Cumbia legends Grupo Soñador kick off Grand Performances’ 40th season with a high-energy, multi-generational dance party. The band brings their Mexican-style, slowed-down, synth-heavy cumbia to Cal Plaza. LA-based cumbia band Wachiwara and DJ Turbo Sonidero will round out the night. Curated by misterpsychedelia.
Grupo Soñador
Grupo Soñador is a group formed by brothers Alberto and Ricardo Tlahuetl in Puebla in 1998. Initially performing under the name “Noche Latina,” they later changed their name in 2000 to Beto y Richie Grupo Soñador.
With their cumbia sonidera style and the success of their hit “El Paso del Gigante,” they established themselves as one of the most important musical groups in Puebla. This success led them to tour extensively across Mexico, the United States, and Latin America.
In 2008, following Ricardo Tlahuetl’s departure from the group, Beto Tlahuetl took over as the leader. Since then, the group’s name and logo have remained “Grupo Soñador Beto Tlahuetl” up to the present day.
Wachiwara
Wachiwara is a Los Angeles band with a sound that feels both classic and fresh. Drawing from Colombian cumbia and the psychedelic edge of Peruvian chicha, they blend traditional influences with a modern touch to create something smooth, rhythmic, and easy to move to. There’s a clear sense of heritage in their music, but enough energy and style to keep it current—especially live, where they know how to bring a room to life.
Turbo Sonidero
Turbo Sonidero is a music producer, DJ, and record collector from San Jose, CA who continues to pioneer the global boom of cumbia through his innovative sound. Turbo Sonidero’s performances and albums blend cumbia sonidera with R&B oldies, bringing a hip-hop sensibility to pitched-down cumbia rebajada, and recognizing loop- and sample-based-cumbia editada as avant-garde electronic music. His cosmic sound comes from Cyber Aztlán--a reimagination of the mythical Aztec ancestral land.
misterpsychedelia is an event management, rogue production house, and creative studio operating on the fringes of mainstream culture—part live event architect, part analog filmmaker, part visual agitator. Born from the underground and raised on over-used vinyl, back-alley venues, and border-hopping sound systems, its work thrives where polish gives way to pulse. Concerts are lit like hallucinations. Tour stories are told through lens flares and tape hiss. Every frame, every mix, every flyer is built with dirt under the nails and a deep respect for the artists pushing against the grain. Whether it’s staging a cumbia rave in a warehouse, running a puppet through a pizza parlor in one take, or capturing an entire subculture in a single shot—misterpsychedelia moves fast, stays weird, and always puts the art first.