PANAMA: MUSIC AND DANCE

I’ve been personally looking forward to this post for the past couple of week. As I was making my Panama playlist on Spotify, I suddenly realized how great of a playlist this is. There were actually two bands I knew of that I didn’t realize were from Panama. So, let’s talk about how this all came to be.

Panama’s music is a representation of several different musical styles. Many genres that are popular in South America (especially Colombia), Central America, and the Caribbean are also popular here. Merge that with African, American, and some European influences, and you truly come up with mixing pot of great music. Many of these styles have corresponding dances that accompany them. Movement is often an integral part of music. Some of the more common genres played in Panama include cumbia, congo, saloma, mejorana, tamborito, salsa, tipico, calypso, and jazz. 

Although it depends on the style, there are quite a few instruments you’ll hear in Panamanian music. Like in the broader sense of Latin music, percussion remains an integral part of the music. And they tend to make use of a variety of different kinds of percussive instruments like xylophones, marimbas, castanets, clappers, drums, etc. You’ll also hear accordions, guitars, pianos, violins, and other modern instruments. Vocal music, by both males and females, has long been a strong tradition. 

Modern styles like reggae (or reggae en español), reggaeton, and rock (or rock en español) are especially popular in Panama. Although these styles were generally based on a number of regional musical styles, they merged with other local styles and created their own version of it. I listened to quite a few musicians on Spotify, so here’s my take on what I sampled:

There were basically a few genres that I listened to. But let’s start with rock. First of all, a few years ago, I discovered the band Los Rabanes (probably through some Spotify suggestion or something). I absolutely loved listening to their album Kamikaze. I played the hell out of that album. In a way, they kind of remind me of 311 or Sublime. It’s a fun album. Others I discovered include Cage9 (hard rock, and they sing in English. Love these guys), Los 33 (rock, kind of reminds me of some of the other rock en español bands I’ve come across), and Out-Reazon (pretty good punk rock, in the style of MXPX or Rise Against).

Now, I’m a fan of reggae and its variations, like dancehall. Panama has a number of reggae and reggaeton musicians who I really enjoyed. El General, Nando Boom, Latin Fresh (more of a hip-hop dancehall style), Kafu Banton (who I think sounds like Buju Banton at times – he even named himself after him), Aldo Ranks, and Flex are some that I especially liked. 

Of course when I comes to more of a Latin pop style, I’ve known Factoria for a while; I just didn’t know they were from Panama. It's a little outdated now perhaps, but I still like the song "Todavia." Makano is another musician who I initially put in the pop category, but he kind of crosses over in the reggaeton category. His song “Te Amo” was super popular.

Up next: the food

COLOMBIA: MUSIC AND DANCE

Colombia’s diversity is a direct impact on the diverse influences of its music. Each region has it’s own styles and variations even among the styles that are popular throughout the entire country and other areas in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Overall, Colombian music tends to be a mix of African, American, indigenous traditions, Caribbean (mostly Cuban and Jamaican), and European (mostly Spanish).

Cumbia is one of the most popular forms from Colombia (even though for years, I thought it came from Mexico). With its roots from the Atlantic side of Colombia, it originally just consisted of percussion and vocals, but later added saxes, brass (trumpets, trombones), and keyboards. Some musicologists have their theories that it may be related to a dance called the cumbe from Guinea in West Africa. This dance is characterized by wearing shackles on the dancer’s ankles which represent slavery. Cumbia actually hit a peak of popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. 

Vallenato is another musical form that shares its origins on the Atlantic coast side of Colombia. According to tradition, its roots are stemmed from a music contest where Francisco el Hombre defeated Satan. (Um, sounds a lot like Charlie Daniels’ “Devil Went Down to Georgia” to me.) Vallenato bands consist of accordions, guacharacas (like a stick with notches carved in it and scraped with a metal fork-like device), and the caja vallenata (a larger version of the bongo drum). I found this video that gives an excellent explanation as to what vallenato is, what it stands for, and the inspirations behind it. 

Dancing is very important to Colombian society, with several different types of dance that have become popular. Besides the cumbia and vallenato dances that accompany the styles mentioned above, salsa dancing, merengue, and bambuco were also common dances in Colombia.

I guess I had been a fan of Colombian music for a while and didn’t know it. Years ago, my sister gave me a CD of Carlos Vives, and I absolutely loved it (except that I thought he was from Chile for some reason). I recently borrowed a copy of the El Rock de Mi Pueblo album, and I absolutely love it. I REALLY like it. In fact, I made a copy for my sister who’s been really sick lately.  I’ve become a huge fan of accordion music as I got into my 30s, and Colombian music makes good use of it.

My kids love Fanny Lu, who does more pop music. I copied the CD Dos from the library, but I also liked the album Felicidad y Perpetua. I think she looks like the chick from that British group The Ting Tings. We’ve known about Shakira for over a decade here in the US – she’s known all over the world. I’ve liked some of her songs, but her voice quality always threw me off. Occasionally, it sounds like she closes her throat while singing, and as a former music major and voice principle when I was in college, closing your throat is a no-no. But my kids like her. I’ll spare them lectures in correct vocal techniques.

I also came across the Afro-Colombian hip-hop group called ChocQuibTown. I found the album Oro at the library and have listened to it for the past three days straight. It’s a little bit Latin, a little bit funk, a little bit hip-hop – and it’s put together really well. Everything I love. I may end up buying their album Eso Es Lo Que Hay because my husband liked a few songs off of that album too.

Several years ago, a friend of mine had somehow received a copy of the 2001 Latin Grammy nominees CD, something I wouldn’t think he would normally listen to. On the winner list was Juanes for the album Fijate Bien for winning best rock solo vocal album of the year. So, I knew of him, but didn’t realize he was Colombian (I see a running theme here…).

I was also fairly impressed with a couple of other groups that I found along the way. I liked Palenke Soundtribe and Sidesteppers whose styles were closer to a mix of house music and Colombian traditional styles. I found a couple of rock/punk bands that I added in my playlist: Doctor Krápula and La Pestilencia. For some reason, I’m always fascinated by two music styles in other countries: hip-hop and punk/ska, and I was really happy that Colombia had something to offer here for my collection. 

Up next: the food