Our good friend Gavin Burnett (Oro 11 - pronounce as "orrrro own-say") lived in Buenos Aires for the last four years soaking up the sounds of Argentine clubland. Now settled down in Oaktown, he owns a gold-plated AK-47 & his cumbia edits have garnered praise from the Mad Decent blog and in Fader magazine. Tonight is a big night for him and fellow bay area/ Buenos Aires sometimes expat Disco Shawn as they are launching the first 12" from their label Bersa Discos with a big party at the Rickshaw Stop. Expect a bunch of peeps going bonkers to psychedelic cumbia edits, baile funk, dancehall, and various electronic sounds from all over the (un)known world. Paul Devro from Mad Decent guests.



If you haven't heard this sound called cumbia yet, just know that it's what all the thugs bump to in Argentina and other parts of the Latin world. Traditionally it has been very relaxed, riding along at a smooth 90 bpm with big fat accordion lines propelling the mellow groove. But now some bedroom producers from down south are messing with the formula, injecting mash-up culture, hip-hop, b-more, & dancehall samples, and some electronic textures and people are starting to take notice. On of the bigger techno tunes from last year - Samim's "Heater" - had a prominent cumbia sample. Diplo did a cumbia mix for the mad decent podcast a few months ago. But listen for yourself. Below is a track from Bersa Discos #1 and also a bumpin' mix of "Heater" with a Pitbull a capella done by some Swedish dude. Also check out Oro 11's MySpace for a bunch of edits and his original productions, my pick is "bussabussCumbia".

Daleduro - Bombon Asesino [from Bersa Discos #1]

Samim vs Pitbull - Hot Chico (Jonas Arbsjö RDS Bump)

Oro 11 MySpace [various tracks]

There was also an article in SF Weekly a bit ago on Tormenta Tropical that you can peep here.