The party continues after Pako Festa when La Descarga bring their Latin-Aussie tropical grooves to the Barwon Club this Sunday.
The all-singing, all-dancing eight-piece bring their unique blend of Afro-Latin carnival vibes, electronica and broader world music flavours to Geelong as part of their Fiesta de Corazón Australia Tour.
Formed in 2010, La Descarga has been a pioneer of latin – particularly Colombian – music in this country ever since.
Band founder Jorge Leiva said the Colombian cumbia genre of music and dance was one of the backbones of latin music that had evolved and influenced music worldwide.
“Colombian music is a really interesting mix of styles… it has the indigenous influence with the flutes and pipes, the Caribbean and African influence with the drums, jazz from American, the Spanish dancing and dresses,” Leiva said.
“I grew up in the 80s in Colombia, and they were complicated times. But the music was always there, and it’s very upbeat, happy music that brings the spirit up.”
La Descarga’s shows are more than just music. The band brings the carnival vibe with costumes, dancing and plenty of crowd interaction.
“Visually it’s appealing, I think, because we dress up, we have a dancer who does traditional dances, we do conga lines, we organise limbo,” Leiva said.
“For Geelong, it’s a family friendly event so we’ll bring all our dress-ups and traditional skirts and masks from Carnival. So people who like to participate can put on a skirt or sombrero and participate.
“Basically, what we love is for people to have a good time, enjoy the music and dance if possible. We’re very excited to come down to Geelong this weekend.”
La Descarga are at the Barwon Club at 4pm on Sunday, February 23.
Matt Hewson
