Champeta

Champeta
Stylistic origins	Soukous, highlife, mbquanga, juju, ragga, compás haitiano, bullerengue, mapalé, zambapalo, chalupa
Cultural origins	Early-1980s, Colombia
Typical instruments	Voice, percussion, bass, electric guitar, synthesiser, keyboard
Subgenres
Champeta criolla , champeta urbana , champeta africana
Regional scenes
Colombia
Local scenes
Cartagena, Palenque of San Basilio

Champeta is a genre of folk music and dance originating in the Atlantic coastal regions of Colombia.

Champeta originated among inhabitants of African descent of the Colombian cities of Cartagena de Indias and Barranquilla, and was linked with the culture of the Palenque of San Basilio district. It shows influences of musical genres from Euro-African colonial settlements and from the continent of Africa.

The word “champeta” originally denoted a short, curved knife of the same name, used in the region at work, in the kitchen and as an offensive weapon. The word is first known to have been used as a cultural identifier in the 1920s. It was used to identify a dance in the 1970s and a musical genre in the 1980s.

Socio-cultural researchers and sociologists have established that at some time before the 1920s the term “champetudo” started to be applied to residents of the more outlying districts of Cartagena, who tended to be poorer and of African descent. The term was applied by the economic élite with the intention of disparaging this surviving culture, with associations of vulgarity, poverty and blackness. Thus “champeta” refers to a culture whose history is marked by slavery and mistreatment. At the start of the 1970s Champeta culture became better-known in Colombia due to the development of a set of complex dances set to the rhythms of salsa and jíbaro and later reggae, as well as progressively more foreign or novel dance genres as providers competed for exclusivos, records other groups did not have in their library. This music was played at full volume through big loudspeakers known locally as “picós” (from the English word “pick-up”) by troupes of the same name. These early dances were called “therapy” for their relaxing nature, a distraction from the economic problems of the country.

Around 1981 “creole therapy” emerged as a musical genre to be performed and sung. Among its sources of inspiration was recorded music brought into the port of Cartagena from Africa and from other Euro-African settlements. Its first composers were people of African descent from Cartagena and Palenque de San Basilio, later joined by songwriters and entrepreneurs from Barranquilla and other parts of Colombia. It consisted in a fusion of African rhythms (soukous, highlife, mbquanga, juju) with those from the Antilles (ragga, compás haitiano, also influenced by music of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian origins (bullerengue, mapalé, zambapalo and chalupa). This style of music came to be known as “Colombian therapy” and finally took on the name of the “champeta” culture. During the 1990s champeta underwent further changes in its musical and other content, with the introduction of digital techniques and “placas” (interruptions counter to the rhythm). Despite its social origins, champeta came to be as much appreciated as rejected by the social élite.

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Wikipedia