To our own surprise 'Santalegria', already the third album of this Catalan band around ex-Dusminguet accordionist and vocalist Joan Garriga, is our first introduction to La Troba Kung-Fu. Apparantly we've immediately struck gold, as 'Santalegria' was proclaimed "millor disc de l'any 2013" ("best album of 2013") by leading Catalan music magazine Enderrock. The fact the sleeve design of this album is just about identical to that of Soul Jazz Records' 'Studio One Story', is probably no coincidence. Like that compilation focused on a period in Jamaican music history that would help define the reggae, 'Santalegria' also recounts the emergence of a genre: rumbia! For the full story we'd advise you to read the liner notes of the album, but in short got the genre evolved sometime in late 1970s, when Gato Perez, one of the legends from rumba catalana, began spicing up his music by adding cumbia-influences. That being said, it was La Troba Kung-Fu who finally gave the genre its name. In any case, on 'Santalegria' La Troba Kung-Fu sounds a lot more authentic (the fact the band often sings in Catalan, will probably have something to do with that), than many of mestizo-releases that have ended up on our test bench in recent years and the album can definitely be considered an instant classic in the genre. Escoltat i eprovat ("listened to and approved")!