Miway
Agua En La Boca

Cumbia is always written the same, but it is read in many different ways depending on the country, the context, and who is performing it. There is the classic Colombian cumbia, the psychedelic cumbia that has made a strong comeback in Mexico, and the tecnocumbia of Peru and Ecuador.

Tecnocumbia is sung and played by men as well, but it fully unleashes its essence in grupos femeninos and solo performers who every week animate – or revive – weddings and village festivals in the Andes. The skimpy and colorful costumes make this branch of the genre distinctive, much like what a local authoritative blogger noted on their page:

‘Lo fundamental en los grupos de cumbia femeninos no son los nombres ni las voces. Son los culos (y en menor medida las tetas, pero también)’

As anyone who doesn’t master Spanish may easily understand, what really matters in tecnocumbia is the talent in singing the songs. And it's the reason why there’s a scramble for a spot under the stage.

The tecnocumbieras do a bit of everything: they act in telenovelas, pose for photoshoots, and appear in local Sunday shows. Live broadcasts take us inside their homes, where they reveal to millions of Peruvian women the secrets to preparing a good pollo a la brasa – “con la receta especial de mi mamá”. With the inevitable gossip segment and previews of the 624th episode of their soap, where most of the time they play the role of the uninhibited and tempting panterona. While from the studio, they ask: ‘Is Hernando a cuckold? Does Dolores find out? Does Milagro get together with Guillermo?’. And so on.

However, for the past few months, a new phenomenon (and new phenomena) has taken the spotlight from the old Andean cumbia. This onda nueva comes from a country that hardly ever appears in international news, except during the World Cup: Uruguay.

The winter of 2015/16 (or the last South American summer) witnessed the birth of cumbia cheta. A bomb that has stirred everything. A movement destined to mark an era, and in fact, it is already doing so.

Some call it cumbia pop, but the definition is inadequate. All cumbia is, by nature, pop. This cumbia is not only pop but cheta because it is made by the chetos: the wealthy. Therefore, it originated as a response to cumbia villera: cumbia made by the humble, played in the barrio and among the urban housing projects of the suburbs. In contrast, cumbia cheta is made by the trust-fund kids of Montevideo's elite, regularly enrolled in prestigious schools and wearing the latest fashion.

The cheta aesthetic has few, specific references: Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, and boy-bands for the boys (among footballers, Cristiano Ronaldo is always preferred over Messi); Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and the actresses of Violetta for the girls. The lyrics talk about teenage crushes and make-out sessions, beach parties, high school queens who make you lose your head. And the whole week is spent in eager anticipation of the papi and mami going away for the weekend, leaving the house (with pool) completely at their children’s disposal. Who, of course, won’t spend the weekend playing FIFA 17 (at least not only that).

The video for 'Agua en la boca' by Miway (currently 3 million views) is perfect because it contains all the movement's status-symbols: motorbikes, luxury cars (BMW), a villa with a staircase, surrounding pine trees, and a spacious entrance. The parent in question is probably an entrepreneur and thus away for work, or he is with the wife: the men of the house now are others. And they take possession.

Not all of the band members appear (which doesn’t matter), but only the singers – almost all cheta groups are fronted by a boy and a girl, representing the ideal middle-upper-class sweethearts. On one side, we have Sheila: panoramic wedges to lengthen her 1.45 meters in height and dangerous curves on the BMW hood, troubling the puberty of an army of children glued to the screen; on the other, Nicolás, who aesthetically is the missing link between rapper Moreno and Pedro - not the footballer, but Speedy Gonzales's dumb cousin (dumb only in appearance, of course). As of now, it seems he has left the group, overshadowed by Sheila's image.

Take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHILHdATqsg

And more: rings, chains, freshly made nails, fake-gangsta attitudes accompanying the reggaeton rhythm of the intro, before the cumbia bursts in with all its erotic charge. And naughty bitten lips. Yet never pushing too far: a characteristic of cheta is its being provocative and modest at the same time. As well as always luxurious: to the detriment of the poor suburbanites, who are rude and don’t even wash, cheta is essentially the music of good boys.

A faithful companion in life is always the smartphone (with a diamond cover), because every moment needs to be captured for the followers to consume.

For further insight, I recommend the videos of bands like Rombai, Olvidate!, RC, and Mano Arriba (just a few of the scene's protagonists but all representative in their own way).

As Steve Jobs would have said: 'stay hungry, stay foolish. Stay wealthy'