HISTORY OF CUMBIA

Today traditional cumbia is preserved and considered representative of the Colombian identity, especially on the northern Caribbean coast. The best representation of traditional Cumbia is shown every year on Festival de la Cumbia in El Banco, Magdalena. This festival was created by one of the most important Colombian Cumbia composers, Jose Barros, in order to preserve the original rhythms of traditional Cumbia music. It is also associated with the Carnival of Baranquilla and the Christmas parties all over Colombia. Modern forms of cumbia are also combined with other genres such as vallenato, electronica or rock. This mixing of genres is found in the music of modern artists such asCarlos Vives, Bomba Estéreo and Andres Cabas

Since the 1980's, in the city of Medellín, there has been growing interest among young and middle-aged people in "rescuing" the masterpieces of the 50's. This is the only city in Colombia where ballroom numbers of Cumbia, Porro and Gaita (orchestrated variant of Porro Pelayero or "Palitiao") are still widely enjoyed and danced to by all ages of all social classes.

JHON LOPEZ

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