A Galician-Basque man dressed as a mariachi walks into a flamenco bar in Alabama and starts to dance salsa to a Sex Pistols’ song while smashing a bass drum repeatedly with his right foot.
This could be the beginning of a joke but it’s also a quick snapshot of what you’d find in any of The Rumba Madre’s albums or live shows. Whether it is as a full band or with David Vila Diéguez as a one-man band on vocals, guitar, bagpipes, tambourine, seashells, and on his home-made foot drumkit he calls “the drumcycle,” the experience is one not to be missed.
After releasing their debut album, Prisiones y Fugas, in early 2020 under the guidance of Iván Gutiérrez Carrasquillo (Calle 13, Cultura Profética, SOJA, etc.), the band now returns with a full new album, Apropiaciones Culturales V.2, in which they expand their musical experiments and continue to make us laugh with their always witty and sarcastic humor.
This new album was produced by Juan de Dios Martín Antón (Gloria Trevi, Alejandra Guzmán, La Santa Cecilia, Camarón, Las Cafeteras, etc.) and includes the participation of top figures such as Kalani Trinidad (Cultura Profética) on flute, “Lilaina” Galician ensemble (Vetusta Morla, C Tangana, etc.) on backing vocals, Ezequiel Navas (Raphael, Amaral, La Orquesta Mondragón, etc.) on drums, or Pepe Ortega (Juanes, Alejandro Sanz, etc.) on some of the arrangements.
DAVID VILA
David was born into a Galician family in the Basque Country, northern Spain. There he explored the dark paths of blues, rock, punk, and even metal music, until he moved to England to pursue new challenges.
In London, he met a group of Spanish gypsies with whom he entered the amazing world of flamenco, and he developed an uncontrollable passion for the rumba style. After a few years wandering around Beatleland, he decided to move to the US — more specifically, to Nashville. There, surrounded by burgers, sweet tea, and other wonderful US delicacies, he found his home within the Nashville Latino community. As a result, he started playing all sorts of Latin music, focusing especially on any style that involved the Cuban tres. This is how The Rumba Madre was born. While in London he majored in contemporary guitar at the University of East London and in Nashville he became a doctor in Hispanic Studies at Vanderbilt University.
After several years in Nashville, he moved to California and he started playing Galician bagpipes, tambourine, and seashells, giving The Rumba Madre a new and even more exciting sound. It is there also where he developed his foot-operated drums he likes to call “the drumcycle.”
In addition to his work as The Rumba Madre, David is an author, filmmaker, cultural critic, and professor of Hispanic Studies at Cal State Monterey Bay. You can learn more about his other projects here.
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