La Chomba is still a long way from being a band as renowned as Los Angeles Azules, but its founder and singer, Álex Olivares, is certain that his project is on the right track.
“We still have a long way to go, but I keep dreaming,” Álex said in an interview from his native Mexico City. “But I think the first door has already opened.”
That first door was an American record label that signed this cumbia group from Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, one of the most popular neighborhoods in the Mexican capital. That has allowed this group to travel around the United States; They have already passed through several cities in California and in October they will travel to Chicago, New York, Tennessee and other points on the east coast.
The person responsible for the internationalization of La Chomba was “El baile de San Juan”, a song that is quite a phenomenon on social networks and in which Álex did not have much faith, as he tells it.
It all happened one night when La Chomba, founded in 2010, shared the stage with Sonido Pancho de Tepito, a sonidero –DJ of cumbia and other tropical rhythms– who was in charge of the party.
“I gave a sample of the album to Chucho [el encargado]Let’s see what you think,” he said. “They don’t play here [música] of Mexican groups because they are very elitist, but it touched my theme, and when we realized it was already at its peak.
Someone Alex hasn’t known until now uploaded the song to YouTube and to date it has more than 50 million views, a phenomenon for a group that worked independently and whose only aim was to entertain a public dance.
Currently the band continues to entertain public dances especially in Mexico City, and also meetings and private parties. His specialty is the sonidero style with influences from Colombian and Venezuelan cumbia.
Recently, the group premiered “El handsome”, a song dedicated to the neighborhood gallants that abound there, says Álex.
“Hopefully it will be placed as ‘El baile de San Juan,’” said the 47-year-old singer.
The new song will be part of an album that will include eleven or twelve cuts, although it does not yet have a release date. The artist hopes that people turn to the new project “because cumbia is immortal, and it’s true that we all have a cumbiambero inside.”