Traditional / folk music of Colombia
Colombia is a country with the diversity of folk music genres. It has hundreds of miles in the coast line with both Caribbean and oceans. The country marked by Andean highlands, Savannah, and tropical rain forest. During the history, the blood of Colombians got mixed with English traders, Indians, African slaves, and Spanish settlers. This gives the huge mixture and diversity to culture, hence the music of this country.
Colombia is called "The land of a thousand rhythms". The number of rhythms inside the folk music from town to town and village to village is amazing. With binding to the rhythmic musics, most of these genres are bind to the dances too. Sometimes in the parties just a single folk music song take hours or even a day to perform. The musicians change their place to rest and continue the song. One of the interesting instruments which is used in folk music of Colombia is kuisi or gaita. It is a Native american flute which is made by cactus stem. Colombian tambora (kind of percussion instruments) is also heavily used. Marimba is another instrument which is used in Afro-Colombian folk music area.The marimba is a percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars struck with mallets to produce musical tones.There is a long list of rhythms names available but we list just some of them here and on the song list below you can listen to some of them.
Cumbia
Originally cumbia was dance of slaves (afro, Indian and ethnic groups) and rise up from the Atlantic coast part. Cumbia has complicated rhythmic shape and the style of dance is designed to recall the shackles worn around the ankles of the slaves. Originally it was performed with only a singer and percussion as accompaniment.It is thought that the name of this folk music derives from Guinea and its native gumbe (cumbe) dance. Today cumbia is changed to the big modern bands and it is exported to other Latin country like Mexico. The big icon of cumbia is Totó la Momposina which is also known as Queen of Cumbia. There are also some other type traditional music which comrs from cumbia.
Vallenato
It is said that vallenato is not a rhythm. It is a folk music genre which contains four rhythms: Son, Puya, Merengue and Paseo. It is a music from a village with a Valledupar on Colombia's Atlantic Coast. The music was traditionally performed with only three instruments; a three-row button accordion, a guacharaca scraper, and caja vallenata (box drum). Later two guitars and the tiple added (a 12-stringed instrument with 4 groups of 3 strings, similar to the Cuban tres or cuatro )
Currulao
This type of folk music is from Pacific coast area of Colombia. It's the most well folk music from this region. The root of music is from Afro-Colombian . The main instrument is Marimba which accompained with some percussions like conunos, cuatro guasas or tubular rattle.
Joropo
Joropo means dance and party. This type of folk music is different from other well-known music in Colombia. It is from plain part of the Colombia. It is more common in Venezuela and it is a more type of popular music there. The main music instrument is harp which accompanied by cautro ( small semi guitar instrument with four strings ) and capachos ( type of maracas). This folk music has different styles like galeron and pasaje.
Bambuco
This type of folk music is the most well-known representative of Colombian music from Andean part. The shape of the music is very different from other Andean countries. It is mostly a duet or trio of guitar and mandolin with singing. Occasionally flute used. But in Andean music of other countries, different type of flute has a huge role.
Mapalé
This type of folk music is originally came from Africa, mainly Angola. It has a fast rhythm with constant clapping. It is from the Caribbean coast of Colombia. In the beginning it was used by fishermen of that area. Today it's a fast and erotic dance between couples.
If you have interesting information about Colombian folk music please send us through contact us page or put a comment on individual song page. Even a single small sentence will help us. Or if you know some songs in genre of Colombian traditional music, please let us know about it.
Traditional / folk songs for Colombia
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