Celso Piña

Biography

Celso Piña (Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, 6 April 1953 - August 21, 2019) was a Mexican singer, composer, arranger, and accordionist, mainly in the genre of Cumbia, being one of the most important musicians in the style of "Cumbia rebajada". Piña was a pioneer in the mixture and fusion of tropical sounds with many of his works having elements of cumbia, regional mexicano, cumbia sonidera, ska, reggae, rap/hip-hop, R&B, etc. Piña is also known as El Rebelde del acordeón or the Cacique de la C...

Celso Piña (Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, 6 April 1953 - August 21, 2019) was a Mexican singer, composer, arranger, and accordionist, mainly in the genre of Cumbia, being one of the most important musicians in the style of "Cumbia rebajada".

Piña was a pioneer in the mixture and fusion of tropical sounds with many of his works having elements of cumbia, regional mexicano, cumbia sonidera, ska, reggae, rap/hip-hop, R&B, etc. Piña is also known as El Rebelde del acordeón or the Cacique de la Campana.

Piña started playing music in his hometown Monterrey with his brothers Eduardo, Rubén and Enrique. Together they would go to several homes and perform for local citizens, especially teenage girls from their neighborhood.

In 1980, Celso Piña bought his first accordion and was introduced to the world of musica norteña. He spent numerous hours of practice and work in the popular district of La Colonia Independencia, south of the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Having lived for a majority of his life there, he titled one of his songs Mi colonia Independencia, which is located at the heavily populated area of Cerro de la Campana, near of the downtown in Monterrey.

Piña's group decided to change their musical rhythm to encompass a more tropical style during the mid-1980s after having seen Aníbal Velásquez and Alfredo Gutiérrez in concert at "Baile de las Cintas (reproducción de música mediante cintas)". The group decided to switch into the genre of cumbia, and became what today is Celso Piña y su Ronda Bogotá.

Piña taught himself how to play the accordion with no formal training. As a result he was able to create the unique sound he is well known for. His most popular songs include, La quebradita de la paz, El tren, Como el viento and La piragua by José Barros. He was featured in the song Sufran con lo que yo gozo along with Mexican singer Gloria Trevi.

Celso had several successful international tours that included countries as Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Switzerland, Morocco, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Canada and the United States.

On August 21, 2019, Piña died from a heart attack in Monterrey, Mexico at the age of 66.

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Celso Piña was a 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). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.