Afro-Colombian Special: Celebrating el Día Nacional de la Afrocolombianidad
21 May, 2012Today is El Día Nacional de la Afrocolombianidad in Colombia, which essentially means National Afro-Colombian Day (May 21st was chosen as it’s also the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development). To celebrate Afro-Colombian culture we’ve put together a special Spotify playlist of Afro-Colombian music as well as collected together some of the great articles, reviews and mixtapes we’ve featured over the past couple of years which have highlighted the diversity of Afro-Colombian culture.
Here’s the Spotify playlist we’ve put together for the occasion, containing some of the finest tunes by the likes of Herencia de Timbiqui, Rafael Cassiani, Afrosound, Pernett, Los Corraleros de Majagual, Louis Towers, Abelardo Carbono, Son Palenque, Wganda Kenya and Choc Quib Town. Listen to the playlist below (apologies if you’re not able to get Spotify).
If you’ve done any research into Afro-Colombian music you’ll know that Fabian Altahona is the man to speak to regarding the music – just check out his blog for proof. In 2010, Fabian was kind enough to put together a mixtape of some of his favourite Afro-Colombian songs. You can listen to this mix below:
[audio:2010/06/el-pico-playlist.mp3|titles=El Picó Mixtape|artists=Africolombia]
Click here to download the mix
You can also download some of Fabian’s favourite new champeta tunes by clicking here.
While we’re at it (and because we’re feeling bad for the people who don’t have Spotify) here’s another mix of Afro-Colombian music, this time made by the great Analog Africa records for The Quietus:
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/2466699″ iframe=”true” /]
If you’d like to find out more about Afro-Colombian music check out some of these links:
Spotlight on Palenque Records
Herencia de Timbiquí – Tambó (Review)
Systema Solar Invigorate The Colombian Tradition of Picó Sound Systems
Latino Resiste Presents Root-A-Pacifica
Grupo Canalón de Timbiquí 0 Una Sola Raza (Review)
Choc Quib Town Take Their Modern Take On Colombian Folk Music On The Road
Fabian’s Afri-Colombia Blog
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