Colombia Research Paper

Paper 2- Colombian Musical Heritage

Colombia is a country known as “The land of a thousand rhythms.” Many years ago, Colombian culture mixed with Indian, African, Spanish and English cultures. Colombia straddles both the Pacific and the Caribbean. As a result of these, Colombian music is very dynamic and diverse. A few of the different folk genres of Colombian music include Cumbia, Vallenato, Currulao, Bambuco, and Mapale. One of the most known genres is Cumbia. Cumbia originated in the late 17th century. Initially, Cumbia was the dance of the slaves. Cumbia brought together African, Indigenous and European cultures. Its name derived from the African word cumbe, which means dance. Around the 1950s, Cumbia became popular in Colombia. In the

Some Colombian’s claim that when they hear Cumbia music, they can’t resist clapping their hands and start dancing. This music is often accompanied by exotic costumes and dances. Women tend to wear long, puffed up, colorful skirts, similar crop-top-like shirts, flat shoes, and big, colorful hair accessories. Men on the other hand, tend to wear white pants, a white shirt, a colorful bandana wrapped around their neck, and a Colombian hat known as the sombrero. The dances to this type of music typically consist of the men putting on and taking off their hats, with one hand behind their back, and the women waving their skirts around. Cumbia is made up of many different instruments, mostly percussion and wind. Percussion instruments used include a tambora, which translates to bass drum, used to produce deep bass rhythms; a tambor alegre, which translates to merry drum, used for backup rhythm; and a llamador, which translates to calling drum, used for back-beat. Cumbia also includes seed filled instruments known as maracas, and metal guaches. Wind instruments used in Cumbia include a variety of flutes such as: gaita macho (male flute), used to give rhythmic and harmonic support to the gaita hembra (female flute), which carries melodies, and the flauta de millo (millo flute),

Nowadays, even many decades later, Cumbia is still very popular in Colombia, and it has even spread to many other Latin countries. Cumbia is now very common in most South American countries, Central America and Mexico. Many different cultures have recreated Cumbia and made their own version of it. Some artists have added new instruments such as: pianos, clarinets, bongo drums, accordions, guitars and some artists have even made EDM remixes of some Cumbia songs. Modern versions of Cumbia in other countries include Cumbia Peruanan, Cumbia Argentin, Cumbia Chilena, Cumbia Mexicana, technocumbia and many more. Growing up in Colombia, I am used to listening to Cumbia music and I personally find it fun to listen and dance to. Every party, wedding, or celebration that I went to, I heard at least one Cumbia song, and once that song started I knew it was time for everyone to get up, have fun, and dance around. According to my mother who lived in Colombia for 25 years, she really enjoys Cumbia because “Cumbia really represents Colombia’s culture, and I really enjoy listening to it because it gives me joy and makes me feel like I’m back in my country.” Overall, Cumbia is just one of the