Chantal Flores meets the vinyl collectors and sellers of Monterrey, Mexico.
On Saturday night, Jorge Constancio sits on the sting of the mattress in entrance of the file participant and mixes cleaning soap and water in a twig bottle. At his ft is without doubt one of the many plastic bins by which he shops his assortment of 1,000 information. He has been amassing Colombian music, reminiscent of cumbia, paseo, and vallenato, since 1989.
“On Saturdays, after taking part in softball and having dinner with my kids, I sit with my information. I play one, I clear it, I play one other, I clear it, and so forth,” 52-year-old Constancio says.
Constancio works six days every week as a mechanical engineer within the metropolis of Monterrey, within the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León. Some weekends he works as a sonidero, taking part in music and emceeing events. On the bailes, he is aware of the group needs to bounce cumbia, vallenato, and porro. Within the heat of his residence, he enjoys the sounds of the guitar of Colombian artists Gildardo Montoya, and Joaquín and Agustín Bedoya, pioneers of the music parrandera.
Constancio is without doubt one of the many file collectors in Nuevo León who focuses on Colombian music. Cumbia Colombiana, and its native subgenre cumbia rebajada (a slowed-down model), are deeply rooted in Monterrey’s musical panorama and have grow to be a haven for a lot of employees on this industrial metropolis.
Nevertheless, with the resurgence of vinyl information and the worldwide unfold of cumbia music, the hunt for particular cumbia colombiana information has grow to be a search in a haystack.
For 30 years, Jorge Solís and his retailer Discos Viniles LP’s have been the go-to place for collectors in Monterrey. Situated within the desolate Mercado Díaz Ordaz within the neighbourhood of La Independencia, Discos Viniles provides a variety of genres, from norteñas and cumbias colombiana to rock and disco. Additionally it is one of many few locations to have survived the financial downturn, the appearance of the Web, and a pandemic.
Though Solís has been amassing information for years, right this moment he solely sees himself as a vendor. However within the again nook of his small retailer, Solís hides a pile of information below a shelf. It seems to be like his particular assortment.
Each day he takes a file from there to hearken to whereas he waits for purchasers. Even when these information are on the market, he takes care of them till a purchaser who appreciates them comes alongside. “This morning I really offered one from this inventory for 1,000 pesos [46 pounds],” he says, laughing.
Solís takes the album remembering a love by Los Vallenatos de la Cumbia—one of many first teams from Monterrey to realize success taking part in Colombian cumbia—out of the pile. The orange-coloured cowl is adorned with handwritten messages in graffiti fonts. “[Cumbia] vinyl information are mistreated so much right here. They destroy them, injury them, scratch them. They put the beer on prime; crumbs fall on them. So for these information to get right here in good situation may be very tough. That’s exactly why they’re dearer,” explains Solís.
Aarón Eivet, aka “Randy Salazar”, sonidero and visible artist, began his assortment of 400 information in 2004. He explains that the recognition of cumbia continues unabated due to its dissemination via interviews, documentaries, and movies reminiscent of I’m No Longer Right hereshortlisted for Greatest Worldwide Function Movie on the 2021 Oscars.
“On the one hand, cumbia information have been undervalued so the individuals who managed to gather them are people who find themselves very enthusiastic about them,” says Eivet in regards to the situation of outdated cumbia information. “And they’re information which can be typically performed greater than the mañanitas [Mexico’s birthday song].”
Through the years, Constancio recollects, there have been extra collectors and extra individuals coming from different states searching for these vinyl information. Later, the Web elevated the demand for them. “A whole lot of music was misplaced right here in Monterrey,” says Constancio. “Because the years glided by, we couldn’t discover the LPs. These days it’s harder to seek out sure discs of cumbia Colombiana.”
The low wages within the nation and the excessive value of dwelling in Monterrey compelled many of those collectors to promote their Most worthy information. After the beginning of his first little one, Solís misplaced his job. He needed to promote his total assortment to assist his household, however this made him notice that he may be a salesman. He discovered a brand new job as a development employee and spent a part of his wage build up a brand new assortment to promote.
The primary file Solís purchased on the age of 13 was “Y Volveré” from the Chilean ballad band, Los Ángeles Negros. He began working as a bricklayer’s helper when he was 11. For years, he didn’t hearken to the information he purchased. It was till 10 years later, when he had a group of 300 information, that he purchased a Panasonic turntable. He began with the Los Ángeles Negros file and adopted the order by which he purchased them. “Afterwards, I didn’t even know what to play since there have been so many,” he says, nonetheless with a stunned tone.
Solís knew he couldn’t preserve any of the information. This time, he included all types of genres. “The issue is that I began amassing information for myself once more and this doesn’t go together with the sale. They’d ask me a couple of file and I informed them I didn’t have it, however I really had it saved,” says Solís.
Though many come to Discos Viniles searching for cumbia, Patty Valero, one of many few longtime feminine collectors on the town, comes for the disco information. Underneath the disco ball hanging from the ceiling within the centre of her lounge, Valero remembers the primary time she heard in regards to the flea market 20 years in the past on the Puente del Papa, a bridge outdoors the Mercado Díaz Ordaz that crosses the often dry Santa Catarina river.
Her mother and father had died, and she or he needed to return to this ardour from her childhood. “I didn’t know any collector right here in Monterrey. Think about! To start with, I’m a girl. No good! As a result of the vast majority of collectors are males,” Valero says between laughs.
The flea market on the Puente del Papa was the primary place the place Solís offered his information earlier than shifting contained in the market. It was additionally one of many first locations the place most collectors discovered their first information till a hurricane put an finish to the market in 2010.
Regardless of the shift to digital music and MP3 gamers, Valero nonetheless needed to see the information spin. “The music I needed to have didn’t exist on the platforms but, and the music I needed everybody noticed it as out of style. So I purchased it tremendous low cost.”
For Eivet, it was necessary to create new areas to protect the vinyl file. In 2013, he started La Pulga del Disco, an itinerant flea market that provides uncommon and hard-to-find information. “Ten years in the past la Pulga was not as valued as it’s right this moment,” says Eivet. “It wasn’t a lot to commerce, it was extra about serving to collectors to discover a particular file.”
Gathering cumbia colombianas is about constructing and sustaining a cultural heritage that has formed not solely town’s music panorama but additionally the life processes of the individuals who really feel embraced by it, particularly the working class. Whereas Eivet honours the cumbia rebajada via his musical initiatives, Constancio retains it alive each weekend in celebrations. Even Valero, also referred to as DJ Diva Disco, has a couple of cumbia information in her assortment.
“We’ve spent years discovering Colombian music and its cumbias,” says Constancio in awe. “And we nonetheless have an extended method to go.”
Phrases by Chantal Flores. Pictures by Daniel García.
Learn extra: An introduction to cumbia in 20 important information
