On Sunday, July 21, Stanford Live will host CUMBIA!@Frost at Frost Amphitheater, a community event and festival highlighting Latin arts and culture, specifically through the musical genre of cumbia. The event will feature special performances from Vilma Diaz y La Sonora, one of the first cumbia groups to achieve international success and popularize the genre outside of Latin America, as well as El Feeling, La Doña, and DJ Wonway Posibul. The festival is hosted in collaboration with over 14 Stanford community partners, including organizations such as Stanford’s El Centro Chicano y Latino, Stanford Jazz Festival, EPACENTER, MACLA, La Cumbiamba Colombiana, and Senderos.
Cumbia is a musical genre originating from Colombia. Historically, it incorporated musical traditions from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans and African slaves of the colonial era. “It’s a very lively genre of music,” says Elvira Prieto, associate dean and director of El Centro. “It’s gonna make you want to dance.”
In addition to cumbia performances, the festival will also feature stalls and activities from its community partners as part of a larger celebration of Latin arts and culture. El Centro, for example, will be hosting a table for younger children to create arts and crafts promoting Latin culture, such as Day of the Dead-style calaveras. Stanford’s d.school will also be providing an immersive gallery of Latin authors, as well as the Healthy Living Programs will provide a cumbia dance workshop.
This community-forward outlook is a major component of the festival, and also makes CUMBIA!@Frost the first event of its kind for Stanford Live: one specifically dedicated to celebrating Latin arts and culture through the community.
“Having an event about Latin communities through cumbia is really unique,” says Albert Montañez-Sánchez, producer of artistic programs at Stanford Live. “One challenge we have faced is to help the organizations visualize what this event looks like, since we’re starting from scratch. But the fun part of it is connecting these organizations through music, through dance, through the performing arts.”
The festival has the mission of bridging Stanford’s connection with its neighbors, particularly neighboring Latin communities, and making them feel welcome and included. “My hope is that our neighbors in the Bay Area see Stanford as a place of community,” says Montañez-Sánchez. “I would love to see this event as an invitation to make the university and campus more accessible for people that don’t see themselves coming here or feel represented within Stanford.”
“Frost is really one of the most beautiful stages in the Bay area,” Montañez-Sánchez adds, “and this festival is a great way of making people feel comfortable and welcome in this unique space.”
Nadine Rambeau, executive director of EPACENTER, one of the program partners for CUMBIA!@Frost, highlights the excitement community members have for the event. “It's such a wonderful way to celebrate dancing and enjoying great music, and that's part of what we do at EPACENTER as well. Every time we've had a chance to share an opportunity from Stanford Live with members of the community, they are really excited.”
In addition to the community-centered focus of the festival, a large draw is the headliner, Vilma Diaz y La Sonora, one of the most important representatives of cumbia in the world today, beloved by both older and younger generations across Latin America and in the diaspora. Prieto notes the joy the band inspires: “Even when people walk into El Centro and they see a poster for CUMBIA!@Frost, it's always, Oh my God, La Sonora’s coming! It’s such a shock, and it's such a happy shock.”
Coming together through cumbia will also provide an opportunity for many festivalgoers to reflect on shared heritage, family, and cultural memory. “For a lot of us, cumbia means family,” says Prieto. “It’s the equivalent of celebrating and honoring community. It’s such a part of so many people’s history: you know, cleaning your home with your mama and you’re listening to cumbia, or you’re at a party or a family gathering and that’s where everybody gets up to dance. I first learned how to dance when I was very little, to cumbia.”
Though Prieto highlights the excitement those familiar with cumbia will feel, she also emphasizes that there will be something for everyone at the festival, including first-time cumbia listeners. “The goal is to bring people together to have fun, and if they haven't seen or experienced it before, then it's an opportunity for learning too,” she says.
Ultimately, those involved are looking forward to the event, and hope that it will be able to sustain and foster Latin communities at Stanford. “I hope that we will see a lot of families with kids and grandparents participating,” says Montañez-Sánchez. “And they will be able to feel that Frost is a space for community, and they can always come back to us.”
