Sonido Trumbull Shadow 99 is Reclaiming the Streets Through Cumbia

Sonido Trumbull Shadow 99 is Reclaiming the Streets Through Cumbia

Article and photography by Cara Col

From Colombia’s coast to the world, the infectious rhythm of cumbia has become a cultural institution. It is hard to find a corner of the Americas where this fusion of African, Indigenous, and European traditions hasn’t been integrated into the culture.

In Mexico, this cultural exchange manifested in sonideros: disc jockeys, engineers, and emcees who play cumbia, salsa, guaracha, and guaguancó out in public for everybody to enjoy. For the past ten years, the strength of the diaspora has created a sonidero scene in Chicago.

One of these sonideros is Sonido Trumbull Shadow 99, who, along with fellow sonidera La Colocha, has been working hard this summer. Together, they organize intergenerational gatherings where community is created. Outdoor events like Cumbia En El Parque and Navy Pier takeovers by their radio show Potencia Sonidera have created much-needed spaces where people can claim the streets as their own through music and dance. I sat down with Trumbull Shadow 99 at The Giant Penny Whistle, the day after he hosted the Noche de Cumbia weekly party, to discuss his motivations and goals as a sonidero, as well as what cumbia can give Chicago.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: How has your summer been?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: It’s been really busy, filled with a lot of important gigs, and a lot of projects around the community. This year, I’ve seen the growth of all the hard work that I have put in the last four years of being a sonidero. There is more recognition, more opportunities. There are more people that come to the events. I see it growing.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: Do you think cumbia is having a moment in Chicago right now?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: Definitely. That’s because a lot of people have gotten inspired; there are so many of us playing cumbia right now. Charlie from Sonorama, cozmiika, Mala Vida, El Señor Eddy, Sonido Wero, Daniel from Dos Santos.

They were all playing records like 10 years ago, but there wasn’t that much recognition for it. Now, there are so many up-and-coming DJs like Lato$a or Monchichi that took inspiration and that want to play those sounds. What I want to do is expose what the OGs are doing. I want to use our platform to build those bridges between what we have and what they have.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: Are those the type of events that are important to you?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: The most important events for me have been those that take part in the community, the ones that are outside. For example: Cumbia En El Parque, or stuff that we’ve done for Potencia Sonidera. It’s important to have music accessible, to have spaces where not only a person who is in their 20s can go, but also a little kid and families can participate and dance.

Participating with the OG Sonideros in their scene has also been really rewarding. Learning from them, taking what they’ve built and incorporating it into what I do. Like at Noche de Cumbia, I experiment with the things that I learn from them here. And it has worked. It just goes to show that their work is important and should be recognized.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: What was your first encounter with cumbia?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: My first encounter was at home. My mom was the one who was listening to cumbia. We come from Puebla, and in Puebla there is a big cumbia scene. My mom liked going to the bailes, and she liked hearing the cumbias Poblanas. I remember moments during Christmas, seeing my aunts dance. And now as an adult, I rewatch home videos, and I long to relieve those moments.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: So, this is a genre that you really cherish. How did you turn this passion into what it is now? How did you become a Sonidero?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: I was going out to the banda events with my friends. I would always go to the tamborazos, and obviously I love that type of music, but I always longed to hear cumbia. I wanted to hear the music that I was listening to at home.

One day I went to a Sonidero event by myself because I wanted to see this artist from Puebla, ICC, in 2021. I went to Candelas in Niles, and I saw a woman with curly hair, and I went up to ask her to dance, and lo and behold, it’s La Colocha.

We started talking, and we instantly clicked, like love at first sight but friendship. I was already collecting records, and I also already had a controller that I had been practicing with since I was in 8th grade. But after I saw her play, I fell in love with the records. I started experiencing all these spots in Chicago where La Colocha was playing.

She was playing at Soho House, Empty Bottle, Schubas. I would follow her around and start seeing all these people who were interested in cumbia. And then one day, she was playing here, in Penny Whistle. And she’s like, ‘Bring some of your records.’ And that’s how I debuted. Playing Donna Summer and Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam.

After that, I started collecting a lot of cumbia records. I started going to record stores and scouting on eBay. I got my turntables, started practicing, and then I started practicing on the mic. I would go to La Colocha’s gigs and speak on the mic.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: That’s one thing I love about Sonideros: their ability to control the mic. Can you talk about the emceeing aspect of being a Sonidero?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: The emceeing is so that people dance, and to guide the audience through feeling the music in the way that the Sonidero does. When I talk on the mic, I try to talk about things that will bring power to the community. I want them to feel proud of their culture and of their country.

I try to get them out of sadness, or to encourage them to bring that sadness to the baile. I try to be funny; I crack jokes, and I also try to talk about social issues. That’s what changed everything for me: talking about immigration. A lot of people connected with that, and I am grateful that I have the privilege to be able to talk about that on stage and give people their voices.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: Your stage presence is really captivating as well. Something that is unique to you is the choreography that you bust out from behind the deck. You are as much participating as you are organizing. It bridges the gap between you and the audience. What are some artists that have shaped your identity as a performer?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: I’m glad that I transmit that energy to everyone. More than being a DJ, first, I was a dancer. I like to dance, and I like to dance to the music that I love. I think where everything started was Selena. I always say that Selena raised me as an artist because I would watch her interviews, and I would see how she would be humble with her fans.

And she had her phrase: “ustedes nos hacen.” The audience makes the artist. I always want to stay humble, and I don’t want to be that DJ that doesn’t speak with anybody, and that has no connection with the people.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: You do spin like her.

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: Yeah! I call them mis reinas: Alicia Villarreal, Selena, Ana Bárbara, and Jennifer Peña. Those are like my top four, and they’re all women. They’re all singing these tropical, norteña-style cumbias that aren’t really like traditional cumbias, but they’re still cumbia. They’re Mexican, and flamboyant, and just diva-like. So that’s where my inspiration comes from for my clothes, my style of dancing, and just how I move in the world.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: It sounds like women have had a huge impact on your artistry, starting with La Colocha, who is not a mentor but also a collaborator. You’ve mentioned Cumbia en el Parque, which is an outdoor cumbia event in Little Village that you both cohost. Can you speak on how that came to be?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: One of our followers reached out, Ana Solano. She’s part of the community in La Villita, and she was looking to book DJs to play in the park. When she reached out to us, it was in the middle of all the ICE raids in Chicago happening last year. A lot of the events got cancelled because the community was scared.

She reached out to us; she got a permit… at first, but then she didn’t. So, we were kinda doing it bajo el agua, as you would say in Spanish. But people were showing up. People were enjoying themselves in the middle of hard times. Villapalooza noticed that. And so, it was such a blessing that they reached out to us this year and let us know that they supported us. It can grow into something bigger in the future.

In Ciudad de Mexico, and in the pueblos of Mexico, there is something called tardeadas. People from the Sonidera community take to the streets. They go out one Sunday afternoon, and they close the street so that the people can dance and enjoy themselves with their families. That’s my vision for Cumbia En El Parque. And I have to say it’s not just all me; I am in partnership with La Colocha and Duo Dinamico. La Potencia Sonidera, you know, that’s our project. We really want to take care of it and send the right message.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: Potencia Sonidera is the Lumpen Radio program that you and La Colocha host. You guys just celebrated your first-year anniversary. What do you feel you’ve accomplished in this first year?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: I think our biggest accomplishment in the past year has been sharing people’s stories. Hearing some of the stories of the people that we interviewed last year has been so eye-opening. We always try to include those that the spotlight often misses, but that deserve that spotlight.

We interviewed two members from the Musas Sonideras. We interviewed a trans sonidera, Abigail La Reina Rumba. She told us her story about addiction and how Las Musas Sonideras helped her get out of it. We also interviewed La Mamichis, and she told us her story of immigration: how she had to get out of the barrio de Tepito to come to Seattle.

She came from a Sonidera dynasty; her dad was a Sonidero. She didn’t want anything to do with it. But helping out, you know, picking up cables, helping with the sound, she slowly took an interest. And when we talked to Sonido Canela, she told us her story of immigration.

She came to the United States with a bookbag full of cassettes of music from Tepito. Learning those stories helps you understand your place of privilege. I will say, I come from a lot of privilege. I have an amazing friend who has given me all these opportunities that have opened doors for me. Without La Colocha, I don’t think there would be Trumbull Shadow. I have the privilege of speaking both English and Spanish, of having a family that supports me, of having a car, of being healthy. Of just being able to be here and present.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: It’s much-needed work that you guys do by highlighting these stories. You clearly value the community aspect of cumbia and Sonidero culture. What do you think it is about cumbia that continues to resonate with people all over the world, decades since its inception? What makes it so that it can be as much of a hit in a club like Pennywhistle as it is in a family event in the park?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: A lot of cumbia songs, and even the way that cumbia is danced, come from stories of struggle. The early songs talk about the experience of enslaved people, the working class, of immigrants. So, I feel like there is a deep connection to everyday stories, to stories that people can relate to.

Right now, at least in Chicago, there is a lot of reconnecting with your culture. I think a lot of young people are trying to feel proud of where they come from. They’re taking these sounds because they are ours. It’s a Sunday morning with your mom blasting music and mopping the floor with Fabuloso, yelling at you to get up. They’re Christmases, birthdays, or remembering those loved ones that are no longer with us. Everybody wants to feel at home and safe. These sounds take me there.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: Do you have a favorite Cumbia subgenre?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: It’s a cumbia that was popular from around 1985 to 1997. It’s this cumbia that’s very Mixteca, from Oaxaca or Veracruz, and it always has a sax. I play it all the time in my sets. A lot of those groups aren’t really recognized; they’re not that popular, but I try to play them because there is just something about it. One of the women that comes to my sets told me, ‘I don’t know what it is, but when I hear it, it makes me move a certain way.’ Cumbia con sax.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: What are three artists that you would recommend to someone that is looking to get into cumbia?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: First artist would be Los Daddys de Chinantla. They’re a grupo from Puebla that has been in the game for 20 years. They’re originally from New York. They’re so catchy. The other artist I would recommend is Junior Klan, which is part of that cumbia con sax genre that I really like. They’re from Veracruz, and their discography is so vast. They’ve been playing for like 30 or 40 years. The final artists I would recommend are Los Chicos Aventura. If you’re into romantic music, they’re the ones for you.

CHICAGO MUSIC GUIDE: Finally, what does the future hold for you?

SONIDO TRUMBULL SHADOW: We are doing an event at Navy Pier for Potencia Sonidera on August 8th, where we’re bringing those OGs to the city because we want to expose what they’re doing, because it’s very important. We want to share what we’ve created with them. They’re very talented people, and they deserve it.

We are having the three-year anniversary of Noche de Cumbia at Pennywhistle coming up. There are going to be surprises. We’re working in the background to get something new, and everything looks like it’s coming together.

I want to keep trying to build, create, and maybe record music, you know, release physical mixes. And merch!

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Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sondio.trumbull.shadow.99
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sonido_trumbullshadow99/
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