About Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra
Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra (GKO) is a Montreal orchestra that its own website defines as “an explosion of music, dance and circus”: it fuses the rhythms and percussion of the Colombian Caribbean with melodies and styles from around the world, in a melodic chaos designed to get audiences dancing. It was born in 2012 under the production company GIROVAGO and two Colombian-born artists, Carmen Ruiz and Juan Sebastian Mejia, who made Montreal their base.
Its sound mixes accordion, violin, clarinet, a full brass section, Colombian percussion, singing and dance, with touches of ska, jazz and funk. Its first album, “Revuelta Danza Party”, earned Juno and ADISQ nominations, and its second record, “VelkomBak”, gathers a dozen original compositions travelling from the Andes to Quebec by way of India, Spain and the Balkans.
With more than 300 concerts in Canada and three international tours — Colombia in 2014, France in 2015 and the Czech Republic and Austria in 2016 — GKO remains active as the musical heart of GIROVAGO's creations: its music is the original score of the show BARKA, presented on Canadian stages in 2025, and its festive spirit names the company's big carnival nights in Montreal.
Its sound mixes accordion, violin, clarinet, a full brass section, Colombian percussion, singing and dance, with touches of ska, jazz and funk. Its first album, “Revuelta Danza Party”, earned Juno and ADISQ nominations, and its second record, “VelkomBak”, gathers a dozen original compositions travelling from the Andes to Quebec by way of India, Spain and the Balkans.
With more than 300 concerts in Canada and three international tours — Colombia in 2014, France in 2015 and the Czech Republic and Austria in 2016 — GKO remains active as the musical heart of GIROVAGO's creations: its music is the original score of the show BARKA, presented on Canadian stages in 2025, and its festive spirit names the company's big carnival nights in Montreal.