Orquestra Pacifico Tropical released its third album, "El Poder," in June after six years in the making.

The Portland-based, 11-piece cumbia collective has been building a distinct Pacific Northwest sound since 2012. Bandleader and drummer Papi Fimbres co-founded OPT that year with guitarist Carlos Segovia.

Both had been fixtures in Portland's music scene since 2000. Before launching the band, the pair ran a Latinx dance night called Double Latinum Platinum at Portland bar Tiga, then decided to build a full group around classic cumbias from Peru and Colombia.

The result is a rotating roster that has cycled through 19 musicians. Members have also played in Portland acts including Máscaras, Sávila, Roselit Bone and The Decemberists.

Fimbres grew up in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles, where his mother enrolled him in free music classes at a recreation center at age 4, according to Vortex Magazine.

He learned piano, then flute, then drums.

He moved to Portland in 1999 and has stayed since. "El Poder" blends what the band calls Northwest-style cumbia with salsa, exotica and psychedelic rock.

The songs were written at a cabin near Nedonna Beach on the Oregon coast. A 2023 grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council helped the band finish recording with engineer Ryan Oxford, the Portland Mercury reported.

The album's title carries weight. In a Mercury interview published Aug. 25, Fimbres said "'El poder' has two meanings for us; it literally means 'the power,' and it's also 'the will,' 'the strength.'" He described half the band's members as coming from immigrant families and called the music "for everyone, by everyone."

The band played three major festivals in summer 2026: the Waterfront Blues Festival, Pickathon and Homiefest, a festival Fimbres co-hosts with his wife, vocalist-percussionist Shana Lindbeck.