Since the peace deal signed in 2016 between the state and the FARC, Colombia's Pacific region has become much safer
CALI IS FAMOUS for its salsa. Although the style of Latin music originated in Cuba and was super-charged in New York, this city in south-west Colombia has marketed itself as the salsa capital of the world. But however professionally thedo salsa’s glitz, glitter and showy dance steps, it is not really the local style. That is Pacific music—all wooden marimbas and leather drums—in which the songs are soulful and communal. They are often about religion and daily life.
The festival’s setting is spectacular. The large open-air stage is set against mountains that rise to 1,500 metres and shield the city from the ocean; as the sky darkens, lights shimmer on the slopes and the statue of Cristo Rey, Cali’s version of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer, is illuminated from below.
That is reflected in the lineup. Herencia de Timbiqui, a popular marimba band who have moulded the style into pop ballads, played the final concert, with La Filarmónica de Cali providing orchestral arrangements of their songs. The bubbling marimba—it sounds rather like a xylophone—offered a pleasing contrast to the thrusting horn lines and soaring strings.
Favourable political conditions have allowed Petronio Álvarez to truly flourish. Since the peace deal signed in 2016 between the state and FARC, a guerrilla army, the Pacific region has become much safer . People in the area overwhelmingly voted in favour of the peace treaty in the accompanying referendum; several of Colombia’s internationally known musicians, including Shakira, Juanes and Carlos Vives, as well as local Pacfic bands, were vociferous in their support.
When William Angulo, the lead singer of Herencia de Timbiqui, took to the stage he declared that he was proud to be performing “because the people of the Pacific celebrate in peace and we support that!” The audience roared in appreciation and enthusiastically twirled scarves—an essential feature of traditional dances—in their right hands. The crowd looked like an enormous flock of fluttering white doves.
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