Pioneros Vallenatos y Tropicales
The Story of Toño Estrada, a documentary filmmaker and archivist of the Colombian scene in northeastern Mexico presented by Cumbia Documentation Center (CDC) / Sabotaje Media.
Exhibition Dates: March 5, — May , 7 2022
LaPau Gallery is pleased to present Pioneros Vallenatos y Tropicales; The Story of Toño Estrada, a documentary filmmaker and archivist of the Colombian scene in northeastern Mexico presented by Cumbia Documentation Center (CDC) / Sabotaje Media. Pioneros Vallenatos y Tropicales, (1991) is a compilation that popularized Cumbia music originating from Colombia and migrated the sound throughout the coastal states of Mexico. Toño Estrada’s archives document the Colombian cumbia music scene during a crucial moment when the trend hit Monterrey, Mexico in the late 80's and early 90’s. Estrada had the opportunity to experience the profound beginnings, the moment that the young people of the community began requesting more and more compilations, when the fondness for the rebajadas was born. These pivotal moments, played out virtually unrecorded, and passed down only through storytelling, with little to no photographic or video documentation. Tonos' rare photos, newsprint, videos, and ephemera; never before seen in the United States, documented that critical point in time when the phenomenon of Colombian cumbia hit the streets of Monterey. Estrada attended the concerts where Celso achieved stardom that essentially catapulted him to other parts of Mexico and then later around the world. Estrada travels within Monterrey with musical compositions, textile art and above all, decades of stories of dance and movement. Each photograph and document that he lends for this exhibition are his memories, history and creativity as a creator and promoter of popular culture.
ABOUT ARTIST
Cumbia Documentation Center (CDC) by Sabotaje Media is a project started as a party in Monterrey, Mexico in 2019 that was formed through a resistance from a city wide shutdown due to narco violence in the state. It later became a group Sabotaje Media wherein which is a media platform focused on narrating, navigating and mapping subaltern realities: those which live and breathe in the margins and the urban environment. Along with others, they are responsible for curating events such as Rebajado MX and supporting Sonidero culture and musical groups within Monterrey. They document the crossroads where politics, music and culture meet. They use audio-visual remixes as the primary tool in understanding our epoch. They play live as Sonidero Sabotaje.
