Voces del Bullerengue – #anonimas&resilientes (Chaco World Music, 2025)
Voces del Bullerengue returns in 2025 with #Anónimas&Resilientes, a passionate, profound and riveting 14-track set captured with Ambisonics for 360° playback. The release illustrates the collective’s focus on the ancestral memory of rural Afro-Colombian women and documents bullerengue as practiced in community rounds.
Cantadoras from villages near Montes de María, Evitar, María la Baja, San José del Playón, Villa Gloria, and San Cristóbal del Trozo, are the protagonists of this project. Voices include Fernanda Peña, who sang with the collective until her death in 2021 at age 106.
The repertoire includes traditional songs as well as newer material. “Ese Ñuría” and “Toca Las Palmas” honor the grandmothers of octogenarians Juana Rosado and Juana del Toro. Newer pieces like Clara Ospino’s “La Yerbabuena” nods to herbal medicine and Covid-19, while “La Titulación” by La Chamaría de los Manglares relates to Afro-Colombian collective land titles presented in 2012 during a ceremony with U.S. President Barack Obama and Shakira.
Petrona Martínez’s dream of reviving the bullerengue rounds of the 1940s set producer Manuel García-Orozco on the path to unite veteran singers outside the commercial industry. The ensemble’s debut earned Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations for Best Recording Package.
Credits on the new album include a multi-Grammy team: García-Orozco (producer, virtual reality), Kiko Castro (mixing), Camilo Silva F. (mastering), and Esteban Henao (virtual reality). Chaco World Music frames the project within ongoing ethnomusicological research and long-term collaboration with rural communities.
The ensemble’s appearances have reached world music stages such as Plaza de la Aduana in Cartagena (2019), Noche de Río at Barranquilla Carnival (2024), and a virtual concert for Aziz Gallery in Los Angeles (2024). Nevertheless, most performances take place in local gatherings, where the collective locates its purpose.
Bullerengue is the Colombian Caribbean’s only oral tradition led by elder women, with origins in 17th-century palenques. The form pairs a cantadora with the alegre (tambor hembra) drum, steadied by the macho or llamador drum; handclaps answer on the downbeat in call-and-response. Community participation is open, while mastery of the alegre demands advanced technique and improvisation. There are regional variants, like bullerengue porro in María la Baja and bullerengue chalupiao in Malagana. These variations reflect a fluid vocabulary documented since the 1960s.
Drums are built from caracolí wood shells, female deer hide, and lianas or wooden pegs, then tuned by striking the pegs to pitch. Tradition has favored male percussionists, though figures such as Graciela Salgado (1930–2013) and Flor Marina Espitia (b. 1996) have shaped the ensemble.
Fundamental Bullerengue Styles:
- Bullerengue Sentao: Slow, binary, often melancholic.
- Chalupa: Fast, binary, festive.
- Fandango de Lengua: Fast, compound meter, festive.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.