Cumbia for
cool climes

Sonido Nordico kick away the
cold with hot new Latin sounds

ALTERED EGOS:
Marie Belzil, Mariano Franco and Fernando Pinzon

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

“In Mexico, there are the sonideros,” explains Mariano Franco, singer and Kaoss Pad king in Montreal’s Psychotropical Orchestra, and founder of the Sonido Nordico DJ team. “People have these trucks full of sound equipment, and they go from town to town. Originally, they played only cumbia, now they play merengue, salsa, whatever.”

If that sounds a lot like Jamaica’s ambulatory soundsystems, you’re right, and that’s not the only similarity between reggae and cumbia, a Colombian groove now permeating Latin America from Buenos Aires to Monterrey, and making headway in London, New York and, thanks to Sonido Nordico, Montreal.

“Cumbia was always associated with lower class people, part of not liking your tropical, African, Indian side. It has the same groove, slow cadences, a pattern that’s perfect for trances. It’s sexy, it’s sensual.”

Marie Belzil, Franco’s colleague in Sonido Nordico along with Fernando Pinzon (guitarist in P.O.), notes, “There are Argentines mixing reggae and cumbia, and it’s a perfect marriage, a natural fit.”

And a natural fit for Sonido Nordico’s playlist. The starting point is certainly cumbia, especially the new wave of tough, dub-heavy digital cumbia coming out of Latin America of late (their own 1980s, rediscovered). But the trio range far, reaching into other Latin rhythms, even retro sounds like psychedelic Peruvian chicha. “DJing this stuff, for me,” says Quebec-bred Belzil, “is like walking into a candy store.”

Sonido Nordico debuted in January of 2007 as Franco alone, spinning cumbia at the tropically themed bar la Plage on St-Laurent. His resistance to shitty salsa and reggaeton didn’t endear him to the crowd, and a near-fistfight ended the arrangement. By April, though, following a connect with local global-kitsch compadres Royal Air Togo, Sonido Nordico began in earnest at a Zoobizarre party. “It was the first time we discovered our alter egos,” says Franco of DJing, “our almost transvestite personalities. It was great because everyone came to dance fucking cumbia.”

Since then, Sonido Nordico, often in tandem with Royal Air Togo, have worked the decks at Divan Orange, overseen a liquor-soaked boat cruise up the river and thrown two of their wicked cool Cucurama parties, importing acts like Colombia’s Monareta and Mexico’s Sonido Changorama.

Following their set at Divan Orange’s New Year’s Eve party, the three plan on more and bigger things for 2009. Franco sees even further down the road. “My dream is to one day buy a big truck and do a Canadian tour, stop in all these small towns and just play cumbia. Let’s see how many beers it takes for people to start dancing.”