Mexico’s cholombianos and cumbia dancing.

Existing predominately in northern Mexico, Monterrey, the subculture cholobianos are a very distinctive youth subculture. The style is characterised by their unique hairstyles, dancing, and the enigmatic youth who love the subculture.

The ‘cholo’ is in reference to another Mexican culture in Los Angeles characterised by their baggy trousers/shorts, flannel, bandanas, loose chains, baseball caps, and so on, as you can see in the photos above. ‘Colombianos’ is literally Colombians in Spanish, but in reference to both the musical and dancing aspect of the subculture, who dance to ‘cumbia’ a traditional folk dance of Latin America.

The origin of Cholombianos isn’t known for sure. Colombian immigrants moving to the area have been referenced, or locals simply heard the music and adopted the subculture naturally through 60s up till the height in the 90s which adopted the unique style above. Regardless, cumbia and cholombianos took a foothold in the Monterrey area.

By the 2010s the subculture has nearly disappeared, although has come back into the world by an article in VICE, in 2011, which featured the work of Stefan Ruiz. In 2019 you had the Netflix film, ‘Yo no estoy Aquí’ (I’m no longer here) which follows the life of a leader called ‘Los treks’, who dedicates their time listening to cambia and embodying the cholo style. The film is shot beautifully, and encapsulates the youth culture of such a niche subculture. Could we see the return of the style one day? Or did it never leave?

(Photos: Stefan Ruiz // Stills taken from ‘I am no longer here’ )