MUSIC & DIASPORA: “A COLOMBIAN THING”

Significant immigration from Colombia to the United States began in the 50s and continues until the present day, more than 1 million individuals, counting immigrants born in Colombia and US-born individuals with at least one parent who was born in Colombia, have come to establish a relatively good sized diaspora that has adopted the United States as a new land; this diaspora community was the largest South American in 2012 and still faithfully represent the tendency of foreign-born overall population growth in the US.

Two generations of immigrants have been raised in the Colombian diaspora, one with more rooted connections to the homeland, and a second with more “crossover” influences and the “being born” in the States effect.

The reasons behind these massive immigrations have basically been based on the instability of the country during the 50s, the internal armed conflict, the battles in the international drug trade, and/or just the simple natural desire of “underdeveloped” country’s citizens to open new horizons and somehow assure economic improvement and solidity for the family’s future generations. This last has importantly been the main motive for the persistent movement of Colombian musicians to the “land of opportunities”, some have come temporarily and looked to collaborate with local artists, either from the “Latino” scene or the more vanguard musical proposals; and others have made “America” their land, and have found a chance to contribute with the enrichment of diverse cultural expressions, modern sounds, and Colombian traditions; but both, have certainly become part of a crossover movement that has influenced their original and more typical ways of doing Colombian songs, and in particular ways represent the diaspora Colombian communities established in the United States.

The following examples draw the artist's journey through the North American territory and how they represent Colombian traditions, their own voice/style, the diaspora context, and the modern/popular influences. Some of them became a voice not only in the United States, the world, and Latin America, but went back to Colombia, drawing an artistic/musical exodus.

La Piragua[1] is a traditional song originally written by Jose Barros in 1969; because of its narrative lyrics, poetic style, simple language, and harmonious, it is one of the most popular songs composed in the traditional Colombian Cumbia style, a genre often related to the Atlantic coast geographic region.

Monsieur Periné is a Colombian band that has gotten attention on the international scene, especially in the United States and Europe for its uses of Colombian traditional genres in a Jazz, Pop, and Swing-like style, somewhat gypsy. They are formed by two guitars [2] players[3] and a leading voice[4], in addition to that many other musicians have collaborated in live and recording productions, especially when they travel abroad.

For this piece, they partner up with local Colombian musicians but keep the essential Monsieur Periné flavor. This recording was commissioned by the Colombia Bureau for Culture and private enterprises. It is important to mention that Catalina Garcia, the leader, has been part of the Colombian diaspora community in the United States as a temporary immigrant and very importantly taken influences of Jazz into a unique modern acoustic sound of her band.

Pueblito Viejo is another very popular traditional Colombian song in the style of Vals[5], composed by Jose Morales, a Colombian composer who lived in the mid of the 20th century. This piece has a very significant connotation among all Colombian diaspora communities around the world as its message refers to that old town where all Colombians are from, the nostalgic melodic lines, and emotive harmonic changes, bring memories and connect with the homeland where we all belong to. Here are some of the lines:

Little Old Town

Spoiled little moon, hanging from the sky
Like a little lamp that my God has brought
So you could illuminate the quiet nights
of this old town close to my heart.

Little town of my sorrows, of small houses
Through your streets my youth ran away,
Because of you I learned to love for the first time
And never have you taught me ingratitude.

Today I come to your homes bringing my songs
And with a sickened soul out of much suffering,
I want, little old town to die here in your land,
Below the light of the sky that one day saw me be born.

And so having this song be one of the numbers included in the disc of a very popular Latin American figure, Soraya, is very significant.

Soraya Lamilla Cuevas was a Colombian-American singer, from New Jersey, who fused her cultural influences of music from Colombia and Pop American music. “Soraya first became interested in music at age 5 when she heard her uncle playing music in Colombia. Her uncle played "Pueblito Viejo", a Colombian traditional folk song using an instrument called the tiple, which is a kind of guitar with triple strings. Her parents bought her a guitar, which she taught herself how to play. She became proficient in classical violin, and her first 'public' performance was at Carnegie Hall in New York City as a member of the N.Y.C. Youth Philharmonic. She was valedictorian of her class at Point Pleasant Boro High School, where she began writing her own music”. She made special contributions to diaspora communities as her music reached not only Spanish but English-speaking audiences and most of her music were produced in North American land.

Merceditas[6] is an original composition by Laura Otero, she represents those artists that have come to the United States looking for new horizons and inspirations in the multicultural scene led by the sounds of pop and jazz; Laura is originally from Bogota, where she currently resides and has performed more than 23 years in theater productions. After earning her Bachelor’s music degree in Colombia she worked on a master's degree in Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas, an experience that has importantly impacted her career, especially on the last music production she launched: “From Noche to Night”, a fusion of Colombian rhythms with jazz. And so, the performance in this setting shows an interesting sound experience between the traditional Colombian language and the uses of the jazz ensemble to convey musical ideas. She has promoted her music both in Colombia and in the United States where support is proportionally increasing as her representation of the Colombian-American concept is performed.

Merceditas

Frozen in time,
Painted with coal,
Goes Mercedes from "La Flecha"
With her immense heart.
Short and plump,
Asking for her love. 

She goes planting little flowers,
Harvesting a song,
In pots and boxes,
In pans with sweat.
Watering and giving them
To whoever might want a hope.

Chorus:

Merceditas,
What do your coffee tree eyes say?
Merceditas
Heart of firewood and salt. 

She goes toasting and grinding
The little coffee beans.
Running and serving
How pretty she looks:
Long dress and high bun,
Pomarrosa, kiss, and flower.

Suerte (Whenever, Wherever) is a pop song by the famous Shakira Mebarak, who is an icon in the music industry and who has kept the traditional Colombia flavor present despite the consistent pop/rock and Latin/pop style of her music. This song is especially considered in the context of the Colombian diaspora in the United States since it was one of the first to have been translated into English and definitely lunch her career globally. Gloria Estefan, the American singer, influenced Shakira on the idea of recording this song in English, a fact that would make Shakira’s music recognizable by the American Association such as Billboard and RIAA, and make considerably make Colombians proud; the complete production was done in Los Angeles. Some elements of traditional south Colombian or Andean music are used in this song, especially the sound of the quena, charango, and zampoña.

Juntos (Together), is a song by Colombian singer-songwriter Juan Esteban Aristizabal, also known as Juanes. It was written by the Colombian Fonseca, Cuban Descemer Bueno, and Juanes. The song was released and commissioned by Walt Disney Records and Universal Music Latin on January 20, 2015, as the lead single from the soundtrack for McFarland, a Disney movie about the true story of a cross-country team from a mainly Latino high school in McFarland, California. The song is a Latin pop song with alternative rock music influences and instrumentation consisting of an electric guitar and synthesizer.

Juanes is originally from Medellin, Colombia, and has built an international career that started locally in his hometown and soon grew and flourished in the whole country, region, and Latin American communities especially in the United States where he is seen as a popular artist, and for obvious reasons is the preferred option for Colombian diasporas in the US, especially those pop lovers and 90’s generations. He was chosen to compose one of the main themes of this movie as he represents the discipline and efforts of the many Latinos that come to the States searching to develop bigger dreams, including Juanes himself, who’s made Miami his home, a city where he can combine a successful career and his role as a father and husband.

Music and diaspora are also a Colombian “thing” in the United States because of the ways how musical traditions developed in the home country are being taken and transmuted into more inclusive and modern sounds; traditions are almost used as raw material to create a new concept, and in some other cases is the Colombian version of “pop” music being influenced by its American counterpart. This effect somehow relates to the development of Klezmer music, but somehow the examples exposed here and the music they represent have no intentions to become part of the American culture as a “thing”, the same way Klezmer Jews music did, and this is partially true in the pop-jazz scene because the immigration of Colombian musicians to the States is minimal, even if their music impact on the diaspora communities has been strong and for all of them (Shakira, Juanes, Laura Otero, Soraya), essential step for their success, there is a very consistent but small fluency of Colombians contextualizing their music in the US; but it is certainly a dream for musicians of all genres and styles to be part of an artistically diverse country, such as the United States, and every day the desires and actions towards that are being increased.

The United States is a center for the music industry, recording, and production of music works, this affects directly the artist’s style, perceptions, and musical ideas, it also has its effects on the Colombian communities that have emigrated to the US as they represent the “American Dream” effect as they also emigrated to prosper.

Colombian diaspora in this framework is a new thing, it flourished with the music modern concepts, new musical tendencies, and the music that made diaspora communities from Colombia and Latin America identify with. It has surely been a different involvement in comparison with the past century music in the Irish diaspora, which had very rooted traditions; the current is a context that likes fusion and yes, there is a common interest to keep traditions but also to draw connections between genres, in the way social evolution is happening.

[1] Piragua in the context of the song is the name that was given to a specific canoe that had uncommon dimensions (12 meters long), used to transport people. It was very used before the invention and use of motor boats.

[2] or other plucked instruments such as ukulele

[3] Santiago Prieto and Nicolas Junca

[4] Catalina Garcia.

[5] Colombian Waltz rhythm in fast ¾ generally.

[6] From Mercedes: the name of a “campesina” or country side lady, who worked at the composer’s farm. Composed in honor to the hard working farmers.