Music of Colombia facts for kids

The Afro-Colombian ensemble Monsieur Periné mixes cumbian sounds with a gypsy-swing style.

The music of Colombia is an expression of the Colombian culture and has many music types. Modern Colombian culture is a mixture of African, native and European (especially Spanish) music, as well as more modern American and Caribbean musical forms, such as Trinidadian, Cuban and Jamaican.

In the late 1950s, Mexican rock artists like Enrique Guzmán and Cesar Costa became very popular in Colombia. Soon, native rock bands like Los Speakers earned popularity too. Starting in 1967, native bands like Genesis combined native music types (like cumbia) with rock.

Cumbia is a mixture of Spanish and African music (which slaves brought to Colombia). In the 19th century, Colombia got rid of slavery. Since that time, Africans, Indians and other ethnic groups mixed more fully in Colombian music. Styles like bambuco, vallenato and porro was very important. When the waltz became popular in the 19th century, Colombian musicians invented a version called pasillo.