Mexico City sextet El Conjunto Nueva Ola is not your typical cumbia band. For one, they mix in new wave and disco in heavy doses; they must be the only cumbia band with a keytar player. For another, they dress up in lucha libre masks, the traditional headwear of Mexican wrestlers, and never let anyone see their faces.
The band does covers of songs like “Take On Me” and “Funky Town.” They keep the goofy energy that made the songs fun the first time, but add in a little Latin flair. “It was kind of obvious and we don’t like to do obvious,” lead singer Urbano Lopez told PRI The World last year. “We pretty much think about something and we make a U-Turn and we crash. That’s the approach to how we get to a song. We really think, ‘Oh how is this song good?’ We’re gonna do the exact opposite.”
Their latest cover arrives to preview their SXSW shows this week, and we’re pleased to premiere it below.
Check out more El Conjunto Nueva Ola at their website or Facebook.
