Sorry for the long hiatus here at Macha Mexico, but what better to lure us out of hibernation than the Kumbia Queers‘ new Mexican tour!

That’s right, Macha Mexico’s favorite queer-core Mexican/Argentine cumbia/punk band is back in Mexico for a month long tour. The majority of the shows are in Mexico City (with a few She Devils shows mixed in), but they’ll also heading north to Querétaro and Guanajuato, south to Oaxaca, east to Cuernavaca, and west to Veracruz.  Check out the Kumbia Queers’ website for complete dates and details of the Mexico: Te Quiero de a Madre tour.

The tour kicks off this weekend when the Kumbia Queers perform at Vive Latino, the tenth incarnation of Mexico City’s annual international festival of rock en español at the Foro Sol. This is a huge festival drawing big names in Spanish-language music. The names that most caught my attention were rocker/accordionist Julieta Venegas, gay-friend Puerto Rican reggeaton duo Calle 13, and chilango klezmer geniuses Klezmerson. (Find times and stages at the complete schedule for Vive Latino.)

The Kumbia Queers will be opening Sunday afternoon’s shows on the escenario azul at 1:00 pm, so go and show them some macha love!

El Imperial; 293 Álvaro Obregón, at the corner of Oaxaca; Colonia Condesa

Tonight, the Centro Cultural España hosts the She Devils, a band that has a long history in the Argentinian punk scene. If you happen to be in the city, we highly recommend you shout and jump at the strong rythms created by Patricia Pietrafiesa (bass and voice), Pilar (guitar) and Inés (drums): three experienced women with infinite amount of energy on the stage.

However, if you are not a punk kind of person, and you’d rather to dance to a fresh cumbia, wait a few days more and go to the Pata Negra next Tuesday to dance to the Kumbia Queers sweet music. You won’t regret it.

She Devils at Centro Cultural España (CCE), April 2nd, 8 pm, Guatemala 18, Centro Histórico. Behind the Cathedral. Zócalo Metro station.

Kumbia Queers at Pata Negra, April 9th, 10 pm, Tamaulipas 30 at Juan Escutia, Col. Condesa. Patriotismo Metro station.

Everyon’s favorite Mexican/Argentine kumbia punk band, the Kumbia Queers, play tonight at 9pm in the Centro Cultural de España in the Centro Historico.

This band, composed of members of the Mexican dyke punk band Las Ultrasonicas and Argentine dyke punk band the She Devils, are really worth catching if you are in Mexico City at the same time as one of their shows. They describe themselves as “six ‘punk and rollers’ who got bored of playing rock and decided to explore their ‘queer and kumbia sides,’ writing kumbia songs by chicas, for chicas.”

Here is the music video of their hit song “Chica del Calendario” starring Mexico City queer performance artist Alejandra Bogue.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGNll2RQc6g]

In addition to their own original numbers, the Kumbia Queers also do amazing queer kumbia covers of the Cure’s “Love Song,” Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” (which is transformed into “La Isla con Chicas”), and Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”. Their shows are always fun and high energy; sometimes it’s hard to decide whether to dance to their music or just watch them perform.

Be warned, girls have been known to take their shirts off during the song “El Veraneo”…

(For those who don’t want to miss the opening night of the Second Annual Rock and Sexual Diversity Film Festival tonight, don’t worry, the Kumbia Queers also have shows in the Distrito Federal on September 4th, 7th, and 13th, as well as a mini-tour in the midwest of the United States in late September.)

Centro Cultural de España is located at Guatemala 18, behind the Cathedral Metropolitano in the Centro Historico. Free admission.

Anahí and I have been remiss in not publicizing this weekly event sooner. We went to the opening night the first Thursday after the pride march, and there are only two more Thursdays in July to check out this free party. But, based on the scene we saw on the night we went two weeks ago, it is well worth showing up. The Marrakech seems to be the hip young gay bar right now, thanks, in part, to events like this.

Kumbia Knights is the combined efforts of three movers and shakers in DF’s queer nightlife scene, DJ Guagüis, lead singer of both the iconic Mexico City queer punk band Las Ultrasonicas and the all-female queer neo-Kumbia band the Kumbia Queers, Sonido Islandia, one of the founders of the Meras Efímeras dyke social events collective and current Burlesquímera, and Pollymiller, a dynamic duo of fags specializing in tropical and live electronic music. These four take turns spinning neo-Kumbia (in the metaphorical sense, since all the music they import is stored electronically), which keeps the crowd of mostly young, hipster queers on their feet, dancing and having fun.

Cumbia is a style of latin music that originated in Colombia but developed popularity in other countries like Mexico, where it developed its own unique sound. It is slower than salsa, more tropical than ranchero, and is unintimidating to dance to due to its relaxed pace. The songs played at the Marrakech are mostly not the oldies from the golden age of cumbia, but are newer creations, with electronic keyboards clearly heard on most of the tracks.

Islandia and Guagüis, good friends of ours, know how to throw a party. When DJ Guagüis wasn’t playing music, she was winding her way through the crowd, striking a güiro in time with whatever song was on. Islandia was in prime form as well, adding a touch of glamour to the intentionally (dare I say self-consciously) casual hipster crowd with a fabulous outfit composed of clashing leopard print patterns.

The crowd was a mix of queers and queer-friendly bugas, and I was suprised by how many dykes there were in this predominantly gay male bar. Everyone seemed to be between 20 and 35 (a very different scene from the Oasis, another gay bar, down the street), but instead of the too-cool-for-school attitude one expects from the hipsters of, say, Williamsburg in New York City, these kids were dancing their asses off, laughing and having a blast.

Check out this party if you are in Mexico City this July. Who knows, maybe the bar will extend the party further into the summer months…

Marrakech Salón, República de Cuba no. 18, (a block from Eje Central), Col. Centro. No cover.