by Richard McColl

In the background the famed Vallenato accordionist, Alfredo Gutierrez was
hammering out a tune with his foot whilst held aloft on the shoulders of five
of his band members. In front of me, former Colombian President Ernesto Samper
was handing me a pork scratching that I had just seen him retrieve from the
floor.

“Are you hungry, have a pork scratching?”

“No thank you.”

“You can’t refuse this. This is a Presidential pork scratching.” Wise words
uttered by the former President as he waved a Cuban cigar wand-like to
illustrate the importance of his gift.

I politely declined.

This spectacle was complete and absolute mayhem – Colombian style - all seen
through an Old Parr whisky induced haze, seemingly the only drink to be had
during the 40th Vallenato Music Festival in Valledupar, an
aesthetically underwhelming city of half a million inhabitants located very
close to the border with Venezuela and a bone jarring sixteen hour bus ride
north from Bogota.

Having never had the opportunity to listen to Vallenato music prior to coming
to the 40th Festival de Musica Vallenata, I was now
undertaking a pretty rigorous and intensive five day course as with my Catalan
sidekick, Joan, we planned to assemble some sort of documentary on the event.
And what better year to be here than in its 40th edition when the
numerous troubadours from the Colombian interior narrate in their uneducated
yet accessible fashion, tales of love, myths and more interestingly politics,
through the medium of this particular music.

Vallenato could be loosely interpreted as folk music, but is free of the
uncool stigma attached to folk. Children, adolescents, parents and
grandparents alike can be found dancing to the four strains of Vallenato
music, puya, son, paseo and merengue. More
aggressive than the Ranchera music of Mexico and far less sexy than the Tango
of Argentina, Vallenato music is reaching an international audience spanning
from Venezuela and Mexico to parts of Germany and Eastern Europe.

Festival organisers and record companies are keeping their fingers crossed
that this musical phenomenon continues to grow and given its inclusion as a
category in the Latin Grammy’s, Vallenato may well become a worldwide genre.
With Colombian artists like newcomer Jorge Celedo Read More...