Colombian Pacific region circus-dance group Delirio’s newest production “Bombo, una oda al Pacifico” (Bombo, an ode to the Pacific) presents a unique, colorful fusion of traditional and current southern coastal rhythms and dances.
The show was presented in the southwest city of Cali for the first time on May 27 in celebration of the group’s 5th anniversary. It brings together 150 circus artists, dancers and musicians in a series of 30 choreographed dances and music, played by a live orchestra, that serve as a tribute to the traditional sounds and rhythms of the Pacific region. The group will perform “Bombo” for the second time on Friday, June 24.
“Bombo,” directed by Humberto Alexander Torres, is performed as a vivid montage of the history of the people of Colombia’s Pacific region, and particularly their trajectory from life on the coast to the current bustle of a multicultural Cali, converted into the country’s salsa capital.
Carlos Trujillo, the show’s stage producer, said that Bombo “is a tribute to the Pacific. The objective is to show the migration of the people of the Pacific to Cali and the influence that folkloric [music has had] and its relation to salsa” reported events and culture site lomaselite.com.
The performance displays a number of traditional songs and folkloric dances, including currulao and bunde, and incorporates traditional instruments such as the bombo, a type of drum, and the marimba de chonta, another percussion instrument. The traditional is fused with the modern, as Delirio also performs salsa classics and new songs and dances, including “Somos Pacifico” by the popular Choco department hip hop group Chocquibtown, reported newspaper El Pais.
Director of set design Johans Paredes explained that “we break outlines in order to surprise the audience, we create elements and sets that let the imagination fly,” and added of the production that it “transmits what is the Pacific, because the Pacific is color.”
Fundacion Delirio is a group that works through a process of collective creation to make musical, visual, choreographical and costume innovations. The group’s second production of “Bombo,” on June 24, will take place in Cali’s Parque del Amor. Doors open at 7PM and tickets cost COP 90,000 (approximately $50).