Latin-American-music website Sounds and Colours dedicated the entire month of June to Colombian music with features on both trend-setting Colombian acts and the country’s traditional music.
According to Russ Slater, the website’s editor, now is the time to put a spotlight on Colombian music.
“Cumbia is currently taking over the Latin world, but there is so much more going on. Bomba Estereo played the Bonnaroo festival in North America only last week, ChocQuibTown are about to explore Europe and Very Be Careful are regularly playing concerts in California. All of these bands have taken their Colombian roots and adapted it for the modern market, giving their own hybrid of Latin culture,” Slater told Colombia Reports.
According to the Sounds and Colours editor, it’s not just the new bands that deserve attention; old-school styles like porro and champete are now more alive than ever.
“It’s also now easier to find traditional music with plenty of labels producing retrospectives of cumbia and porro music, and recent compilations such as ‘Palenque! Palenque!,’ the first disc of pure, Afro-Colombian roots music to be released outside of Colombia. These retrospectives show how Colombia has constantly been a melting pot full of talented musicians capable of taking traditional forms and molding them with their own identity and with other styles that have been introduced into the country, a tradition which now continues with the new artists, whom are rightfully getting worldwide attention,” Slater added.
The website started off its Colombia month with interviews with Cali-based Quantic and his Combo Barbaro, Afro-Colombian heroes ChocQuibTown and Lucas Silva, a Bogota-based music producer who has dedicated his life to the conservation of traditional music from the northern town of San Basilio de Palenque.
Later in the month, the website will include features on electro-cumbia duo Bomba Estereo, Vallenato band Very Be Careful and electro-cumbia pioneer Sidestepper.