"The first cumbia recorded in Ecuador at the end of the 1960s had only one verse. It was called "Cumbia Triste" and was written by Polibio Mayorga. This musician from Ambato, Ecuador, tropicalized the national music of the Ecuadorian highlands, which had long been stigmatized for its Indigenous roots and the sad melodies often associated with them. Mayorga combined the rhythms of the San Juanito traditional Andean music with rural Colombian cumbia, which arrived in Ecuador via the record industry, already processed and whitewashed."
"Polibio Mayorga laid the groundwork for an Ecuadorian cumbia sound, it was musicians like Medardo Luzuriaga who transformed the genre into a national sensation. His son Manuel Luzuriaga plays for the cumbia orchestra Los Cumbancheros and when he talks about his father, his eyes shine. Medardo was Manuel's teacher and one of the most respected musicians in the history of cumbia orchestras in Ecuador. At the end of the '60s, Medardo created the orchestra Don Medardo y sus Players. Medardo recorded more than 100 albums,"
Ecuadorian cumbia originated in the late 1960s with Polibio Mayorga's "Cumbia Triste," which merged San Juanito Andean rhythms with rural Colombian cumbia. The genre provided new musical identity for provincial migrants in urban centers and challenged stigma tied to Indigenous roots and melancholic melodies. The record industry introduced a processed form of Colombian cumbia that influenced local adaptations. Medardo Luzuriaga expanded the sound nationally by forming Don Medardo y sus Players, recording extensively, and producing emblematic songs that remain culturally resonant. Multiple descendants and orchestras continue to perform this golden repertoire and sustain the genre's popularity.
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