Kumbia Queers is Argentine tropical-punk band, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2007. The latest formation includes Pilar Arrese (Pila Devil) on guitar, Inés Laurencena on drums, Patricia Pietrafesa (Pat) on bass, Juana Rosenbaum (Juana Chang) singing and Florencia Lliteras ( Flor Linyera) on keyboards. Ali Gua Gua is a former member.
The project was born in Buenos Aires in 2007, the union of She Devils, Juana Chang and Florencia Lliteras (Happy Makers), (Argentina), with Ali Gua Gua of Las Ultrasónicas (México). At first, they played covers of The Cure, Madonna, Ramones, Black Sabbath, twisting them to the rhythm of cumbia with lyrics full of queer poetry and humor. Kumbia Nena! which is their first LP contains covers of Black Sabbath, The Cure, The Ramones, Madonna, Nancy Sinatra and Bronco plus three original songs by Kumbia Queers. The LP was released in Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Japan. In february 2007 a month after they started the band, Ali returned to her band Ultrasonicas in Mexico and in Buenos Aires the remaining five Kumbia Queers finished the recordings of their debut long play while they collected money from any available place and friend to afford their flights to Mexico where they were bound to meet in June. In July 2007 they played their second show with thousands of people as audience in the closure of the Lgbtttbqi Pride Day on the stage of Zocalo Square in Distrito Federal, Mexico. From then onwards they came and go from Mexico to Argentina for a couple years then they added Chile to the route and as time went by they included more countries to the list Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Spain, Sweeden, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Usa, Canada, Colombia, Uruguay and Brazil. During 2011 they released their second long play called “La gran estafa del tropi punk” (“The great tropi punk swindle”) produced by Pablo Lescano from popular band Damas Gratis.
With their third album, Pecados Tropicales (2012) the group turned to their own songs and lyrics mainly. In summer 2012, the band went on their third tour in Europe. Within 27 days they played at 23 locations from Stockholm to Madrid in a total of 25 concerts. 2014 was the band in Latin America and - at the invitation of the jury of the SXSW Festival - traveling in the United States. In summer 2015, the Kumbia Queers returned to Europe and performed with a new lineup, without Ali Gua Gua.
The band struck back during july/august 2015 with their new album “Canta y no llores” and had concerts in Malmo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, people went crazy in the city festival in Lausane, at the Breminale. SO36 in Berlin was sold out confirming the love of berliners for KQ live concerts. Their last album was released in 2019 and was called La Oscuridad bailable.
