When I first saw Los Chinchillos del Caribe I thought they were just a gimmick. I mean, how seriously can you take these guys who play Argentine-style, synth-driven cumbia villera while wearing Mexican wrestling masks… but they come from one of the few places in Latin America where cumbia never had any real impact?
They haven’t yet proved me wrong, but their long-lasting commitment to the style (and the masks) makes me wonder if they are really onto something with this odd project. They definitely know what they’re doing and they seem sure about it. Who knows, maybe they do have what it takes to finally unleash cumbia fever in La Isla del Encanto.
Now, to achieve that, they first need to develop a distinguishable style of cumbia that appeals to the Puerto Rican sensibilities, and having legendary urbano producer DJ Blass (who has already worked on some ñu-cumbia tracks with genre pioneer Toy Selectah) on board seems to me like a firm step in that direction.
“Siguió Tomando” will be included in the upcoming official debut album by the masked Puerto Rican cumbiancheros, to be titled Nos Fuimos (a reference to the seminal album by Los Corraleros del Majagual, maybe?). In the meantime, you can get this single from iTunes.