Celso Piña
Celso Piña Arvizu (April 6, 1953 – August 21, 2019) was a Mexican singer, composer and accordionist, mainly in the genre of cumbia, being one of the most important musicians in the style of "cumbia rebajada". Piña was a pioneer in the mixture and fusion of tropical sounds with many of his works having elements of cumbia, regional mexicano, cumbia sonidera, ska, reggae, rap/hip-hop, R&B, etc. Piña is also known as El Rebelde del acordeón or the Cacique de la Campana. Early life. Celso Piña Arvizu was born on April 6, 1953, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico . Career. Piña started playing music in his hometown with his brothers Eduardo, Rubén and Enrique. They formed a band called Celso Piña y su Ronda Bogotá and together they would go to several homes and perform for local citizens, especially teenage girls from their neighborhood. In 1980, Celso Piña bought his first accordion and was introduced to the world of musica norteña. He spent numerous hours of practice and work in the popular district of La Colonia Independencia, south of Monterrey. Having lived for a majority of his life there, he titled one of his songs "Mi colonia Independencia", which  is located at the heavily populated area of Cerro de la Campana, near of the downtown in Monterrey. Piña's group decided to change their musical rhythm to encompass a more tropical style during the mid-1980s after having seen Aníbal Velásquez and Alfredo Gutiérrez in concert at "Baile de las Cintas (reproducción de música mediante cintas)". The group decided to switch into the genre of cumbia, and became what today is Celso Piña y su Ronda Bogotá. Piña taught himself how to play the accordion with no formal training. As a result, he was able to create the unique sound  he is well known for. His most popular songs include, "La quebradita de la paz", "El tren", "Como el viento" and "La piragua" by José Barros. He was featured in the song "Sufran con lo que yo gozo" along with Mexican singer Gloria Trevi. Celso had several successful international tours that included countries as Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Switzerland, Morocco, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Canada and the United States. Celso Piña received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Tropical Album in 2002 for "Barrio Bravo". On August 21, 2019, Piña died from a  heart attack in Monterrey, Mexico at the age of 66. Discography. Source: AllMusic.