Official programming for the 2014 Barranquilla Carnival came to a close Tuesday, after a host of parades, music, and colorful costumes had taken over the coastal Colombian city for the previous four days.
Tuesday saw the “death” of Joselita Carnaval, a symbolic character representing the happiness of the festival who is “resurrected” each year, only to die of drunken exhaustion prior to Ash Wednesday and the start of the Catholic Easter season.
The city distributed this year’s much-coveted musical awards late Monday, taking into a number of factors, from the music itself to choreography to crowd reaction.
2014 Awards:
Vallenato: Churo Diaz and Elias Mendoz
Merengue: Sergio Vargas
Salsa: Pachalo and Su son Cubano
Urban: Africaribe
Tropical: Voces de Billos Hoy
Among the acts featured in the Barranquilla Carnival was Marc Anthony, widely considered the most successful salsa singer in history. The two-time Grammy and four-time Latin Grammy winner, originally from Puerto Rico, donated half the proceeds from his Barranquilla performance toward the construction of an orphanage for 200 children in the Caribbean city.
The Barranquilla Carnival was proclaimed a Cultural Masterpiece of the Nation by Colombia’s National Congress in 2002 as well as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2003. It is considered the second largest in the world, behind Rio’s festivities.
Sources
- Carnival Highlights (Barranquilla Carnival Official Site)
- Marc Anthony construirá hogar para niños desamparados en Barranquilla (Caracol Radio)