Colombia is located in northwestern South America and shares borders with Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
Colombian Music
Los Llanos Orientales are vast plains that stretch from Colombia into Venezuela. The mestizo people that inhabit these savannas on the great Orinoco River are descendants of Spanish settlers, African slaves and indigenous people (also known as indians).
This is cattle rearing country where life revolves around country ranches. Music accompanies the daily working tasks such as milking and cattle drives. Most striking is the festive Venezuelan dance music called joropo, a fiercely virtuoso display of rippling melodies played on harp, bandola and cuatro accompanied by bass, cajon and maracas. This rapid and joyous music is sung with high-pitched voices reminiscent of Andalusian gypsy roots.
The Marimba music and traditional chants from Colombia’s South Pacific was inscribed in 2015 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This type of music is performed by Afro-Colombian groups in the departments of Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño. Chanting by women and men (cantadoras and chureadores) blends with acoustic instruments, handcrafted using local materials: palm-wood marimbas, wooden and leather bass and hand drums, and bamboo and seed rattles. This music is performed principally during four rituals: Arrullo, Currulao, Chigualo and Alabao.
“In the Pacific coast of Colombia, various rhythms have been preserved throughout the years; airs that kept the essence of my culture and express deep feelings of pain, nostalgia, hope, joy, the longing for freedom, love, love for the land…feelings that sprout from black men and women, Indians and mestizos, framed by the thick jungle of our region,” Hugo Candelario González S. (Grupo Bahia)
Colombian Musical Genres
Abozao – Lively Afro-Colombian dance and essential rhythm in the Chocó region (Pacific), performed with a chirimia ensemble. The dance is presented as a game of mutual incitement between men and women. The process ends with an erotic accent. The chirimía chocoana consists of clarinet, flute or euphonium, cymbals, drum, requinta, and bombo.
Aguabajo – Travel song from the Chocó region. It means “down river” and is performed by the bogas (boatmen) as they go down the river, transporting goods or people on canoes, rafts or small boats.
Alabao – The Alabao is a wake in the Pacific region of Colombia, following the death of an adult, where extremely sad chants are sung, also a cappella.
Andarele is a dance and musical genre of Afro-Colombian and Afro-Ecuadorean (in particular, from the province of Esmeraldas) origin. It is performed with marimba, bass drum, guaza, cununo drums ans and is sung by a soloist and chorus.
Arrullo – A saint worship ritual led by women in the Pacific region of Colombia, who prepare the saints, candles and altars and perform chants accompanied by drums and, on occasion, marimbas.
Bullerengue is an Afro-Colombian song and dance from the Bolivar and Cordoba departments. Women play an important role in both song and dance.
Bunde – Used in the funeral rites and patron saint oraise songs, such as the Bunde San Antonio.
Cantos de vaquería are Colombian cowboy songs from the cattle plains. Mestizo cowboys entertained themselves with songs to escape boredom. The cantos de vaquería are believed to be one of the precursors of the popular vallenato genre. Cantos de vaquería are not as popular anymore because of the mechanization of the cattle industry.
Cantos de zafra – Colombian harvest chants. Zafra is the sugarcane harvest.
Champeta – Popular music from the Caribbean coast of Colombia that incorporates Colombian Afro-Roots, Congolese music, calypso, soca, and other genres. Also known as terapia criolla.
Chigualo – The Chigualo is a wake following the death of a young child in the Pacific region of Colombia. The body is covered with flowers and a cappella chants are performed around it.
Cumbia – A musical genre and dance originated along Colombia’s Caribbean coast, a mix of Spanish, African and indigenous influences.
Cumbia compilations: Cumbia 1 & 2 (World Circuit Records) featuring tracks from Discos Fuentes’ extensive catalog, bringing together some of the greatest recordings made between 1954 and 1988.
Currulao – A Colombian dance of African origin, also known as marimba dance. It is a community dance in the Pacific region of Colombia, where women and men may meet and form new relationships; the most common of all the Afro-Colombian dances. Its themes vary. It sometimes celebrates saints and love, or laments misfortune.
Joropo – read the article The Joropo of the Colombian and Venezuelan Plains
Juga – A two-voice song in which aspects of everyday Chocoan life are described and patron saints are praised.
Makerule or Maquerule – This air from the southern Pacific coast of Colombia has a rhythmic base very similar to Chocoana dance (a dance with European roots). The origin of the name seems to come from the last name of a gringo (American) named Mac Duller who set up a bakery in Andagoya (Chocó) that didn’t fare very well. This story became a song and ewas adopted by the black population.
Porro – A tropical Colombian dance. It expresses various activities or tells stories set to a heavily syncopated 2/4 meter.
Vallenato
Merengue is one of the four basic rhythms of vallenato music. The word merengue goes back to colonial times and comes from the word muserengue, the name of one of the African cultures that was taken from the coast of Guinea to Colombia’s Atlantic coast. The traditional merengue vallenato, has a beat of 6/8, a derived rhythm, since the original beats were 4/4, 3/3 and 2/2 from this point of view the merengue vallenato is the most complex air and at the same time the most original of the four traditions.
The merengue differs from the other airs in the performance and the first bass rhythm, which is usually 3/1 and sometimes of 1/ 3, according to the characteristic structure of the melody, although the performer can play it faster if he pleases. Melodically, it is the richer of the vallenato rhythms and its performance allows the player to show all his abilities and make a true display of cadence and harmony.
Colombian Musicians
Claudia Calderón
Edmar Castañeda
Grupo Niche
Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto
Los Titanes
Lucía Pulido
Marta Gómez
Mónica Giraldo
Samuel Torres
Totó La Momposina
