#Mix base cumbia driver#
#Mix base cumbia plus#

His gifted virtuosity on the diatonic accordion and penchant for mixing Latin music genres are the foundation of his success. With a musical career spanning a half-century and change - or, 56 years for whoever’s counting - tropical accordionist Lisandro Meza embodies the spirit and evolution of popular Colombian coastal music: from its folkloric roots to commercial global crossover. Cool and collected, sporting aviator shades and a casual grin, Lisandro Meza invites us in for coffee and conversation in his master office. The 20-foot portrait of the man himself - hung proudly and prominently in the studio foyer, posing with his iconic Italian Castiglione-brand accordion and with the words “Lisandro Meza: El Macho de America” in large bold lettering - further indicate that we had indeed arrived. Upon arrival, I find Lisandro Meza and son, Lisandro Jr., patiently waiting for our interview inside the Meza family recording studio and record label offices at Café Records.

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I quickly prompt our grumpy cab driver to take us to the Gran Centro shopping plaza that we had passed a few times before. But because we love it I think people really get it,” he added.“No, no, we’re inside the Gran Centro, not next to it!,” Lisandro shouts to me over the buzzy loudspeaker of my pirated cellphone, on a sweltering cab ride in sunny Barranquilla, Colombia. “If we didn’t like it, people wouldn’t like it.

#Mix base cumbia plus#

This is all music we grew up with,” El Comanche said.įor year three Los Master Plus have new original music coming, but they still plan on busting out a few of those sweet covers. We’re not going to play music we don’t love. “Ultimately we know these genres, we love these genres.

There are few bands out there who can cover Daft Punk, No Doubt, and Kings of Leon, all in Spanish, and get the crowd dancing like they do,” Jon Halperin, talent buyer for Music Tastes Good, wrote in an email.Īnd it’s not just a gimmick for these guys, they sincerely love all the music they smash together on stage. They are just so great, we decided to have them back annually. To make it up to them, we asked them back for year two. “We had booked Los Master Plus year one, and due to a snafu, their set got cut short. However, the mishap turned into more gigs. “When we started we were 25 minutes behind and it was sad, people were there waiting and we were only able to do three or four songs and we really wanted to do more,” he said. Made up of El Comanche, El Deivis Muñoz and El Negro Luna, the trio got its first taste of Music Tastes Good during the inaugural event.ĭue to a scheduling confusion, they showed up on stage dressed in their best electro-norteño-banda-meets-hip-hop-star outfits but were only able to play a couple of songs. The trio is back again this year to perform at the third annual festival, which takes place Sept. The band mixes cumbia and Norteño beats with electronica dance grooves, reggaeton, hip-hop and rock riffs, something lead singer El Comanche describes as “una mezcla bastante sabrosa,” or a delicious mix.Īnd if you’ve never heard of Los Master Plus before, well then you probably haven’t been coming to Music Tastes Good in Long Beach because thanks to a scheduling snafu a couple of years ago, the oddly appealing and undeniably talented Mexican trio has pretty much become the festival’s house band. Yes, that’s Radiohead’s “Creep” in Spanish with an electro-cumbia beat, and wait, was that Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire,” and No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak,” en Español, too? Sí, sí it was.

The members of Los Master Plus wear colorful matching shirts, sometimes adorned with animal prints, tight pants, cowboy hats, boots and cool shades as they bust out sweet dance steps while performing a crazy mix of music that shouldn’t go together.