July 4th: Salón de Baile

Washington DC, National Mall: a Folklife Festival took place here for the 4th of July, with participants from Colombia, Peru, Walles, among others. Music, plenty of food, beer, all kind of craft artists, jokes, word games, and joy, contagious joy.

A huge tent became Salón de Baile, with musicians who came from small towns and huge ranches in Colombia, with songs full of vitality, of color, of great passion.




Here is Ana Veydó Ordónez and Grupo Cimarrón, from Colombia, masters of the joropo llanero tradition. What is joropo? It is a kind of music that inherits from Native American, Spanish and African cultures: it is the music of the ranchers in Colombia and Venezuela, on the borders of Orinoco; people who love cattle and horses. It has a masculine character, it is energetic, and Ana Veydó Ordónez is the only female singer and dancer who performs joropo. Her style is golpe recio, the fast-driving music,

And what is llanero? The music of the plains; so joropo llanero, music full of dramatism and balanced sometimes by an unexpected lyrical size: watch this video, it is the song of Orinoco, you'll realize the multiple facets of joropo llanero.

And here is Las Estrellas del Vallenato, a group that comes from the region of La Guajira.



Here they are: * Isaac Enrique Carrillo Vega, vocals * Daniel José Castilla Maestre, caja * Javier Enrique Gámez Brito, accordion * Jaine José Maestre Socarrás, guacharaca * Orangel Maestre Socarrás, accordion * Sigilfredo Rivera Peñalosa, electric bass. Just watch and enjoy!

(Washington, District of Columbia)