Son Rompe Pera/Meridian Brothers

While firmly rooted in the traditional marimba music of their youth spent outside Mexico City, the Gama brothers of Son Rompe Pera bring a punk-rock edge to classic cumbia rhythms. The band’s outrageous live shows get crowds dancing to modern interpretations of Mexican, Peruvian, and Colombian classics, as well as original material and surprise covers.

Colombia’s Meridian Brothers reinterpret all manner of popular Latin American dance music with a strong psychedelic and experimental sensibility. Fronted by guitarist, singer, and composer Eblis Álvarez, the band creates wildly original music that retains the sense of fun and celebration found in Colombian cumbia and the salsa dura style of the 1970s. New York Times describes its music as a “psychedelic fever dream, a deep dive into salsa’s past, a critique of society’s surrender to technology, and a new musical encounter between Colombia’s sophisticated capital of Bogotá and its rustic Caribbean coast.”