MUSICAL GENRE: VALLENATO

  IS VALLENATO A MUSICAL GENRE? It is said that the farmers of the region inherited the traditions of Spanish and African minstrels, singing and playing their instruments as they traveled from town to town with their cows, sharing news and messages. Eventually, African and indigenous instruments, such as the gaita flutes, guacharaca and drums, joined the European accordion and this is how vallenato was born.

  Vallenato music is part of the folkloric music of the Colombian Caribbean Coast and is the genre that has achieved the most popularity, both nationally and internationally. And began to gain importance when the elite classes wanted to take this music to the Valledupar Social Club, to be able to drink and listen to the stories of the minstrels (today people dance to vallenato, but many continue to listen to it). Thus it gained popularity, to the point of creating an exclusive Festival of the musical genre; Alfonso Lopez, then governor of Cesar, journalist Consuelo Araujo and composer Rafael Escalona created in 1996 the Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata to crown the best of the best. And in addition, all the inhabitants of the region supported this event enough to make it a reality, and become what it is today.

This beautiful city is one of the main musical centers of the country for being the cradle of vallenato, a musical genre declared by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Because of this, one of its most important tourist attractions is the Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata, held since 1968. It is considered the most important of the genre in the country, attracting thousands of national and international tourists every year who come to enjoy the Colombian vallenato talent. Among the events are the coronation of the vallenato king and the traditional "piquerías" or verse duels among the participants .

MUSICAL GENRE: VALLENATO In northeastern Colombia, on the banks of the Guatapurí River, lies the culture that gave birth to the country's most popular musical genre: vallenato. Valledupar, capital of the department of Cesar, is located in a spectacular valley framed by the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá.