This Trap-Influenced Cumbia Club Track Is Made For Moody Summer Days

Peruvian producer Deltatron, a graduate of RBMA Tokyo, will release his album Ego Trip on May 27 (preorder it here).

"At first, it was an album about me as a Peruvian musician doing electronic cumbia and Afro-Peruvian beats," he told The FADER, "but after [touring and discovering] so many different styles and many brothers doing the same with their own styles in their countries, I felt [like] just another player. Like, this is not about me, but all of our Latin producers as a collective. In any journey, there is an ending, and in this trip, it is the ego that dies. So that's why there are so many collabos [on the album]."

One of those collaborations is with a San Jose cumbia artist called Turbo Sonidero. Together, they cooked up a brooding, trap-influenced cumbia club track. "Los Reyes del Sabor," premiering below, translates as "the kings of flavor." Listen here, and scroll down to read the behind-the-scenes story of the song's origin.

DELTATRON: "When I met Turbo Sonidero in Cali in 2015, I already knew him from the internet since 2011; I already knew about his tunes and style. I was on tour and we become close friends like that, riding through California hearing oldies and sonidero cumbias. Then we went on tour to Mexico, through many cities like Michoaca, Puebla, Guadalajara, and CDMX. Mostly playing cumbia. I always loved that style; the same way there were dancehall sound systems in Jamaica, there where sonidero systems in Mexico. It's a real heritage for all the Latin American DJ community. The way they build their sound systems, especially for this sound, just makes me humble. [Turbo Sonidero and I] start with this idea, and we really wrap it up kinda quick, so I think there [will be] more collabos between the two really soon. Turbo is like family for me now."

TURBO SONIDERO: "Deltatron sent me some stems for a track to collaborate on that he was almost done with that was in a cumbia style but wanted me to add my own style that is sonidero. To do this I added a heavy cumbia sonidera bassline, plus cumbia percussion like a guacharaca, llamador, and more guiro, and also a phrase used by the cumbia sonidera group Grupo Kual that says 'Los Reyes del Sabor' that also became the title of the track. Halfway into the track I added another melody and a Bay Area-inspired rap beat to make the track slap. I always think of my roots when producing tracks."