'Rumba Bastarda' is the third long player of La Banda del Panda, a six-piece mestizo band from Barcelona. The title of this album, for which they collaborated, among others, with Che Sudaka, Oriol Barri, Trast and Las Migas, perfectly sums up the band's sound, because as they put it themselves: "Our music originated in the working-class neighborhoods from a mix of Catalan rumba with popular street rhythms like cumbia, hip-hop and even some reggaeton.". 'Rumba Bastarda' opens with 'Alma Cumbia', a festive cumbia for which they were joined by the veterans of Che Sudaka. Title track 'Rumba Bastarda' starts as a modern update of the Catalan rumba and then shifts to a reggae beat. 'Manifest', a collaboration with Oriol Barri, sounds a bit more traditional, but for 'Que Es Lo Que Quieres' the Barcelonans add influences from disco and funk to their rumba, and for the "cumbia rumbera" in 'Primavera', an ode to spring, they invited Trast singer Laura Pagès. In 'El Barri Es Viu' ("the neighborhood lives") the violin of Roser Loscos, member of women's quartet Las Migas, gets the leading role, and 'Que Sabras Tu De La Vida' opens with the same guitar riff as Gipsy Kings' world hit 'Bamboleo'. The gentlemen of La Banda del Panda conclude with the punk rock of 'Foc' ("fire"), a combination with Xeic! front man Aitor Cugat, in which the gralles (a typical Catalan wind instrument related to the oboe) of Elena Barea and Cristina Curto can also be heard. Excellent mestizo album proving once again the genre is far from dead and buried!