Spaghetti Cumbia poses for a portrait at Vasquez Rocks in northern LA County on March 26, 2022. The band created their own sub-genre by combining cumbia with western styles and rock and roll.
Ivan Kashinsky
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Ivan Kashinsky
This is part of a special series, Cumbia Across Latin America, a visual report across six countries developed over several years, covering the people, places and cultures that keep this music genre alive.
Marcel Campos, the lead singer of Spaghetti Cumbia, often talks about being caught in between two cultures — not Mexican enough for Mexicans and not American enough for Americans. Ni de aquí, ni de allá. The Spaghetti sound was born out of a fusion of the two cultures. The members of the band all have deep connections to their Mexican roots. They grew up listening to Latin music in their homes and at family parties in Boyle Heights and East LA. Paulo Paredones, the bass player, known as El Maniacs, remembers yelling at his dad to turn down the cumbia. But growing up in LA, they were also heavily influenced by classic rock, punk rock and hip-hop. The band created their own style, mixing cumbia with all their influences and adding a Spaghetti Western sound.
Pedro Zapata, known as Pedro Pistolas, a guitar player and vocalist for Spaghetti Cumbia, plays his guitar while surrounded by a crowd at a show at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on Dec. 29, 2024.
Ivan Kashinsky
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