2024-03-22 12:52:14
“Going to play cumbia in Colombia is the same as going to sell oranges in Paraguay,” he says. Rubén “Cacho” Deicas, singer of Los Palmeras, one of the most important cumbia bands in the country and the region. Although it may sound difficult to believe, Los Palmeras never played in Colombia, but they did in the rest of the South American countries. “It is difficult to enter, you have to have a topic that opens paths. There are super good groups there and we don’t feel like competing with them,” Deicas admits about the difficulty of performing in the land where cumbia was born, on the seashore. “Yeah! How can I not like the idea? It would be an honor to play in Colombia and very important for our career,” says the singer and does not rule out the possibility of “disembarking” one day with his music in the cradle of cumbia. “We went several times, but just for a walk,” he concludes. The emblematic band from Santa Fe will perform this Friday, March 22 at 9:30 p.m. at GEBA (Freyre and Dorrego)along with another reference of the tropical scene, Antonio Ríos.
Con 52 years of experienceLos Palmeras are ambassadors of the traditional cumbia with accordion. The validity of the group founded in Santa Fe in 1972 by the accordionist Marcos Camino responds to perseverance, work force, musical openness – they recorded with artists as diverse as Chaqueño Palavecino, Axel, Andrés Calamaro, Leo Dan, Marcela Morelo or Neo Pistea -, and above all the trust and respect towards a genre that crosses generations, territories and social classes: cumbia. “We do classic cumbia with accordion that came down from Colombia. The Imperial Quartet brought it to Argentina,” says Deicas. “At the beginning we did covers, but they sang to the canoe, the palm tree and the river. However, we we make songs about love and experiences“he fixes.
“The taste of Santa Fe,” he points out about the group’s personal contribution. “Here in Santa Fe there is cumbia with accordion, with guitar, with keyboard and trumpet. But we add the taste of Santa Fe cumbia with accordion and we remain firm there,” says the singer. “When El Cuarteto Imperial and Los Wawancó came, they spent many years working in Santa Fe. There, all the groups that imitated them began to appear and a group of boys emerged who began to put together their group, like us,” he contextualizes. “But we have to fight it, because this is an everyday fight.” In fact, the massive success of Los Palmeras came to them after thirty years of experience, with “The chocolate”a viral song that It even had versions in Japanese and Arabic. In 2006, after the popularity they achieved with the song, they gave more than 400 recitals that same year.
-In 2022 they celebrated 50 years of experience. What is the key to sustaining it for so long and not losing validity?
-Sometimes from being first in the table you go to the middle, and then you go up to third place and so on. The point is to maintain. There is a lot of organization in this group. We know when we are up, when we are down or in the middle of the table. But, more than anything, there is respect for the audience here: arriving on time, having good sound and presence on stage. So, all those little things make up the big thing. And above all we have responsibility for what we are doing up and down the stage, because they are things that complement each other. We try to be as responsible as possible and record songs that don’t have double meanings. That is the formula and we strictly respect it.
-What do you mean by “songs that don’t have double meanings”?
-Because maybe songs are recorded that have double meanings and people don’t digest them well. In our case, we do classic cumbia, we sing about love and the experiences of any citizen.
-Beyond the organization and logistics, you have found a musical identity and a way of making music, right?
-We remain firm to the style that was born in ’72 and has given us very good results. We could have incorporated wind instruments or other things, but we didn’t. As in soccer, the team that wins is not touched.
As part of a tour that will take them through the United States, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile and Mexico, the group from Santa Fe will share the stage with Antonio Ríos and in his show They will invite Jimena Barón to sing, with whom they released the song “Elegante” this year. “We have 51 recorded albums, so we have alternatives to make two or three repertoires,” Deicas highlights about the spirit of the show. “So, we are seeing that depending on the movement and temperature of the people. We have a series of songs that are for dancing and dancing,” he simplifies. “We don’t make music to listen to, we make music to have fun. So, there people start taking their temperature, jumping or singing the songs,” he points out on the thermometer to know which songs the show needs. “Once you get on stage, you forget what’s happening outside. Up on stage we transform and do what we know how to do. We are making three or four generations dance. In the shows we see youth, adolescence and families.”
-You make music to dance and have fun collectively. Is that the role of cumbia in times of social and political crisis like the current one?
-The role that cumbia has in times like these is to lift people’s spirits and get them out of their problems for a while. Music is a therapy and it is essential that the people who come to see us change their mood with what we do. Dances and shows serve to have a good time, even if we return to reality later.
-And how do you see the present of cumbia in Argentina?
-Groups with very good songs have appeared and it has been a bit of attacking in a platoon. It is an immense joy to build strength with all the groups and position tropical music not only in the country but also in different places around the world. The cumbia has finally positioned itself.