Ráfaga

Ráfaga (including Grupo Ráfaga ) is an Argentine cumbia band that was founded in 1994. It is one of the most successful groups of the so-called Cumbia Romantica - wave of the 1990s and one of the few Argentine cumbia bands, which recorded success in Europe (particularly in Romania, Switzerland, Spain and Sweden).

The band is also known for their elaborate and glamorous costumes at the live shows, which were influenced by medieval look and other cumbia bands found imitators.

Band History

The band was founded in 1994. Their debut album was released in 1996 and Soplando Fuerte could go into the Argentine charts. A year later, they made ​​the jump to international fame when she took part in the show Midem Latino de Música in Miami. Then they were known in many countries of Latin America and in Spain.

In 1999 they managed their biggest hit to date, La Luna y Tú. Subsequently, the band toured Spain (1999/2000), North America (2001 ) and Europe ( 2001). With the album Marca Registrada (2002) they changed stylistically for a short time Latin Pop, to then return to the cumbia.

In 2003 there was a major change, as the singer Ariel Pucheta, the previous flagship Ráfagas, left the band to start a solo career. He was replaced by the young singer Rodrigo Tapari. Since that time, there were several disputes between Pucheta and the other band members to the rights to the brand name Ráfaga. The band was in the new line, which was also accompanied with an image correction away from the glamorous presentation of the 90s and early 2000s, no longer fully build on the earlier successes.

In 2007, the band collaborated with Romanian Balkan pop musician and rapper Korekt, with whom she released the title Sabes.

Style

Ráfaga mix in their music the typical cumbia rhythm with elements of merengue and other Caribbean music styles. Thus enters the dominant in the cumbia accordion in an interplay with unusually -present horn section. The piano, which plays in the Cumbia otherwise just a simple offbeat, takes over in the band's music more complex parts, as they are otherwise characteristic of the Merengue or Son. Also the otherwise in the Cumbia little used electric guitar and occasional electronic elements such as synth basses are typical of the group's sound.

Discography ( albums)

• Soplando fuerte (1996 )
• Sobrevolando América (1997)
• Directo desde el Estadio de Chile (1998, live album )
• Un Fenomeno Natural (1999)
• Imparables (2000)
• Otra Dimensión (2001)
• Marca Registrada (2002)
• Lo Mejor de Ráfaga (2003, Best-of- Album)
• Vuela (2004)
• Dueños del viento (2006)