''Banda Conmoción'' are a Chilean ensemble band who mix

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

and gypsy music with genres such as

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

and cha-cha-cha. They are part of the new Latin-American fusion movement and emerged in the early nineties along with groups like Chico Trujillo and La Floripondio. They are also considered part of the

New Chilean Cumbia The New Chilean Cumbia also known as New Chilean Cumbia Rock (Spanish: ''Nueva cumbia chilena'', ''Nueva cumbia rock chilena'') is a subgenre of cumbia music that originated in Chile in the early 2000s and that largely surfaced in mainstream me ...

movement.

Early years

The band's first incarnation was as part of a theater troupe called ''Mendicantes'' in 1997. Four years later, in 2001, they established themselves as a separate band, though they continued to collaborate with the theater group until 2005. From 2005 onwards, they cut ties with ''Mendicantes'' and began to perform alone. Their performances were never on conventional stages: they performed in public spaces such as

plaza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

s, street corners, weddings or parties. As they became better known, they started to take on bigger stages such as the Galpon Victor Jara (

Victor Jara The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

"Warehouse"), a magnet for independent musicians in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

's Barrio Brasil neighborhood. Their repertoire has included genres as diverse as

Andean music Andean music is a group of styles of music from the Andes region in South America. Original chants and melodies come from the general area inhabited by Quechua people, Quechuas (originally from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile), Aymara people, Aymar ...

, cha cha cha,

porro The porro is a musical style and dance from the Caribbean region of Colombia. It is a Colombian cumbia rhythm that developed into its own subgenre. It was originally a folkloric expression from the Sinú River area that evolved into a ballr ...

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...

, and gypsy music, among others, which combine to produce a unique sound.

Albums

In 2008, Banda Conmoción released their first album, ''Pregonero'', an early Latin American and Spanish name for a

town crier A town crier, also called a bellman, is an officer of a royal court or public authority who makes public pronouncements as required. Duties and functions The town crier was used to make public announcements in the streets. Criers often dre ...

. ''Pregonero'' pulled together all the original tracks created by the band in the seven years since their formation in 2001. The ensemble performing ''Pregonero'' includes woodwind, four trumpets, two saxes, clarinet, trombone, tuba, bombo, drums and cymbals. According to Chilean national newspaper

El Mercurio (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P. (''Sociedad Anónima Periodística'' 'joint stock news company'), which operates a network of ...

, "it's a true commotion: everything is battered and blown. Nothing is plugged in. And nothing is sung xcept''con este cha cha chá'' or ''suavecito, mami''". The band's second album, ''Cuerpo Repartido'' ("shared" or "divided" body) was released in 2010. The title refers to

Túpac Katari Túpac Katari or Catari (also Túpaj Katari) ( – 13 November 1781), born Julián Apasa Nina, was the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Aymara people, Aymara leader of a major insurrection in colonial-era Upper Peru (now Bolivia), ...

, a Bolivian leader in the indigenous rebellion against the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

in the early 1780s, who was executed and quartered as a warning to other rebels. ''Cuerpo Repartido'' introduced new sounds to the band's repertoire, drawn from international tours to Spain, France, Germany and Shanghai and including new melodies, piano and references to

Violeta Parra Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (; 4 October 1917 – 5 February 1967) was a Chilean composer, singer-songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. She pioneered the Nueva Canción Chilena (The Chilean New Song), a renewal and a ...

. El Mercurio described one track, ''Maldigo del Alto Cielo'', as "Violeta Parra multiplied by carnival." Banda Conmoción are part of the line-up for the third edition of

Lollapalooza Chile Lollapalooza Chile is the Chilean edition of the popular music festival Lollapalooza (). It was the first Lollapalooza event to be held outside the United States and has taken place in Santiago, Chile since 2011. History The festival debuted in ...

,Lollapalooza Chile 2013 line-up
Retrieved 4 February 2013. taking place in Santiago in April 2013.

Members

*Bárbara López (trumpet) *Ximena López (trumpet) *Ítalo Love Osses (trumpet) *Pablo Sapito Morales (trumpet) *Daniel Doko Trincado (trumpet) *Carlitos Flores (clarinet) *Leo Fecci (alto sax) *Pape Maikol Barría (tenor sax) *Felipe González (trombone) *Róbinson San Martín (bass trombone) *Germán Todes (bass trombone) *Héctor Echeverría (trombone and tuba) *Daniel Flores (

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

) *Álex Muñoz (

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

) *Jorge Ganem (

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

and tambora) *Jeka González (

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

s) *Pablo Villablanca (cymbals) *Eduardo Irrazábal (actor/devil character) *Cristian Hueo Sanhueza ( bombo, vocals and direction)

Discography

* ''Pregonero'' (2008) * ''Cuerpo Repartido'' (2010) * ''Sonido Esencial, 10 Años'' (2013, Live album) * ''Tiraneño'' (2014) * ''Festejos'' (2017) * ''Infierno Carnaval'' (2023)

References

External links

Official website

Lollapalooza Chile line-up

MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banda Conmocion Chilean rock music groups Chilean cumbia 2001 establishments in Chile Musical groups established in 2001