A highly rhythmic style of music whose origins lie in a West African, 19th-century slave dance, Colombian cumbia is considered to be the mother of most dance music from northern South America. It embraces the area’s Native American, African, and Hispanic influences. Today, cumbia is often lumped under the general heading of “tropical music,” which also includes soca, merengue, and other styles not native to Colombia. A more simple form is as popular in Mexico as it is in its native Colombia.
The term “cumbia” comes from the African word cumbe, meaning “dance.” The cumbe originated in Guinea in the Bata zone of Africa, where it was performed by workers on banana plantations using traditional percussion and cane flutes. Holding candles, the workers danced to the slow beat of the music. (The shuffling step supposedly originated in the attempts of slaves to dance while wearing leg irons.) Also known as the cumbiamba, the dance was introduced into Colombia during slave times by the blacks living on the Atlantic (Caribbean) coast.
During the colonial period, the cumbia was found primarily within the provinces of Cartagena and Santa Marta, and the valleys of Sinu and Magdalena. Over the years, Hispanic and Native American influences changed the cumbia, transforming it into a mestizo (mixed) tradition. Between 1940 and 1950, local bands decided to increase the tempo of the traditional cumbia, and by the 1960s it had become a popular dance music throughout northern South America.
Characterised by a compulsive, irresistible backbeat, the cumbia combines Hispanic melodies, African rhythms, and Native American harmonic components. It is accompanied by such traditional instruments as the gaita (a Native American flute), costenas, canas (canes), tambores (drums from Africa originally), and Caribbean maracas. Typically performed by small groups, or conjuntos, this upbeat music is played at most parties and social gatherings in Colombia, and has become something of a national institution.
While the choreography of cumbia varies from place to place in Colombia, the dance traditionally centres on the female, who represents the Native American people. She dances freely, taking small, shuffling steps, but is generally passive in her movement. Her male counterpart is said to represent the African people. He follows the woman, dancing around her in circles. The woman holds her skirt in one hand, and, traditionally, holds a handful of lit candles in the other—presumably originally to fend off her partner’s advances. In clubs today, many people put salsa steps to cumbia, but others mimic the original dance.
Some of those who have helped to spread cumbia throughout the world include Pacho Galan, who was also instrumental in popularising merecumbe, a merengue-cumbia hybrid; Pedro Laza y Sus Pelayeros, who made famous the big-band arrangement of “Navidad negra"; the extremely popular folk group Los Corraleros de Majagual; Peregoyo y su Combo Vacana of the 1960s; and the successful La Sonora Dinamita, whose catchy tunes included “El Africano.” Most salsa musicians, such as the popular Joe ARROYO, include cumbias in their repertoire.
Alison Bay
SEE ALSO:
AFRICA; CARIBBEAN; CUBA; LATIN AMERICA; SALSA.
FURTHER READING
Ayala, Cristobal Diaz. The Roots of Salsa (New York: Excelsior Music, 1995);
Béhague, Gerard H. Music and Black Ethnicity: The Caribbean and South America (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1994).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Joe Arroyo: Fuego en mi mente; Super Exitos, Vols. 1 and 2;
Los Corraleros de Majagual: Los legendarios y auténticos Corraleros de Majagual;
La Sonora Dinamita; Cumbia Cumbia con La Sonora Dinamita; Super Exitos!