Son Rompe Pera are credited with coining the genre they play — Cumbia Punk, a collision of traditional Mexican marimba and garage rock that two brothers from Naucalpan built out of their own family history. If you have never seen a marimba mosh pit, that situation is correctable. The Falcon in Marlboro is booking them on Sunday, May 10.
Alan “Mongo” Gama and Jesús Ángel “Kacho” Gama grew up playing marimba at street performances, weddings, and parties alongside their father, José Dolores “Batuco” Gama Melchor. As teenagers they moved into punk and psychobilly. After their father’s death in 2016, they merged those two worlds — family marimba tradition and raw punk energy — into something entirely new. Their 2020 debut Batuco was named in his memory. Their 2023 follow-up Chimborazo earned coverage from NPR, Billboard, WNYC, and KCRW. The Wire called their sound “rough, full throttle cumbias dominated by the ribcage rattle of the marimba, while surf punk skeletons shake their way out of the closet.” They have played Roskilde, Vive Latino, and an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. They have also played The Falcon before — a May 2022 show that Chronogram documented.
The Falcon is the kind of venue that earns the drive. Tucked into the hamlet of Marlboro on Route 9W, it sits above a 100-foot waterfall on Lattintown Creek with Hudson River views from the deck. It is a multi-level music and arts space that has spent over two decades booking Grammy Award-winning artists in a 150-seat main stage theater. The Avalon Archives Museum of Rock & Roll is in the building. So is a pub and an outdoor garden stage. Budget time to arrive early and look around — it is that kind of place.
Tickets: $25, standing room only. Doors open at 6 PM, music at 8 PM. Son Rompe Pera are on an active North America and Europe tour — this is a small room with a touring band that has serious international festival credentials. Move on it.
More Hudson Valley concerts are on the calendar.