Electronic Fusion Music in Bogota is….

Diana Torres, Director of Fundación Cultural Arca, based in Bogota, says this about electronic fusion music in Bogota:

What we have found about fusion in electronic music in Bogota since we started ´Conectados´ (Connected) – a program of live electronic music concerts – is that it take us to the cultural heritage of local sounds of our culture and other cultures of the world, in a space and time where the artist and the audience connect with a universal language: THE SOUND.

Diana Torres - Director, Fundacion Cultural Arca

Colombian Fusion Music For The Minority – Lesson 2

Silly misconceived Beaver. How wrong I was.

Since my first trip to Colombia in 2007 I had thought that Colombia has a huge amount of fusion music – loved passionately by a huge number of Colombians. “Why wouldn’t it be?” I thought, “It’s so awesome”. Plus I had found lots of it, well maybe about 10 bands anyway – so I thought that there must be a lot more to be found, and that it must be very popular.

Apparently not so, as I have learned the past week in Bogota from speaking with some people in the know.

Talking with a Colombian Ethnomusicologist (Simon Calle) and three members of Colombian fusion music group Papaya Republik, I learned this…

  • Yes, there are more and more bands in Colombia creating fusion music.
  • Whereas once upon a time fusion bands were mostly found in the capital Bogota, they also exist in other major Colombian cities, more and more so – Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, and even Pasto.
  • No, modern Colombian fusion bands are not really listened to or even well known by the mainstream population of Colombia. It is listened to by a minority of Colombians and is actually the ‘alternative’ music scene here.
  • The two biggest forms of popular music in Colombia are Vallenato and Reggeaton. The mainstream radio stations play pretty much only that. I don’t have much to say about Vallenato.  There is good and bad Vallenato music, and most of it is not to my taste.  I will however criticise the musical plague that is Reggeaton every chance I get.
  • The Colombian ‘alternative scene’ that enjoys fusion music bands consists of the “middle and upper classes” (Ethnomusicologist, Simon Calle), or the “Colombian intellectuals” (Batori from Papaya Republik).
Papaya Republik live

Batori – Papaya Republik

Well, surprised I was at this news about the popularity (or lack thereof) of Colombian fusion music.

In hindsight I guess my misconception was based on two things:

1. My own luck and circumstance in finding lots of fusion music on my first time in Colombia. My Colombian friends took me to gigs (they are not in lower socio-economic classes by the way) – and once I found some, I went looking for the rest.  I thought what I found must be a small portion of it, but now it seems it was actually a large % of all fusion music that existed.

2. My assumption that because I thought it was unique and awesome, everyone in Colombia must think that too! I forgot that when I look at most mainstream musical tastes everywhere around the world today, they are generally (I think) pretty shite.  It’s all subjective I guess.

 Disappointed at this news I was too…

*Disappointed for mainstream Colombians missing out on home grown unique and interesting music; and

*Disappointed for Colombian fusion music artists largely unappreciated (and unrewarded financially) in their own country.

I’m happy that Colombian fusion music exists.  I´m happy that I know about it.  I´m happy that I can share it.

I´ve already posted some, and will post more, rundowns and sample music of some contemporary Colombian fusion bands….Check them out and let me know what you think.  Is mainstream Colombia missing out on the good stuff? I think so.

Colombian Fusion Music History – Lesson 1

How did contemporary Colombian fusion music come to be?

That’s the question I’ve been asking people in the know in Bogota.

My first lesson came from a Colombian Ethnomusicologist, Simon Calle.  He has completed a PHD on this subject and works for the Colombian government in a role designed to support and promote Colombian music artists.

My second lesson came from three members of a talented and unique Colombian fusion music band based in Bogota – Papaya Republik.

Papaya Republik

Papaya Republik

What did I learn?

In a probably over simplified nutshell, the history goes something like this:

  • Once upon a time in Colombia existed only its indigenous peoples in different regions– with their own musical styles and instruments.

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  • Later to Colombia, at the start of the 16th century, came the Spanish colonisers – with their own European musical styles and instruments.

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  • Soon after that to Colombian coastal regions, came slaves bought from Africa – also with their own musical styles and instruments.

marimba de chonta - www.beaveronthebeats.com

The result is a Colombia with an incredibly diverse mix of peoples, cultures and forms of traditional folk music: Champeta, Cumbia, Vallenato, Porro, Curalao and Bambuco for example – and dozens more.

Those diverse groups of peoples were mostly segregated within their own regions, with little or no exposure to forms of music from other regions. Much of that was because of Colombia’s incredibly diverse geography – including the Amazon Rainforest in the south; a Pacific coastal jungle; and three Andes mountain ranges going up through the country.

So how did all these different musical styles start mixing together?

I’m told it’s actually been a pretty recent evolution – in the past 2 to 3 decades.

Again in a probably oversimplified nutshell, it happened because of different social, political and technological factors:

  • Issues with drugs and internal civil war, bought Colombians from the different regions to Colombia´s capital Bogota (located in the middle of the country) – and to a lesser extent to begin with, to other Colombian cities. People also came from the regions to the city to study or to work.
  • Increased diversity of the people living in Bogota meant that musicians started hearing musical styles from other regions of Colombia never heard before. They liked the styles, and so they started playing them, combining them and reconstructing them.
  • Some Colombians travelled overseas and had exposure to other forms of music there.
  • Improved technology, and access to it, meant that more Colombians were exposed to contemporary international musical styles, and started to incorporate them into their music.

And finally, it seems that once some music artists started combining distinctly different styles of music, other artists were influenced by that and started to do the same.

Sidestepper

Sidestepper Live @ WOMADelaide

The band Sidestepper is touted as one of the pioneers, and one of the most influential, but I understand that there were also others that came before. Sidestepper initially fused traditional styles of music with electronic music – and apparently there was a generation before of traditional styles fused with jazz – and before that a generation of traditional styles fused with rock.

There you have the crude and simplified Beaver version of the history of Colombian fusion music and how it came to be today. 

I welcome any comments that correct my version, or add to it!

Stay tuned for Lesson Two – me learning a bit about where the fusion music scene is at now, and how misconceived I was about a few things.

Viva Bogota

Viva Bogota! Viva la musica in Bogota. 🙂 

Colombian Dancer - photo by Beaver on the Beats

Colombian Music v Cuban Music For Fusion

Deliriously jet lagged in Bogota. Slightly dizzy from the high altitude. So happy to be here. This time (unlike my first) I know the fusion music delights that await me.

IMG_5325

I was on a plane to Colombia when Cuban band Orishas gave me my first taste of Latin fusion music.

Fusion Music in Colombia? 

Arriving in Colombia for the first time, I didn’t know much about the music I’d find here. Only what travel books, blogs etc tell you generally about Colombians’ love of music and the popular music you will hear – Salsa, Cumbia, Vallenato, Reggaeton, Merengue, Champeta etc.  They are definitely right about that, but that’s only a part of the bigger musical picture in Colombia.

Colombia - www.beaveronthebeats.com

My first month in Colombia (Cartagena) all I heard was those popular genres of music – playing in houses, cars and bars everywhere. I left Colombia thinking those were the musical styles on offer.

Fusion Music in Cuba? 

I went to Cuba to find innovative and unique music.  I assumed I had a pretty good chance of finding it in Cuba.   When I heard Orishas on that plane I was even more hopeful.

Cuba - Beaver on the Beats

I never really did find it in Cuba. I heard music everywhere. I heard live bands playing everywhere. I heard multi talented/instrumental and technically brilliant musicians everywhere.  I found some cool, unique  contemporary jazz music – but I didn’t find much other music that really messed around with traditional styles and sounds.

Fusion Music in Colombia?

I found it when I got back from Cuba, to Colombia. Musical diversity+. Fusion. Lots of bands creating really original & unique music I loved by craftfully blending different traditional and non-traditional styles together.

Colombian music is the fruits of having a mix of very diverse peoples and cultures. Also unrestricted access to the music and peoples of the rest of the world – unlike insulated Cuba. Orishas live outside of Cuba by the way.

The musical diversity in Colombia, the fusion music and so many other reasons (people, food, nature & people in all their diversity) make me ever so happy to be back in Colombia again.

I still love Cuba too – and  listen to and love a lot of Cuban music.

Cuba - www.beaveronthebeats.com

A Fusion Ode to Cuban & Colombian Music

In celebration of both Cuban and Colombian fusion music then, here’s a really awesome fusion song. It’s  a collaboration between Cuba’s Orishas & legendary Colombian salsa artist Yuri Buenaventura.

300 Kilos (Orishas & Yuri Buenaventura – Emigrante)

  

Cuba – I’m not gonna make it to you this time round.

Colombia – here I am again. Bogota, here I am…for as many fusion (and traditional) music experiences as I can find.