Carnival, the Spanish equivalent of Marde de Gras, is a very big deal in Atlantic Colombia. Barranquilla, the largest coastal city, is a mercantile-port city with little history or cultural draw for tourists. The exception is Carnival, which is said to be second only to Rio Di Janeiro, Brasil. Aracataca, with 26,000 or so inhabitants has a Carnival festival as well, but on a smaller scale. On Sunday a big event in town was selection of the Reina (Queen) of Carnival 2016. The term “Reina” permeates language here, perhaps a legacy of Spanish rule.  The location of the event was an odd choice, behind a primary school packed close to one of the artificial canals which were created to bring water through the city. Much of the audience was wedged between the performance space and the canal, while kids played and swam in the canal and others watched as possible from the other side of the canal.  The audience sitting close was primarily women while men were more likely to be on the other side of the canal drinking beer.

The contestants had a number of tests, most of which I could not see nor understand. There was a dance section in which they all danced side-by-side. There were costumes and walking in front of the judges and audience.

There was a lot of waiting between events. After these events ended other musicians performed some of the local music that is a fusion of Spanish, African and Indigenous influences. One group had one clarinet and a number of different drums from larger bass-style drums played with sticks to conga-style drums played by hand. The clarinet plays a short passage repeated over and over at a high volume to the loud and complex beat of the drums. Prior to the clarinet, the melodic line was played on a sort of transverse bamboo instrument called flauta de millo that has a relatively limited number of notes. I’ve never seen an instrument quite like the original, but now the clarinet has taken its place at least in Aracataca. There are several examples of flauta de millo on YouTube.

Following the musical performance the dance troop that I described in an earlier note gave a short performance. This performance focused on a traditional dance form called Mapalé in which one person invites another to a competition, starting at a moderate clip then moving to a very fast style. Apparently the style is a fusion of dance brought by slaves from Angola and Colombian cumbia music. It’s difficult to describe, though it seems to draw on dance from Africa and other Caribbean styles. I found a nice example of a performance done by kids in Aracataca on YouTube. It is definitely worth a look. I was too far away to capture video of the performance for the selection of the queen.  What is called Cumbia here is really traditional. The popular music style of cumbia in most of latin America draws from this tradition, but has softened, slowed and modernized instrumentation.

Off on the sidelines I got to interact with some of the musicians, some of whom I am getting to know. One of the percussionists gave me a lesson in guitar early-on. I need to go back for more. One of the more interesting characters in Aracataca is an older gentleman called “Mambo”. He sells Maracas in front of Casa Museo. He dug into his pocket at one point and pulled out a scrap of plastic. He proceeded to play it much as the clarinet played the repeated passage in the musical performance. He used the plastic as a single reed just above his lower lip and used his mouth chamber to alter the pitch. Mambo switched to castenets and sang (pictured below). I joined in on harmonica for a little while others played clarinet and drums. The best part of many a music festival are the jam sessions in the parking lots.

Having missed the last several hours of the presentation, I also missed the crowning of the Reina. I did find a picture online of the winner, unless I am mistaken, here is her picture. Braces are popular here.