Cumbia Integrates Everyone In Reykjavík

Kumbiavík offers Latin American music, food, dance and film

Cumbia, the indigenous and Afro-Colombian music genre, is trickling through Reykjavík. Restaurant La Poblana hosts cumbia nights in their new and bigger space, ensembles such as La Dimensión and Sonido Fin perform cumbia at Tónabíó and Stúdíó Sýrland, DJs Tigermjólk and Melerito de Jeré spin cumbia tracks from Röntgen to 12 Tónar. But on July 19, the all-day festival “Kumbiavík” will see this trickle turn into a flood.

Carlos Guarneros, principal organiser of Kumbiavík, explains that, “[Cumbia] is something where every country has their own style.” He adds that, “it’s something that connects us as Latin Americans, from Mexico to Argentina.” Carlos is the owner of the beloved Mexican restaurant La Poblana, while moonlighting as a musician in the group La Dimensión.

La Dimensión has members from Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Iceland and the Netherlands.  “For many years, I’ve been in Iceland trying to make a band with immigrant people,” he explains. They are “a project of immigrants, especially from Latin America, sharing the richness of the music we grew up with.”

Resistance through music

“Cumbia is a movement of resistance,” Carlos states. “It is coming more from the hoods. I think it is very good to have cumbia because that’s what represents us as immigrants in Iceland — resistance.” Cumbia offers a blend of sounds, originally formed from indigenous music from the Caribbean coast of Colombia and influences from both Spaniards colonising the area and African influence brought by Spanish-imported slaves in the region.

“It’s a lot of resistance,” Carlos states. “In Colombia, cumbia speaks about slavery and about freedom. I will always say that it’s our blues, like the blues of the United States.”

Cumbia also refers to the folk dance tradition around the music, similar to salsa and bachata. But Carlos has a key difference to point out: “If you go to salsa or bachata events, you have to know how to dance to have fun. Otherwise, you are just in the corner, standing. But with cumbia, you just have to move. Everyone is just dancing and jumping, and you dance as you want. And we love that, how cumbia integrates everyone.”

This festival has everything

Kumbiavík will unite everyone: DJs, dancers, musicians, chefs, and filmmakers. Explaining this range, Carlos states that, “everything is connected. If you talk about food, you have to talk about music.” On the bill are dance workshops, live music, food from La Poblana, BakaBaka, and Mama Reykjavík, and a documentary’s Icelandic premiere.

Sonido Amazónico tells the story of seminal Amazonian cumbia group Los Fabulosos Wembler’s de Iquitos. “I think it’s a good introduction for people who want to know ‘why does cumbia sound like that?’” Carlos tells me about the film.

Despite the fact that this is Kumbiavík’s first iteration, Carlos did not think up this event this year. “It’s been very hard because we don’t have any support by any institution,” Carlos explains. “I applied for years, but I didn’t want to wait one more year to see what happens.” He funded the festival himself, and, to the best of his knowledge, this is the first Latin American music festival of this scale in Iceland’s history. “This is something I’m doing for myself,” Carlos says, “but also for the community in general, and also for, of course, Icelandic people.” On the day of Kumbiavík, whether you grew up on cumbia or are completely new to it, you are welcome.

Kumbiavík is on July 19, from 12:00 to 02:00 in Mama Reykjavík’s White Lotus venue. Tickets are available on mama.is.