OTHER MUSIC AND DANCE GENRES
The music scene in Colombia is a diverse one, filled with genres such as Cumbia, Vallenato, Guabina, as well as Joropo, Merengue, Bambuco, Bullerengue, Torbellino and Mapalé. These different melodic styles have played key roles in shaping the musical landscape of the country.
JOROPO
Los Llanos, the broad plains of Western Venezuela and Eastern Colombia, watered by the Orinoco River and its tributaries, are home to música llanera, plains music. This genre is part of the engaging of musical traditions created by ranching people with a love for cattle, horses, music and dance.
At the heart of this region’s music is Joropo, a hard-driving music that brilliantly showcases the percussive capabilities of stringed instruments and the musician’s ability to improvise. The main instrument of llanera music is perhaps an unexpected one, the harp.
Introduced to South America in the 18th century by the Spaniards, in the hands of the llanero, the harp became a percussive engine that serves as the backbone of música llanera. The structure of the music comes from African songs, with call-and-response lyrics. They are songs with a leader and backed by a chorus, with African influences being very important in joropo music.
Much of the lyrical content is influenced by the landscapes of the region, as well as the traditions and different lifestyles of the local communities. One of the remarkable aspects of a traditional joropo singer is their ability to take on songs that are fast and often accompanied by differently pitched vocals.
Joropo, a word that means party, is the musical genre used for dancing and music playing in these western parts of Venezuela and the eastern plains of Colombia. This musical genre is played in various styles and with different instruments including the arpa, bandola, cuatro and maracas. It also features diverse types of chord progressions.
Cimarrón is probably the most famous group of Joropo performers and has played worldwide. They have recorded their music in the renowned Abbey Road recording studios in London. Cimorron
Cimarrón
Joropo llanero ensembles are generally comprised of the harp, the bandola llanera, a four-stringed pear-shaped guitar, the small four-stringed cuatro, contrabajo (acoustic bass) rounded out by maracas (gourd rattles) and vocals. Joropo is a musical style that is very challenging to learn, even for most music professionals.
Nowadays, musicians of all sorts have become interested in learning and playing this genre, as it is so demanding and allows for great levels of improvisation during the performance. It is a genre that many are not aware of yet, but of great importance in Latin American music.
MERENGUE
Latin America is known for its rich and vibrant history, culture, art and music. One of the best places to soak in everything is none other than Colombia.
While Merengue may have started in the Dominican Republic, it has been widely embraced by Colombians and is a music genre enjoyed by many in Latin America and the world over. Merengue dance and music are extremely popular across the globe. There are many versions and interpretations of the historical origin of the Merengue, but many agree that the Merengue roots came from the Tumba, a music/dance form created during the 1800s by the African slaves.
It is thought that the first Merengue song was written as early as 1844, though this is contested by some. In any event, the oldest forms of Merengue music were typically played on stringed instruments in the 1800s.
Merengue music is based on a repeating five-beat rhythmic pattern called a quintillo and traditionally played with an accordion, guitar, tambora (two-sided drum held on the lap), guira (percussion instrument) and marimba (a deep-toned xylophone of African origin). Nowadays, other instruments such as a horn or saxophone are also incorporated into the music.
Merengue is typically danced in pairs. One dancer holds their partner’s waist with the right hand and with their left grasp their partner’s right hand at eye level. The partner mirrors this position.
The dance steps are similar to a marching movement and both partners gently rotate, or perform twisting turns, all without letting go of each other. Dancers can also switch to an open position and dance side by side, without letting their partner go.
Merengue is relatively easy to dance to and is all about feeling the beat and working your hips to the rhythm. In comparison to Salsa, Merengue is less complicated as Salsa dance is known for being more intricate and having quicker, sharper turns. Salsa is very fast-paced, which is why most Latinos recommend merengue for beginners.
- Slowly lift your feet in a slight marching movement to every beat. It is not necessary to lift the foot very high, only about an inch or two from the ground.
- Bend the knees slightly while lifting the feet, so that the hips are also moving smoothly.
- Let your hips naturally fall in time with your feet as you place your foot down.
Merengue music has served as inspiration for countless musicians, finding inspiration in the rhythms and tonalities of this Afro-Caribbean style.
These are some of the songs that define merengue music:
- Compadre Pedro Juan by Luis Alberti
Compadre Pedro Juan - Abusadora by Oro Solido and Raul Acosta
Abusadora - Con La Mano en el Piso by Mala Fe
Con La Mano
- Esa Muchacha by Los Hermanos Rosario
Esa Muchacha
Shakira is one of the biggest names to come out of Colombia, so this list just would not be complete without one of her songs.
Here is a mix of merengue and Latin pop in her famous song Loca:
BAMBUCO
If Colombia’s traditional costumes reflect a blend of the country’s Amerindian, Spanish, Caribbean and African influences, then the nation’s music is even more of a mixed bag.
Colombia’s Andean region is home to more than one hundred indigenous groups whose native music, used in rituals for healing and magic, has influenced many of Colombia’s traditional styles of music and dance.
Bambuco, originating from the Andean region of Colombia, is a genre that embodies the charm and elegance of Colombian folk music.
With its acoustic guitar, tiple (a small guitar-like instrument) and gentle rhythms, bambuco evokes a sense of nostalgia and yearning for the rural landscapes and traditions of the country. It is often accompanied by traditional dances that reflect the grace and deep-rooted traditions of the Colombian people. Of all the Andean Colombian airs, the Bambuco is the most popular in the region.
Bambuco, a cherished and indigenous musical genre, is related rhythmically to the Currulao, which is sometimes called Bambuco Viejo (Old Bambuco). However, Andean Bambuco has a more melancholic spirit.
Even though Bambuco takes elements from native and African origins, the strongest component comes from Spanish traditions. This can be seen in the way it relies on string instruments. The typical ensemble is composed of three instruments: the tiple, for rhythmic and harmonic support; the mandolin, for the melody and the guitar, which is usually for the counter melody.
This is one of the most representative musical and choreographic expressions of Colombian folklore, combining indigenous rhythms with European sounds that resemble the polka and other dances from Basque origins.
The Bambuco was born in the Andean region and they cherish Bambuco, a dance that fuses Spanish and indigenous elements, resembling a delicate waltz where couples engage in brief, gentle contact.
Men’s outfits include hats, white shirts, dark pants and a red bandana, while women’s attire consists of blouses and long, often brightly decorated skirts. It is a couple’s dance with brief tender moments of contact between the dancers. This Colombian dance is also a flirtatious game as the couple always moves with suggestive gestures.
The man shyly pursues her and the woman responds with naive flirtation. The woman is dressed in an extensive long skirt to enhance her theatrical movements and emphasize the flight of her skirts, similar to a can-can style. Both flex the feet to execute a jumping dance and recreate a scenic figuration and men take off their hats as a courtship gesture.
Each year in June, around the festivities of Saint John the Baptist and Saints Peter and Paul, traditional celebrations are held in the department of Huila.
The Festival Folclórico y Reinado Nacional del Bambuco is conducted in Neiva and is one of the most important festivals in southern Colombia. Indeed it is one of the most renowned musical and cultural events in the country. Soy Colombiano, a song often played during patriotic events, tells the story of a man’s pride in his pueblo and country:
Bambuco influences much of Colombian music and this genre is listened to in a great number of pueblos and cities throughout the Andes. In the event that you would like to learn more about Bambuco, or even how to dance it, the best place is in Neiva.
BULLERENGUE
Bullerengue is a whirlwind of drums, dancing, songs, percussion and handclaps from the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and on up into Panama.
Bullerengue is a tradition that originated in the Caribbean region of Colombia and it can be heard from los Montes de Maria all the way to El Uraba Antioqueсo. It is through the drums, chants and dances that knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation. Bullerengue is a lifestyle, a way to celebrate festivities, life and the African legacy in Colombia. The rhythm known as Bullerengue is a clear example of a rich tradition that expresses the heart and soul of the community it represents.
Bullerengue is a term used to describe the drummed rhythms of tambora, chalupa and fandango from the Black settlements of the Caribbean coast. The complex rhythmic figures of the drums often accompany women singing.
Though there is no official history, oral tradition claims this rhythm started as a fertility ritual danced by pregnant women unable to dance faster rhythms. That is why the dance consists of small steps and a slow movement of the hips with hands touching the belly.
The core of the Bullerengue is the rueda, a circle of participants singing together in a unified voice of inclusivity and togetherness, led by the drums.
Often associated with women, Bullerengue’s most representative performers, known as cantaoras, are powerful women who, through the strength of their voice, convey the realities of daily life, from the sad to the joyful, with depth and humour.
Through the primal energy of the African descendant percussion, the visceral power of the singing voice and the highly symbolic elements of its dance moves, often representing the women’s role in the community, Bullerengue is a powerful tool to connect to the world and to transcend the hardships of daily life.
The llamador (singer) keeps the dance going while the alegre leads the sound, improvising the whole time. Chants are traded back and forth in call-and-response. Shouts, whoops and cheers lift the energy and encourage the dancers as they twirl and shimmy. The beat is ancestral with the roots lying in West Africa, brought to the Americas in the hearts of the stolen people, where it mixed with the traditions of the indigenous population. It is sound and movement to be enjoyed and to stir the emotions, but it is also a ritual, a way of life, and a community, a trance music to heal body and mind.
In Bullerengue, as in many other styles of so-called traditional music around the world, there is room for new compositions, new innovations and stylistic changes.
The dance is similar to cumbia, where performers wear colourful clothes, although classical versions call for all white attire. Men sports shirts and pants, while women wear tops and long skirts.
Bullerengue was born in the palenques, where runaway slaves formed new pueblos and settlements with their families.
It is an oral heritage music. Until the 20th. century Bullerengue had not been included or indeed recorded by anyone outside the community. It had been a product of the teaching process from generation to generation.
TORBELLINO
Torbellino is a prominent Colombian musical genre from the Andean region. It is considered traditional Colombian music and is commonly played in the departments of Santander, Boyacá and Cundinamarca by campesinos (farmers, labourers).
The word Torbellino in Spanish has different meanings, ranging from a wind swirl, an abundance of things that happen at the same time, to a person who is too lively and restless and who acts or speaks hastily and disorderly. None of these definitions correspond to the musical genre specifically, however, without doubt,t there are close similarities in relation to the dances, the harmony and the character of the genre.
The dances for which the Torbellino is played usually follow circular movements and have a cyclic and repetitive harmonic/rhythmic structure. Additionally, Torbellino is a very energetic and fast-moving dance.
Torbellino is a genre that has not been deeply studied, perhaps due to the lack of commercialization of Vélez (Colombian folklore) music and also perhaps due to its historical associations with peasants. As with other Colombian genres, the Torbellino can be considered a genre encompassing Indigenous and European musical influences.
The Torbellino usually allows for great virtuosity in improvisations on the Requinto, a small steel guitar. These forms can be instrumental or vocal. However, unlike the pasillo, bambuco and vals from the period of the conquest and colonial colonization, Torbellino was not accepted or adapted by the higher classes of society. This genre was attributed to the peasant class in the rural areas of Boyacá and Santander.
In this dance, couples perform a courtship ritual, dancing around each other with small, quick steps. They also call to each other in verse, deepening the cheeky nature of torbellino. The dance dress reflects the traditional peasant style. Men wear white long-sleeved shirts, dark pants, farmer hats and poncho-like garments called ruana. Women sport white long-sleeved shirts with ribbons and lace, along with dark, long skirts with hats and shawls.
Encuentro Nacional de Torbellino y las Danzas Tradicionales
This National Festival of Torbellino and Traditional Dancing is held annually in Tabio. The event features folkloric dance and Torbellino, highlighting this important mestizo dance of Colombia, with the festival covering four days.
MAPALÉ
The Mapalé dance, like any other with its roots in Africa, tells a story of fish, the ocean and the men that fished the seas. It is a story of freedom, slavery and escape.
The Mapalé dance is an Afro-Colombian dance style from the 16th. century that is still danced in the Afro-Colombian communities of the Pacific and Caribbean. Mapalé is one of the Colombian rhythms from the Atlantic coast that is most heavily associated with purely African roots.
With its extremely fast rhythms, Mapalé is traditionally played with two drums, one tambor alegre and a tambora, that are supported by clapping.
Nowadays, musicians playing the rhythm often add a guache, shaker, to the sound. The tempo often accelerates drastically throughout the piece in such a way that it generates an intensely spirited excitement within both the audience and the dancers.
Mapalé is almost always accompanied by an exuberant dance that interacts beautifully with the music. The dancers sometimes begin with two lines (one male and one female) facing, then circling around each other. Then it will inevitably move into the main phase with a series of engagements between men and women. Male dancers typically dress in colourful pants with no shirt, while female dancers wear short skirts with rafia in order to accentuate their movements.
Mapalé is full of passionate energy, an energy that appears free and unrestricted. With their jumps, falls and quick movements, the dancers spill vibrant life from their bodies into the air and eyes of the viewers. African slaves living on the Caribbean coast of modern-day Colombia first created and practiced Mapalé during the sixteenth century.
The rigorous dance originally danced at night after a long day of work, was influenced by trafficked African Slaves mainly from Angola, on the banks of the Magdalena River using drums, clapping and singing.
The name Mapalé derives from a fish that populated the river, the species Calthrops mapale. Thus, within the dance, the movements of the bodies of the men and women that took part in the dance were a representation of freedom, the sea and the fish. The men gyrate to symbolise the movement of a fish when it is out of the water and the women the freedom and waves of the sea.
Over the years, a rather sexual element to the rhythm’s character has emerged. Some have characterised the energy between the male and female dancers, with the help of the amorous music, the connection has become erotic.
The immensely fast-moving feet, legs, arms, hips, shoulders, hands and musical rhythms make the dancers and musicians’ extraordinary pace an astonishing phenomenon to experience. Not only is Mapalé a truly amazing rhythm and dance to listen to and watch, but it is also a significant Afro-Colombian form of expression that has been preserved and modified over hundreds of years.
To the slaves, dance was a form of self-enjoyment and entertainment. It was an escape, something tangible that they could turn to remind them of home, freedom and a sense that they were still human after all. As years went by, the dance became intertwined with resistance and survival.
Mapalé is an artistic and cultural expression that reflects the African heritage in the music and dance of the Colombian Caribbean Coast. Its energetic rhythm, fast and sensual movements and striking costumes make Mapalé a vibrant experience full of life.
The Barranquilla Carnival, one of the most important folkloric and cultural festivals of Colombia, brings together emblematic expressions of the memory and identity of the people of Barranquilla, the Colombian Caribbean and the Rio Grande del Magdalena.
That is why the Barranquilla Carnival is recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. There are four days of festivities where Cumbia, Mapalé and others take to the streets and light up the city in a celebration that seems to have no rest.
It does not have fixed days as its celebration depends on the dates of Holy Week, since this Colombian festival is celebrated the four days before Ash Wednesday.
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