We’re celebrating Best of the Bay 2026 with a multitude of Editors’ Picks of things we love. Please join us at our 13th Annual Gala on October 27 to celebrate even more!
If you get the opportunity—rather, the amazing chance to really observe, vibe, dance, and be fully intoxicated by the cumbia of Oakland’s own Combo Tezeta—you’ll notice something polyrhythmically complex that translates quite naturally, even for those who don’t habla español.
Movement like this doesn’t rely on words. Combo plays a version of cumbia inspired by Peruvian psychedelic rock from the 1960s and 1970s, dynamic enough that the band was chosen as one of the top 20 finalists in the 2024 Tiny Desk Contest.
These brothers in sound keep it movin’. Franklin Aguilar rocks the congas, with Abraham Aguilar on bass, Jonathan Rodriguez lighting up the timbales, Tony Bald on bongos and güiro making the place sway, Santiago Ruiz on guitar laying on that thickness, Cesar Flores on vocals and guitar leading the charge, and Danny Snyder on guitar and organ.
This band right here? A small local group who all have to work full-time jobs, earning each opportunity to gig since forming officially in 2018. They went from surf-rock beginnings and pivoted into a highly danceable blend of instrumental cumbias, chicha, and música tropical.
Ask anyone who attended their performances at Eli’s Mile High Club, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, their opening spots for Thundercat in Golden Gate Park and Los Mirlos at GAMH, or their set for this year’s Bliss Festival at the Presidio Theater Performing Arts—what’s up with Combo Tezeta? Their spectators’ feet, hips, knees, and well, entire bodies would tell you: “This band makes me move.”
I’m a witness to the trance this band puts on folks, many of whom don’t even recognize they’re in motion until two minutes of a song have passed. So, bless yourself, get baptized, or just slightly micro-dosed in that powerful Combo Tezeta psychedelic cumbia.
Check out the band’s music and upcoming shows here.
