As music genres become more expansive by the day, it’s still a feat to say “I’ve never heard anything like it” and mean it. Yet, such is the case with Son Rompe Pera’s latest release, Marimbazos de Oro. Their unique blend of punk, cumbia, and norteño sound culminates in something that I’ve truly never heard before. Crunchy rhythmic guitars? Check. Steady cumbia backbeat? Check. Warm wooden timbre of the marimba? I’m listening.
“When I was 13, dad brought home a marimba that he had borrowed and told us he was [going to] teach us how to play it,” says Mongo Gama, one of Son Rompe Pera founding members. Mongo and his brothers Kacho and Kilos grew up just outside of Mexico City in a region called Naucalpan. Their father, José Dolores (AKA “Batuco”) played drums in a cumbia band and taught his sons percussion, as a way for the family to make money. “From that day on, we would go with him after school,” Mongo adds, “walking through the hilly streets of Naucalpan, playing old classic songs on the marimba.”
The brothers played parties and events with their dad, Mongo and Kacho on marimba and Kilos on percussion, often working long hours. They built up a repertoire of hundreds of songs, learning everything from classic folk music to norteños, cumbias, salsas, and mariachis. “When we were teenagers, we all started hating the marimba actually,” Kacho Gama says. “[We] hated going with dad to the boring parties or to the market on weekends.” Their relationship to the instrument was fraught. As rebellious teens sometimes are, the brothers followed the interests of their uncle and fell into psychobilly and punk. Still playing marimba with their father on the side, their world became separate spheres, feeling embarrassed to bring the marimba into the punk scene, and vice versa.
“In Mexico, it is looked down upon in many circles. It’s your grandparents’ instrument. It’s not cool,” Kacho adds. But upon the unexpected passing of their father, the brothers made a big shift. Initially planning to retire their marimba-playing days, they instead found encouragement through a fortuitous encounter which opened their minds. One of their performances caught the eye of their future agent, who introduced them to Aldo “Macha” Asenjo of Chilean cumbia, ska, and rock outfit Chico Trujillo. “It was really Macha from Chico Trujillo who helped us integrate [the marimba] with other sounds. He invited us to Chile and we started playing it for all the great musicians there, and they loved it,” Kacho says. “The Chilean musicians really accepted our playing and helped us realize we could do more with it.”
Marimbazos de Oro manifested through yet another serendipitous meeting. “Our manager introduced us to Adrian one day in Austin,” Mongo says. This was Adrian Quesada, guitarist and producer of psychedelic-soul project Black Pumas. “We ended up chatting for 3 hours at his studio and [decided] there were lots of things we wanted to do together.”
In honor of their late father, Son Rompe Pera named the track “José Dolores” after him. The tragic song depicts the grief of losing a loved one, with a call “I will never forget you.” Throughout the album, the band’s lyrics stay close to their roots. “Most of it comes from my experience growing up, which wasn’t ‘easy’ by most people’s standards,” Mongo says, adding, “looking back, after seeing so many different people, places, and communities, makes us think: how did we survive that?” The album starts with songs like “Arboledas” and “La Sombra” depicting some particularly fearful moments of youth: One marimba-centered ranchera rendering a scene of a child, hungry and cold, facing the danger of the streets; the other, a straightforward heavy punk track about fear of what lingers in the dark. Later tracks “Lágrimas” and “La Cura” walk a sad path, depicting hardships of violent streets, family struggle, and a fear of loneliness.
But on the road, the band still has each other.
While Macho and Kacho rock the marimba and Kilos shreds percussion, the brothers are now joined by Raúl Albarran (bass), Ricardo “Ritchie” López (drums), and Cana Murillo (percussion).
“We still don’t really believe all the places we get to go to,” Albarran adds.
From playing the streets of Mexico to traveling the world as a full fledged band, Kacho expresses an admiring awe to their unforeseen life on the road.
“We thought it was just something to make a few pesos with dad,” Kacho says. “We didn’t realize that we could do what we want… explore and make new things, [and] it could take us to the corners of the globe.”
While life on the road isn’t always glamorous, Son Rompe Pera have certainly paved the way for cumbia-punk.
Son Rompe Pera plays at The Get Down on October 28, 680 SE 6th, 8 pm, $35.65, more info, 21+