Discover magical places and feel the essence of music in Colombia throughout the regions of this enchanting country. Visit us and fall in love with Colombian beats!
Music in Colombia: fusion in its origins
What does Colombia sound like? What’s its soundtrack? As soon as you land in the country of coffee and yellow butterflies, what do you hear? A tough question because it all depends on the destination you arrive at. Music in Colombia is performed by so many protagonists, that the best thing is to start at the beginning.
Flight attendant
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Colombia.
Here begins your journey through an enchanting musical tour.
Fipple flutes, accordions, drums, marimbas, and trumpets play in the background. The sounds are also blended with urban rhythms, electric guitars, digital tunes… where are we?
In Colombia! The protagonist of this song says “I want to tell my brother a little bit of black history, of our history, mister, and it goes like this…”
Colombian instrumental music makes this story come to life
A long time ago, in a place located north of South America, a beautiful country came to be, blessed not only with the exuberant beauty of nature, but also with a unique mixture of peoples born from the convergence of Spanish, Indigenous, and Black communities in our land. In conclusion, surprising diversity that will catch your eye.
Music in Colombia is a fusion of genres. Like in a movie where comedy, drama, and action are combined… well this country mixes together drums, accordion, folklore with racial identity. With a clear context: let’s begin the tour.
Flight attendant
Up North we can see the Caribbean…
Fasten your seatbelt because this party is about to get moving
Music from the Greater Colombian Caribbean
In Barranquilla I stay, in Cartagena I stay, in Santa Marta I stay, in Colombia I stay. This tour begins up North, in the Great Colombian Caribbean, like many stories from this country, influenced by this magical region.
Spirit. If you want to live joy in all its splendor, you must go to “la costa” as Colombians call the Caribbean. In this region you will find a world of music: cumbia, puya, jalao, chandé, bullerengue, merecumbé, guaracha, champeta, and of course, vallenato.
How to experience the music of the Colombian Caribbean
Like a movie, this tour also has a beginning, a middle, and the end. Well, to start off this tour, we recommend:
- Barranquilla City Carnival: an essential visit to experience the fast-paced energy of cumbia, merecumbé, salsa, champeta, and reggaeton. Visit us in February-March.
- Vallenato Legend Festival: in Valledupar, a hidden treasure and the world-wide capital of Vallenato. Get your passport ready and mark your calendar for April.
- Gaita Flute Festival: San Jacinto, Bolivar. A magical town where you’ll be immersed in Colombian traditional music. Place an X for August on your calendar.
- Cradle of Accordions Festival: the melodies of accordions from North of Guajira travel through the wind… spend an amazing December with the traditions of the town of Villanueva.
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Music from the Colombian Pacific Region
“Que cómo así, que cómo así, que cómo fue, qué cómo así, qué cómo así, que cómo fue… ras – tas -tas – tas – tas – tas” …
Flight attendant
Ladies and gentlemen, please don’t get up from your seats.
This turbulence is just the music from the Colombian Pacific kicking in.
In the Pacific, your arms, legs, and your whole body become possessed by the sensual rhythm of drums, marimbas, and spicy lyrics…
Styles like abozao, la juga, contradanza, makerule, currulao, salsa, salsa choque, are behind these possessions… but that is not the only mystery to solve when traveling through the Colombian Pacific.
By the shores of the Pacific ocean, in beaches where you can go whale sighting, deep in lush jungles of intense green, in cities that mix Afro-Colombian and Indigenous essences, you can also hear the tradition of marimbas, and hear them as they go quiet when the capital of salsa, Cali, rises up.
How to experience the music of the Colombian Pacific
Music in Colombia never stops. The silence is always broken by the joyful spirit of its people. Thinking of testing that theory? Prepare yourself for a new soundtrack, visit:
- Petronio Álvarez Festival: in Cali, during August, the Pacific region lets its essence flow and brings its traditional music. The Afro-Colombian community takes over the region. What’s there to see? You’ll have to come to discover it!
- Currulao Festival: the oldest festival in the Pacific region. The traditions of Tumaco and its community are celebrated. What does it sound like? Marimbas coming to life.
- Cali City Fair: there is no place in the world that compares to the capital of salsa. Parties, concerts, celebrations of all sorts inspired by salsa and during the best time: December.
- San Pacho Feast: chirimías, woodwind instruments are a tradition that date back over three centuries. Quibdó lights up during September and October with Afro-Colombian and Indigenous people celebrating. The soundtrack? Music that never ages. Are you ready?
Colombian Andean music
Three giants sleeping in the center of Colombia became the Andean Mountain ranges. In the background: plains, mountains, height, and Andean culture. The cold weather brings the decibels and the beat down but keeps the party going with music that could be a magical soundtrack for a surprising movie.
Flight attendant
Thank you for staying with our tour
It’s time to put on your ruana because the party will take to the streets
Colombian Andean music is hard to define. Like a trilogy with each movie being over three hours long, where all of them have different protagonists. The Andean scenery is immense, and that becomes its own sign of identity: greatness.
Bambuco, carranga, guabina, pasillo, rajaleña, torbellino (whirlwind), sanjuanero… music made with guitars, song by troubadors, a fusion of Indigenous and European ancestors. Traditions with over 500 years that survive and evolve. And there’s more?
Colombia never ends. In the Andean region we also celebrate some of the most important music festivals in Latin America. Pure Andean power!
How to experience Colombian Andean music
Travelling and keeping the rhythm alive, because it’s an enormous region, but it’s worth exploring: strong cultural contrasts, brothers with different accents that sing cheerful melodies.
- Bambuco Festival: Colombia is pure magic. With Sanjuanero, a dance that comes from the musical history of the department of Huila, the capital city of Neiva becomes a paradise for bambuco lovers with its hypnotic steps and beat.
- Antioquia sings to Colombia: If you want to know our history through our music, hit up this festival that is part of our national heritage. From Medellin, go to La Ceja and dance the pasillo, danza, torbellino, vals, tiple, and bandola.
- National Colombian Pasillo Festival: In Aguadas, Caldas, with costumes that feel out of a movie and parties in the streets, you will discover pasillo like nowhere before. Get your alpargata shoes ready for August.
- Festival Estéreo Picnic: and if this tour takes a detour? From traditional to contemporary. Back to the present and the future. The best artists in the world land in Bogota during march to get the whole country moving.
Llanera music from the Colombian plains
Cowboys, wild horses, red sunsets that seem to last a lifetime. A scenario that reaches far and wide through the Colombian Amazon-Orinoco, where the emblematic musical instrument is the harp. European influence? Of course. Fusion? As well.
Flight attendant
Dear Friends, look out your windows. What you see is a never-ending sunset. What you hear is a harp with a voice of its own.
The oriental plains, a wild region with a soundtrack of its own: joropo. A celebration of country life, of small-town life, that translates to songs inspired by everyday living, by nature, by the stories of these communities.
How to experience llanero music in Colombia
Would you explore it on horseback? Roam these immense landscapes as you wish, you will surely live an ellipsis that will take you back to days of yore.
• Festival of the Llanero Song: with no borders between them, Colombia and Venezuela merge their traditions. In the background, the melody of a harp rises with the majesty of the dawning sun. When? In the month of March. Get your tickets ready!
Music from the Amazon
Thousands of animals that transform into people, with their own voices, murmur at the same time. In the heavens, the sound of cawing heralds the arrival of large birds. Is this the traditional music of the Colombian Amazon?
It’s the perfect atmosphere, but the soundtrack of this region merges with the traditions of its ancestral inhabitants and the joy of Colombian people.
Flight attendant
“Through the river courses the water,
With the water flows life,
And life is a dream…”
Are you ready to keep the party going?
The Huitoto Indigenous people are the protagonists of this chapter: the “zuyoco” is the sountrack. In the image, you’ll see the traditional dances inspired by an ancient hero, Buinana, who highlights the basic elements of their culture: fire, tobacco, food, life, and history.
How to experience music from the Amazon
It’s another world. The Colombian Amazon is a unique region, not only in this country but in the planet. It’s possible to experience its music through festivals, but also visiting its communities, discovering the habits of Indigenous communities and townspeople. However, to finish your tour, this is our recommendation.
- International Festival of Music from the Amazon – The Golden Picaru: Each November, Colombia, Peru and Brazil become a single destination. The music of this region takes over the capital city of Leticia and you can feel their traditions and culture in the air.
Flight attendant
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being a part of this tour. Your adventure doesn’t end here. We invite you to stay in your seats and enjoy Colombia for as long as possible.
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