It would come as no surprise that singer and accordionist Lisandro Meza was catapulted to major stardom in 1980/90’s Colombia. Starting out as a modest vallenato musician (accordion heavy cumbia) to being part of the Discos Fuentes super-group Los Corraleros de Majagual – Lisandro would solidify his career by modernizing the vallenato combo sound. Through the combination of electric bass, congas, and an introduction of brass instrumentation – Lisandro Meza would become a national hero as both composer and performer.
The thing you have to understand is that salsa became the dominate Latin American music in the 80’s and 90’s, if not the world. Groups like La Sonora Dinamita really changed up the cumbia sound of the day, with a larger brass and vocal sections – most likely to compete with their salsero contemporaries of the time. The only difference is that Lisandro Meza moved even further away from the 2/4 and 4/4 cumbia beat and in essence created the new genre of vallenato-salsa. This is evident throughout the music presented in this post with the syncopated patterns, the introduction of montuno sections (Dejame Llorala) and the use of non-traditional cumbia instruments (steel-guitar ect).
I have not gone to any dj gigs without these 3 45’s in the last 2 to 3 years. These songs can really get the dance floor going. The vallenato began as small town party music and in my opinion Lisandro Meza has never lost that edge, even when upgrading the genre. On a side note, I’ll be doing a La Sonora Dinamita post sometime this month. Ill elaborate on their super stardom aswell. Please enjoy!
3. Lisandro Meza: Dejame Llorarla
Super Sonido 
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