NEW YORK, NY March 15, 2008 —The music that plays as part of a popular underground party scene in Buenos Aires has been making its way around the world – and it’s landing in NY on Monday night. Carolina Gonzalez shares her thoughts on the newest twist on an old latin rhythm.

REPORTER: The club party, called Zizek, happens weekly in the hip Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.

MUSIC: "Pum Pum Cumbia," Oro 11, Zizek 2008 tour sampler.

REPORTER: The cumbia part of the music isn’t new. The chugging rhythm was born on the Caribbean coast of Colombia in the 19th Century. There are versions of it in Mexico, Central America, Peru and Argentina, where it is called cumbia villera.

MUSIC: "Cumbia Cienaguera," Alberto Pacheco, Rough Guide to Cumbia.

MUSIC: "Cumbietón rutero," Axel K Soundsystem, Zizek 2008 tour sampler.

REPORTER: But the Zizek crew and other like-minded DJs are making cumbias for the 21st century. They’re giving them equal space with other up-to-the-minute dance beats from around the world: Jamaican dancehall, British grime, U.S. crunk, Puerto Rican reggaetón. Some DJs have been experimenting with cumbia for years, but the sound really took off only after the Zizek party started about a year and a half ago. It was the brainchild of two local producers and a Texas expatriate who runs a website announcing local cultural events.

MUSIC: "Piedras/Quiero Pare," Villa Diamante, Bailando se entiende la gente.

REPORTER: Some nueva cumbia DJs refer to an "MIA effect." They say they were inspired by the genre-crossing Sri Lankan singer known as MIA, who mixes music freely across national borders. Some of the DJs, like El Trip Selector, push the distortions of cumbia keyboards into the realm of ambient electronica.

MUSIC: "Cumbiancherita", Trip Selector, Zizek 2008 tour sampler.

REPORTER: Others, like El Remolón, stretch it out into a trippy TK dub.

MUSIC: "Andrés se fue a la villa," El Remolón, Zizek 2008 tour sampler.

REPORTER: One track mixed by King Coya uses minimal beats to highlight the powerful voice of Petrona Martinez, who sings Afro-Colombian bullerengue.

MUSIC: "Petrona Martínez," King Coya, Zizek 2008 tour sampler.

But no matter the turn the mixes take, sticking to the cumbia base means they’re all effective booty propellers. In any form, cumbia will keep the Americas one continent under a groove.

MUSIC: "Viajante," Tremor, Zizek 2008 tour sampler.

Zizek's web site