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La Misa Negra is an 8-piece, Oakland-based band that plays a very unique blend of Cumbia and high-energy, Afro-Colombian dance music. Packed with horn and accordion powered riffs, a raucous rhythm section and a vintage Colombian sound, La Misa Negra delivers a high energy live show with notable punk rock energy. In only a matter of months, La Misa Negra has begun to build a reputation as one of the Bay Area’s most exciting live bands and has shared the stage with some of the most renown artist in the Cumbia genre, such as Celso Piña, Nortec Collective, La Santa Cecilia, Bobbito Garcia and La Sonora Dinamita. ^[1] La Misa Negra is currently in the midst of a busy touring schedule, La Misa Negra is also working on their debut album, which is scheduled for a Fall 2012 release.

Band Members

Marco Polo Santiago - Guitar, Jarana & Accordion 
Diana Trujillo - Vocals & Guacharaca
Saday Cordoba - Vocals & Guacharaca
Justin Chin - Tenor Sax
Charles Granich - Clarinet & Tenor Sax
Shaun Wargowsky - Upright Bass
Aaron Kierbel - Drums 
Craig Miller - Drums & Percussion

History

La Misa Negra is an 8-piece band from Oakland, CA that plays cumbia and high-energy, Afro-Colombian dance music. Founded in late 2011 by Marco Polo Santiago, the band consists of native Colombianas, Diana Trujillo and Saday Cordoba, saxophone and clarinet duo, Justin Chin and Charles Granich, and the rhythm section of Shaun Wargowsky, Aaron Kierbel and Craig Miller. With musical influences as diverse as their backgrounds, the unlikely band of cumbiamberos is joined together by their mutual love for cumbia and their desire to bring back the classic Colombian sound of the 1950’s and 60’s. Since their live debut a year and a half ago, La Misa Negra has toured extensively throughout California, making more fans throughout every show, with high energy dance, La Misa Negra is not just a band, but a party.^[2] They have quickly gained a reputation as one of the Bay Area’s most exciting live bands, on the strength of their unique sound and wild shows, and is well on their way to building a diverse fan base that transcends musical, cultural and generational divides^[3] Having already played shows and festivals with the likes of Celso Piña, Nortec Collective, La Santa Cecilia, Chico Trujillo, Sergent Garcia, La Sonora Dinamita, Breakestra, Very Be Careful, B-Side Players, Jarabe de Palo, Souls of Mischief, Los Texmaniacs, and many others, La Misa Negra is now ready to release their debut album, Misa de Medianoche.^[4]

High Energy Classic Afro-Cumbia

The style La Misa Negra adopts in their music is cumbia. Cumbia is a musical genre originated in Colombia. Cumbia derives from the word “cumbe” which came about in the Afro-Colombian regions of Colombia. Cumbe directly means regions where former African slaves lived but took a meaning of African party/dance in Colombia.^[5] ^[6] Cumbe is a term that tends to be directly associated with Colombia. Cumbia was developed mostly by Afro-Colombians but was also heavily influenced by the Indigenous communities called Zambos, and to a smaller extend Mestizo and European musical culture. ^[7] Other genres that developed in Colombia are bambuco, joropo, mapale, sanjuanero chande, currulao, and bullerengue. However, cumbia is the most popular internationally and tends to be a representative cultural act of Colombia for its contagious and simple sound. Although Cumbia had been around before the 1940s, it was not until then that it gained popularity throughout Latin America to the point that it was a more popular than salsa in the 1980s. Despite the multiple styles of cumbia that have emerged such as cumbia sonidera, cumbia andina, and salvadoran cumbia, La Misa Negra adopts the sound of what is considered to be the Golden Age of cumbia of the 1950s and 1960s.^[8] La Misa Negra’s cumbian style can be noted as being high energy as their performances demand audience and musician engagement through dance. The eight-piece band is packed with horn, accordion riffs, explosive rhythms and of course, the classic cumbia style. All of which allows them to have animated performances filled with infectious dance moves and a hint of a punk rock attitude. ^[9]

Redefining Colombian Identity through Music

Throughout the turn of the century, dominant discourse exposed in U.S. mainstream media of current Colombian culture highlight drug trafficking and violence. La Misa Negra challenges mainstream U.S. perceptions by demonstrating a rhythm heavily influenced by Colombian indigenous and afro-communities mostly. In other words, they highlight a different aspect of Colombian identity. One of their songs "Chambacu" describes La Misa Negra's love for the, now disappeared, slum-town of Chambacu ^[10] located in the outskirts of Cartagena, Colombia. In the first half of the twentieth century, Chambacu was considered the largest slum in Colombia since the people living in Chambacu, Colombia lacked necessary resources such as schools, drinking water, hospitals and work. In their song, La Misa Negra sings "cumbia para mi tierra/ cumbia para mi amor/ chambacu chambacu". This song conmemorates the struggles and beauty of Chambacu and its displaced people. In "La Burrita", which is their current most viewed video on YouTube, La Misa Negra makes references to traditional rural living in Colombia. They do so by incorporating the image of "el sombrero" and "el machete" as being necessary tools. With this, they identify themselves as being a part of the working class/peasant communities in Colombia. Although they do not have an album out yet, La Misa Negra has begun to challenge the stereotypical depictions of modern Colombians as being drug dealers and violent.

Misa de Medianoche (Album)

Consisting of ten tracks, Misa de Medianoche is a journey across various styles of cumbia, ranging from rootsy, accordion-laced grooves to smooth, horn-driven porro and up-tempo, punk-induced gaita^[11]. By effectively capturing the raw energy of their live shows and the vintage sound they have become known for, Misa de Medianoche serves as the perfect introduction for anyone who has yet to experience La Misa Negra. Self-produced and resourcefully recorded, the album now faces its final hurdle of getting professionally mixed and mastered.^[12] As it is for many new up and coming artists, the debut of their first album is not an easy task to accomplish. They recently finished recording their first album and launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise money to get their album mixed and mastered. By producing, recording and editing the album himself, Marco Polo Santiago was able to cut a lot of corners, but getting it mixed, mastered and pressing the album on CD was an expensive undertaking. They asked their fans and the community at large for help in order to complete their first album. Their goal for the kickstart campaign was to raise a total of $6000.