After a couple of cool EPs, Bogot\u00e1-based Ghetto Kumb\u00e9 mark a half-decade of activity with a full album at last, and it does not disappoint. The trio has a decent pedigree (two of the three did tours of duty with longstanding Colombian export Sidestepper, for starters), and they travel this project\u2019s trajectory, to the future by way of the past, with the surest of footing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sturdy drum dialogues of Juan Carlos \u201cEl Chongo\u201d Puello and Andr\u00e9s \u201cDoctor Keyta\u201d Mercado, electronically enhanced by Edgardo \u201cEl Guajiro\u201d Garc\u00e9s, digs down through cumbia and champete, through their Afro-Colombian antecedents, right back to some archetypal West African rhythms. The deep re-racination is in the service of a low-key Afrofuturism, cloaked in heavy humidity and an ultraviolet aura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSola\u201d rides an intriguing marimba motif, \u201cVamo a Dale Duro\u201d is a haunting slice of equatorial house. Se\u00f1ors Chongo and Guajiro trade verses on the latter, checklisting class-conflict contentions. Amid the social struggles, one finds \u201cTamb\u00f3\u201d, which could be called post-romantic \u2013 surprisingly upbeat for a song about getting dumped. The sense of solitude is short-lived (less than 100 years, for sure), as a pair of tracks welcome women to the mics. The mesmerizing \u201cDjabe\u201d features R\u00e9union Island vocalist Melanie\u2019s lilting \u00cele-de-R\u00e9 Creole, while the insistent closer \u201cLengua Ri Suto\u201d is sweetened by the coastal drawls of Palenquero hip hop collective Kombilesa Mi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n