Carranga music, another icon in Colombia

Colombia is starting to be recognized for its wide musical diversity, coming from the multiplicity of existing cultures in the territory. In the Andean region it arises from Jorge Velosa's hand, the carranga music, a genre that mixes Andean rhythms with the couplet, the rhymes of the peasant and sarcasm.
Jorge, its founder, explains it like this:
"The carranga is the very company of us who have found in it something with which to tuck up ourselves and gain a zone of identity and joy coming from tradition. For me it is a testimony of my walk through life, and for the country a musical genre that helps to knit together our identity".
The carranga is the popular expression of the man of the land, a genre which uses string instruments such as the guitar, the 'tiple', together with the 'guacharaca', an instrument of the Caribbean coast. In a humble way it combines poetry and humor, relating stories of the peasants. Another typical element of this genre is the exaltation of the traditional clothes, the hat and the 'ruana' - a fabric made from sheep wool. The peasants use it to cover themselves in the cold.
Jorge Velosa, who is not the only representative artist of the carranga but undoubtedly the most important one, has managed to break with the stigma of the peasant, to generate a feeling of pride in being from the countryside; the majority of Colombians come from rural families. He and his band have achieved national and international recognition, having appeared on venues such as the Madison Square Garden of New York in 1981. As a memorable story, the limousine to take them there did not pick them up because they were wearing ruanas and hats.

Thirty years of Jorge's work with his carranga partners, creating lyrics and rhythms for the exaltation of the traditional way of living - with a formidable reception among the Colombians - finally came into fruition Saturday on August 27th.
In Duitama, a city three hours from Bogota, with more than 3.000 assistants, the majority of whom were wearing ruanas, the most important musical production in the genre was launched: the symphonic carranga. In spite of the fact that Jorge Velosa already has more than twenty albums out, the importance of the latest one called "Carranga Sinfonica" - Symphonic Carranga - comes mainly from the fusion of the two musical genres, joining together two different worlds.
The original idea was to create an orchestrated folklore to generate a different perspective on the carranga and to popularize it, as a sample of our identity. In the hands of one of the biggest symphonic orchestra directors and folk music specialists in Colombia, Eduardo Carrizosa, it was demonstrated that the symphonic orchestras can actually be at the service of the folklore in Colombia. Needless to say, Carrisoza has been the director of the Symphonic National Orchestra, the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
So this concert was the launch of this new musical fusion, new for the ears of those accustomed to merely dancing and drinking alcohol to the carranga. Crucial, since it brings the chamber music over to the popular music, a genre that implies the constant work of more than 70 musicians together with the most important arrangers of the country.
Songs that speak about the work in the countryside and the family, everyday life, in places where to this day it is common to have a coal stove, eat potatoes three times a day and pray to the virgin.
The concert held the presentation of the Symphonic Orchestra of Medellin - one of the most important in Colombia - with Jorge Velosa and his group, all led by Eduardo Carrizosa. The delight of the audience was astonishing and at last, as happens with all folkloric Colombian music, the assistants were dancing, proud of their origins and traditions.

Here you find a sample of the music