About Celso Piña

Celso Piña (Born 6 April 1953 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México) is a notable mexican singer, composer and accordionist. In 2002, Pina was nominated for two latin grammy Awards: "Best Contemporary Tropical Album" and "Best New Artist From the North" as well as for "Best Alternative Artist" by the MTV Latino Awards. He is also know by the nicknames: El Rebelde del Acordeón and Cacique de la Campana. He's an accordion player and singer who has risen to be one of the most notable figures in cumbia music. Cumbia has it's origins in Colombia's African and indigenous populations but has since spread to be one of the most universal Latin American genres. Celso Piña is a pioneer in mixing or blending a tropical base with popular genres from Norteño to sonidero, Ska, Reggae, Rap, Hip Hop, and R&B. Celso's album Barrio Bravo, which includes collaborations with other popular Latin musicans of various genres, produced the mega crossover hit Cumbia Sobre El Rio. He made a special appearance on the track Sufran Con Lo Que Yo Gozo by Gloria Trevi. He also played with the likes of: Lila Downs, Control Machete, El Gran Silencio, Los Humildes, Julieta Venegas, Blanquito Man and Sargento García. But it was in the year 1980 when Celso Piña bought his first accordion to enter the world of vallenato music, with long hours of trial and effort, in the popular suburb Independencia, south of the city of Monterrey. In this area there was a very well know cumbia called Mi Colonia Independencia. In the mid 1980s they changed their musical style and began playing tropical music. After listening to the distinguished Aníbal Velasquez and Alfredo Gutierrez during a baile de cintas (dancing with ribbons to music playback), decided to enter fully into the vallenata music, and so he formed his own band Celso Piña y su Ronda Bogotá. Piña began playing regional music from long ago together with his brothers Eduardo, Rubén, and Enrique together serenading the neighborhood with all the girls on the block. Celso is a self-taught accordion, not attending any school and so just by practising again and again, as to come to a style of his own. From its early beginnings as several important cumbias la cumbia de la paz, El Tren, Como El Viento and his very famous version of La piragua (José Barros).