Colombian Music and Dance

Music and dance, much like food, are regionally specific.  The traditions reflect the history of the area as well as the way of life.  The music of the Andean Highlands, musica carranguera, reflects the joy, unaffected naturalness, and mischiveousness of the region’s inhabitants.  The music of the Coffee Region showcases the cultura paisa and is typically string based.  Moving into the Momposino Depression, we hear the music of Carnival and the Colombian Caribbean.  The Pacificos is known for its chirimía bands with the chirimía, or saxhorn, as its signature instrument. The area is also known for its acapella singing. The Southeastern Plains is home to joropo which is the music of the cowboys. In the Amazon, music is primarily performed for the ritual ceremonies.  In the cities, Medellín is home to tango dance while Cali is known for salsa.

PARTICIPANTS

El Pueblo Canta, carranguera music and dance group, Tuta

• Álvaro Suesca Acuña, director, song writer, composer, musician (requinto), instrument maker
• Giovanni Suárez Torres, musician (small percussion), instrument maker
• Danny Leonel Suesca Niño, musician (guitar, cane flute)
• Edixon Julián Suesca Niño, musician (small percussion), instrument maker
• Eduardo Vega Guerrero, musician (tiple),instrument maker
• Laura Jeannette Alba Díaz, dancer
• Jorge Alberto Rodríguez Sanabria, dancer

El Pueblo Canta performs highland carranguera dance music. They also play other traditional Andean Highland genres including carrangas, guabinas, torbellinos, and bambucos.  Their songs are full of regional poetry, proverbs, rhymes, and anecdotes about rural Andean life. Álvaro Suesca, a renowned song writer and composer, has directed the group for 23 years. Members of the group also build traditional percussion instruments such as the quiribillos and la carraca del burro, a donkey rattle. Dancers Laura Díaz and Jorge Alberto Rodríguez have performed with El Pueblo Canta in several national folk festivals. Their repertoire includes torbellino, guabina, rumba criolla, and rumba carranguera. Jorge’s grandmother was known as the queen of torbellino.

Aires del Campo, string music group, Girardota

• Manuel José Cadavid Cataño, director, musician (tiple)
• Óscar de Jesús Cadavid Cataño, musician (first bandola)
• Jorge Enrique Cadavid García, musician (guacharaca)
• Elkin de Jesús Meneses Rojo, musician (second bandola)
• Fernán de Jesús Rojo Meneses, musician (guitar)

Aires del Campo is a traditional string music ensemble from the Coffee Region. They excel at bandola and tiple, instruments traditional to the area. The members of the group are cousins and learned to play from their fathers, uncles, and grandfather. The group plays Andean music along with party tunes of the Paisa culture.

Don Abundio y sus Traviesos, music and dance group, Mompox

• Samuel Mármol Villa, director, singer, dancer, instrument maker
• Gustavo Cantillo Ávilles, dancer
• Dania Felizzola Morales, musician (gaita macho, guache), dancer
• Jaison Mármol Ruidiaz, musician (tambor alegre)
• Samuel Mármol Ruidiaz, musician (cane flute, guache, tambor alegre), dancer
• Yaniz Mármol Ruidiaz, llamador, musician (guache), dancer
• Jorge Enrique Montes Villa, musician (tambora), dancer
• Julio César Ortíz Madrid, dancer
• Neil Palomino Trespalacios, dancer
• Pedro Germán Rodríguez Arrieta, dancer
• Damaris Sayas Gómez, singer
• Gustavo del Cristo Vergara Alvarado, musician (tambora)

Don Abundio y sus Traviesos is an ensemble that plays tambora guacherna, chandé, and  berroche  rhythms. The musicians play tamboras, flauta de millo (cane flute), and guache (a rasp-like percussion instrument), and they are accompanied by a vocalist and dancers. Their repertoire includes aires and traditional Carnival dances. Don Abundio learned to perform the carnivalesque enactments of farotas, pilanderas, and rezanderas (represented as the Dance of the Bulls, Alligators, and the Caimán Man), which reflect the natural habitat. He and his group perform at local events and participate in the Carnival de Barranquilla every year.

Cantaoras de Alabaos del Pacífico, singing group

• Cruz Neyla Murillo Mosquera, singer, azotea gardener, Andagoya
• Leonor Murillo, singer, San Andrés
• Zully Murillo de Caicedo, singer, Cali
• Fulvia Ruíz Ibarguen, singer, artisanal miner, Andagoya

The Cantadoras de Alabaos del Pacífico sing in style typical of the Pacific rainforest region. They sing primarily for funeral rituals, and their songs are mainly performed by women. These rituals and songs reinforce a sense of solidarity, bring the community together, and keep the memory of the Pueblo Afro alive.

Chirimía La Contundencia, chirimía music group, Quibdó

• Leonidas Valencia Valencia, director, musician (saxhorn)
• Rick Lludson Montealegre Rodríguez, musician (snare drum)
• Tomás Domingo Moreno Córdoba, musician (clarinet)
• Abdo Abel Murillo Mosquera, musician (tambora)
• Leonidas Valencia Peña, musician (cymbals)

La Contundencia is an ensemble that plays chirimía, a traditional genre of the northern Pacific region played by small brass bands. This genre features European-derived tunes and can be heard during carnival or patron-saint festivities. La Contundencia was part of the wave of musicians that added piano, bass, guitar, conga, and bongo to create a more orchestral style. So while they perform chirimía in its natural, improvised manner, they also emphasize instrumental variety.  Today they are considered the most iconic band interpreting traditional Pacifico music.

Grupo Cabrestero, joropo music and dance group

• Félix Chaparro Rivas, musician (bandola), Aguazul
• Cristian Rafael Rosillo Gutiérrez, musician (maracas), Yopal
• Víctor Cenón Espinel Sánchez, singer, Maní
• Freddy Calixto Ladines Porras, musician (cuatro), Aguazul
• Arnulfo Pinto García, joropo dancer, Cumaral
• Magdalena Plazas Lugo, joropo dancer, Cumaral

Grupo Cabrestero was formed specifically to perform at this Festival. They chose their name, which refers to the lead cattle herder, because they hope to lead their listeners into the heart of llanero culture through their music. The group includes a lead singer, three musicians who play bandola, cuatro, and maracas, and a dance couple. Joropo music is part of the llanero lifestyle, which revolves around cattle ranching. When Felix Chaparro is not working as a ranch hand, he is a music teacher at Casa de la Cultura and in many other schools. He comes from a family of musicians and plays the bandola and makes maracas. Victor Espinel is a singer and bandola player in the traditional joropo style. Since the age of nine, he has been singing these songs which are often milking tunes, cowboy tunes, or tunes to sing to the cattle. Arnulfo Pinto and his partner Magdalena Plaza dance joropo criollo, which he considers to be the most traditional style of joropo. He describes his knowledge of this dance as innate, and because he did not formally learn it at an academy, his style may not adhere to the norms and rules of joropo criollo.

Tango de Medellín, tango dance

• Johanna Palacios Ruiz
• Edinson Dario Vanegas Amaya

Johanna Palacios and Edinson Vanegas grew up in the tango-dancing environment of the Manrique neighborhood in Medellín. They teach tango to people of all ages for entertainment and as an alternative activity to counteract the violence in the city.

Salsa de Cali, salsa dance

• Luz Aydé Moncayo Giraldo
• Deivy Johan Zúñiga Jiménez

Luz Aydé y Deivy Zúñiga are professional salsa dancers and teachers who have won international contests. The showy fast-stepping salsathat they dance is distinctive to Cali.