Mexico: The cumbia DJs of the streets : The Picture Show : NPR

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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.

In the middle of the mountains of Monterrey, there is a Colombia chiquita, a Colombia regia, or royal. Monterrey is a city of migrants who came from the countryside to work in this industrial city. Perhaps it is the longing for a past life that connected the migrant neighborhoods of Monterrey to the songs about rural life along the Colombian coast. This is the land of the "sonideros," DJs who collect cumbia and tropical music records and appeared on the scene in the 1960s. To this day, they bring their equipment to clubs and street parties.

Gabriel Dueñez is one