Arumbo

Arumbo is a Rumba-Fusion group based between Brussels and Barcelona bringing danceable songs with melodies from the heart. Their world groove music with influences from the middle east is festive and at the same time elegant.

The voices, the oriental sounds and the combination of musicians make you dream and invade the podium with a mystical and positive energy.

Arumbo was born in the summer of 2015 and consists of musicians with different musical backgrounds. The live setting of the band is depending on the occasion.

During their trip through Southern Europe in 2015, Jonas and Marta played their solo repertoire in the streets and this was a hit with the audience. They were invited to play several concerts and thus Arumbo was born.

Arumbo has released their first album «De Vuelta» in cooperation with the alternative label Gaser Discos in November 2018. They play on well-known scenes in Belgium and Spain such as Polé Polé Festival, Ezperando festival, CC Espace Toots, Trefpuntfestival, Feest in’t Park, Lata de Zinc, Festival Musiq’3, Ubuntufestival, Plazey, Buena Vida El Palmar, CC Albareda… This is possible because of their good collaboration with booking agencies Number One Entertainment and GSR Producciones.

The album is recorded by Gorik De Smet and mixed and mastered by Joel Condal in the mythical studio Grabaciones Silvestres where some of Arumbos great inpirations passed by, such as Ojos de Brujo, Chambao, Amparanoia and many more.

Marta possesses vocal chords equivalent in strength with the thighs of Lance Armstrong when he won the Tour the France in 2001. Marta is not taking steroids and Marta’s vocal chords are certified completely GMO-free. It is thanks to Marta’s parents that we can enjoy the strength of her vocal chords. Her father forced her to sing his favorite song, ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’, before each meal and her mother, a FC Barcelona aficionada, used to make Marta sing the club’s anthem while brushing her teeth. We thank her parents for this pedagogic educational that gave Marta the voice we now can enjoy.

Before being a guitar player, Jonas was a contortionist specialized in the thumb and the index of the left hand. At the peak of his career he could roll his upper metacarpal bones of the left index around his thumb, like when rolling a crepe with brown sugar, and he could after that put both (left index and thumb) into an empty tic-tac box. Jonas realized his professional career was going a dead end. After this aha-moment he made a U-turn in his career and started playing guitar. Of course, thanks to his past talents he could master the instrument faster.

Adriano used to frequent a Turkish-chinese masseuse for his back problems. He got those at 3 year’s old when the sole of his right foot crushed on an aspicot pokemon reproduced on scale 8/1. This produced back problems that come back arithmetically each day that more than 20,000 people play thumb-wrestle in the world. One day he was waiting in the waiting room of his Turkish-chinese masseuse he heard this music that characterizes waiting rooms of Turkish-chinese masseuses: a blend of the smell from rose-herring deodorant and a pizza Hawaii overcooked from the pizzeria Van Steenberghe. While listening to this music, he heard the sound of pan flute through some sweet and sour arpeggios : that was the aha moment. He wanted to play this instrument. The masseuse, who was at that moment eating a hot portion of pasta said ‘chacho » (meaning it’s hot in french). Till this day, Adriano still tries to get a pan flute sound out of his saxophone.

Priscillia’s family has a karma with belly activities. We find in her family belly dancers, we can track the six-packs back to at least 14 generations, some addicts of gaviscon, a Tatar ventriloquist ancestor, the mother-in-law of Priscillia’s sister even became potbellied just by passing so much time with Priscillia’s family. It is quite naturally that Priscillia oriented herself towards the belly as a the theme for her life. Helped by the Employment Office in Spain, she tried different careers : tattoo artist of flat bellies, plastic surgeon for underbellies, zumba instructor, kebab seller. These attempts failed each time, because she always wanted more bellies ! This went on until she got some tickets for a violin concert, won by answering correctly to the question : «  Of how many bulges is formed 2012 John Travolta’s belly when he sits ? ». At the concert she saw all those bellies unleash on some violin melodies. She became aware her path was outlined there in front of her : she will become violin player to make people’s bellies dance and to see the belly buttons wiggle in front of her.

The first instrument of Manuel used to be the kazoo. He was a devoted kazoo-player, passionate and promising. At age 5, he played at his grandparent’s retirement home the concerto in sol minor for piano adapted for the kazoo. Alas, his promising career stopped suddenly when he was refused to the Berliner Philharmonic, with the poor explanation that the kazoo wasn’t a symphonic instrument. To take revenge, he decided 8 months long to protest against the Berliner Philharmonic by playing a rhythm in 5 1/2 on the cajon each time that the music was in 3/4. Since that time, Manuel continues to play cajon in protest against this absurd world.

Alexis is the sectary guru of our group. He integrated in his childhood the Bonze Boxer club. This club is part of the larger galaxy that includes all the clubs with the initials B.B.. These clubs worship Brigitte Bardot through pagan ceremonies during which each person necessarily has to wear seal flippers and to swallow anti-aging creme during processions. As bonze, Alexis used to take pills to speed up his hair loss. As a boxer, Alexis was a featherweight. He was called the hummingbird due to his strategy of agitating both his arms around his opponent, like a hummingbird around flowers. Alexis stopped competing in boxing tournaments when he lost his lucky charm shorts in the washing machine. Though, he wanted to keep the privileges that he benefited with his B.B. Card. This is the reason why he decided to join the club of the Bassists Bonze and that he started bass.

José loves the divine combination of speculaas creamy spread and and rye-bread. José is our personal Winnie the Poo with speculaas-spread instead of the honey pot. José used to have the bad habit to make crisis due to an absence or a too small dosage of the speculaas-spread. Happily, his musicotherapist advised our Winnie the poo to take drum sticks and to start drums. It was a real God’s gift ! Now José is healed and takes time in different associations to spread his expertise about speculaas-spread dependence.

The best flutist of all Arumbolandia