Reggaeton Round Up, Part 3: Típicoton
(Photo from Carlos Restrepo’s Flickr account)
All Cumbia heads and Colombiaphiles must watch the documentary EL Acordeón del Diablo.
A friend let me borrow the DVD the other day and now I can’t get it out of my head. This is the beginning of it:
One of the styles that I’ve been hearing out of Panama that most catches my ear has been what I hear as a Vallenatoish Reggaeton hybrid.
I dig Cumbia, but always also really loved Vallenato sound.
In Panama, the acordeón songs are called Pindin, and the dance is Típico, but are probably very influenced by the people of the valley since they are so close, and since Panama was part of Colombia until about 100 years ago.
Check out these vids:
Aldo Ranks-Las Pompas
Eddy Lover-Ya tu no vales la pena
Jimmy Bad Boy-Bailando
This music is so interesting to me right now. I wonder if Aldo Rank’s shout to Colombia is acknowledging the two countries shared history, or perhaps acknowledging a population of Colombians in Panama.
As before I’m still intrigued by the Panama-Mexico connection. Colombian music has been popular in Mexico for years. Now, Mexico seems to really be on to Panama music, and even becoming a sort of proving ground for wider international success.
Click here for an amazing resource on Latin American acordeón musics.
Rupture
I found Acordeon del Diablo to be pretty shallow actually… I’d had my hopes up. focusing on that one ancient musician felt like a loss, with a conservative documentary ‘capturing dying traditions’ undertext. maybe i should revisit.
my fav Colombian documentary recently is La Sierra, about gang violence in the hills outside of Medellin
Boima
Okay, I’ll check for La Sierra.
Maybe I’m a sap, but the sentimentality kind of got me. (I did kind of watch it as a date movie tho’ ;))
My honest first watch impression was, (cute) grumpy old man passes on traditions to his kids and community (one in the same no?) and a glimmer of youthful happiness shines through with a last recognition.
It felt strange that it was shot in the late 90′s, because to me the production style looked older. And it was shot by Germans, not Colombians?
For me the cool part was just being able to see the locations of Santa Marta, and seeing Cumbia/Vallenato in its native context. Kind of Buena Vista Social Clubby. But I’d put it on the viewer to research further, although that doesn’t always happen. It definitely did not tackle the wider issues of contemporary Colombia.
Caro
Boima, all the videos you posted have been removed. Will look for them. The Panama/Colombia continuum is clear, as well as the West Indies/Panama continuum. Really digging this stuff, as you can see here:
http://soundtaste.typepad.com/sound_taste/2008/06/valletn.html
Boima
OK, I added track names and direct links in case the embeds don’t work.
Peace!
LG
Ulpiano Vergara, what a discovery! be-a-u-ti-ful stuff. many thx.
LG
one week later loving that tipico style more and more, found lots music here, including Ulpiano Vergara
http://www.4shared.com/account/dir/5845600/64a5ad09/sharing.html