)

Scorned by Catalans during the 1970s for its associations with Franco, dismissed by flamenco scholars and ignored by the music press, rumba ended the 20th Century forgotten in the margins. But in recent years the genre is seeing a renaissance. Thanks to a new wave of DJs and vanguard bands who mix a cutting edge attitude with a love of retro sounds, rumba catalana is a hot favourite on the underground music scene across Spain. And there are infinite new mutations: punk-fuelled ‘rumba core’, electro rumba ‘n’ bass, rumba-soul, disco-rumba…

This revolution has made rumba the new sound of Barcelona, and maybe even the new sound of Spain. Veteran rumba kings like Peret, who has just released a new album (De Los Cobardes Nunca Se Ha Escrito Nada), are back in the news. Old favourites like Los Patriarcas de la Rumba, a real Buena Vista Social Club of rumba, have revived forgotten classics with their new album Cosa Nostra. And Gato Perez, a rumba star in the 70s, has also been reclaimed as a key heritage figure. But all this would just remain a nostalgia trip if the younger generation hadn’t picked up on it and started their own rumba craze.

Más Achilifunk

Manu Chao gave a nod to the sound with his 2002 track ‘Rumba de Barcelona’. But it’s only in the last few years that young musicians are finally making rumba with no apologies. The excellent compilation Más Achilifunk makes definitive connections between the old and the new, and presents rumba flamenca as the core genre for new made-in-Spain remixes. On the album, compiled by DJ and graphic designer Txarly Brown, new groups such as Papawa, Los Impagaos, Gertrudis and Pantanito go head to head with old rumba classics and remixes by internacional DJs such as Toy Selectah, Haaksman & Haaksman, Spain’s DJ Floro and top Basque selector Makala. The compilation also features cross-generational collaborations such as Peret with Los Fulanos (a new boogaloo combo from Barcelona). The result? A fresh collage of new rumba - 100% Spanish with a tropical touch and global appeal. Eclectic sonic guru Txarly Brown explains why he wanted to bring all these sounds together: “I wanted to expose the new rumba groups to what is happening on the dancefloor, to introduce the rumba scene to club culture”.

Más Achilifunk builds on the success of its predecesor, the 2008 collection Achilifunk, Gipsy Soul 1969-1979 (Lovemonk) a widely acclaimed compilation that traced the evolution of rumba flamenca. The productions of the day echoed the signature sounds of labels like Stax, Motown and Fania. The tracklist featured vintage hits showing how rumba had absorbed a dizzying array of influences including Cuban music, funk, psychedelic rock, soul and disco. Young artists and producers began to see rumba as a rich resource for remixes and a string of reworks and re-issues of 70s classics kicked off the rumba revolution.

Rumba rebirth

After years of neglect, many musicians have started to adopt rumba as the quintessential sound of young Barcelona. It’s a surprising turn for a genre with an eventful history: rumba was born in Catalunya, in the marginal gypsy neighbourhoods of Barcelona. During Franco’s dictatorship Catalan language and culture was heavily repressed, and the regime began to look favourably on artists who sang in Spanish including rumba singers El Pescailla and Peret. Txarly Brown explains: “Until 1975 rumba was seen as a style which had been manipulated by Franco, who really tried to co-opt the sound. In 1974 Peret was even forced by the regime to enter the Eurovision song contest.” Rumba expanded to Madrid and Seville, and the whole of Spain went on to assimilate a style whch had originally emerged from the poor neighbourhoods of Barcelona. With the arrival of democracy, Catalunya recovered its identity and rumba was submerged under the more progressive Nova Canço, sung in Catalan. “For a long time, rumba’s identity got very caught up with associations with Franco,” agrees Xavi Ciurans from the group Gertrudis “But now, rumba is seen as a sound with real authenticity and many (Catalan) nationalist musicians have really embraced it”.

So rumba is back. Reborn and remixed. And as Txarly Brown notes, this musical language, adopted by successful groups such as Ojos de Brujo, Muchachito Bombo Infierno and La Troba Kung Fu, has given Spanish artists their own special swing: “These guys have a particularly Spanish dimension to their sound, they’re not just playing versions of British or American pop or electronica. We rock to a rumba beat!”

La Troba Kung Fú - Calor Calor

Today, Peret is a hit again and there is a whole new scene of young bands experimenting with new styles of rumba. Pantanito embrace rumba rock. Desmaskaradas and Perro Pachingo play punky rumba core. The Rumbers from Seville do flamenco breaks and the Electroputas make what you could call rum ‘n’ bass. La Familia Rustika mix rumba with Caribbean sounds while DJ Makala mashes up the dancefloor with his dub-disco-rumba sets.

Peret featuring Marina of Ojos De Brujo – El Muerto Vivo

What is rumba’s secret? Why was it reborn to take on the world? For DJ Makala, it’s simple: “Because rumba makes people dance like crazy - rumba is all about having fun and dancing.” And why, after so many years, has rumba become cool in Spain? Txarly Brown explains: “The moment had come to reclaim this musical moment that had happened in our country. And we wanted to do it ourselves”, he says laughing, “before someone else, like Gilles Peterson, showed up in Barcelona and said ‘wow, this stuff is really good!’”

Bernardo Gutiérrez

Más Achilifunk
is out now on Lovemonk

Peret - De Los Cobardes Nunca Se Ha Escrito Nada
is out now on Universal Music Spain

Joseph Cunill - Rabbit Rumba
is out on Wah Wah

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