Frente Cumbiero (Colombia)

Frente Cumbiero are one of the bands spearheading Colombia’s new cumbia movement. Throughout a long and successful career, they have explored the genre’s sonic identity, and expanded its footprint in Latin America and beyond. The combination of infectious rhythms, inescapable hooks and an ingenious sound palette have led to the embrace by devoted audiences, starving for musical adventure and steaming dance floors. 

The band is headed by Colombian songwriter and producer Mario Galeano Toro, who is also a founding member of Ondatrópica and Los Pirañas. Throughout their catalogue, they have collaborated with a long list of legendary musicians such as Mad Professor, the Kronos Quartet, Orquesta La Delio Valdez and Minyo Crusaders. The diverse roster gives an idea of their eclectic, far reaching take on the music. They have toured the world, and performed to rapturous reviews at New York’s MoMA, Festival Estéreo Picnic, Roskilde Festival, Womad, Womadelaide, Womex, Sónar, and Fuji Rock. 

As a live band, Frente Cumbiero performs in a quartet format, which focuses on delivering a powerhouse tropical sound to the dance floor by combining 2 wind instruments, live percussion and electronic sounds. Their latest release, Inconcreto & Asociados, dropped in 2025 and demonstrates a band at the peak of their powers, while the 2020 EP Minyo Cumbiero: From Tokyo To Bogota finds them experimenting together with the originators of Japanese cumbia, Oslo World friends Minyo Crusaders. This autumn, Oslo World is host to a concert wich will surely be a highlight of the cumbia genre in Norway thus far.