Pasto. It’s a nice place. Kind of churchy.
Let’s get down to business. That thing at the bottom is a llapingacho – a kind of fried potato patty. Really rather nice. I’m feeling quite peckish now, actually.
I love this little town – it’s called Silvia and home to the Gumbiano people.
Here is the defining track of the Guaneña genre.
One of the best known reggaeton tracks, and probably the one initially most responsible for popularising the genre: Gasolina by Daddy Yankee
This next track isn’t reggaeton, but it’s worth a quick listen. This is Dem Bow by Shabba Ranks. What you’re listening for here is the ‘riddim’ (specifically the Poco Man Jam riddim) which went on to be the rhythmic basis of pretty much the whole reggaeton genre.
Here’s Calle 13 again with Atrevete Te Te, luring us in with a naughty-oboe cumbia intro before morphing into some very danceable reggaeton. Even if you don’t generally like reggaeton, have a good listen to this, because it’s as good as it gets.
Calle 13 are part of the chin-stroking intellectual discussion surrounding reggaeton and gender roles, as Residente (the lead singer) has frequently challenged the existing paradigm. In the song below, does Residente succeed in subverting the traditional reggaeton role typing? Or merely reinforce it?
For more on this, take a look at the article A Man Lives Here by Alfredo Nieves Moreno, which is reproduced in the excellent book Reggaeton. You may have to buy a copy to see the whole article, as google books hides bits.
And here’s Sin Mapa – the documentary of their travels round Latin America – with English subtitles. I haven’t seen it myself yet, though I keep meaning to.
And just to show that female-led reggaeton does actually exist, here’s Quiero Bailar by Ivy Queen.
Let’s move away from Reggaeton.
After learning to recognise Bachata, I suddenly noticed that the following track was being played EVERYWHERE. I have no idea how I hadn’t noticed it before. It’s Dile Al Amor by Aventura, in which cupid is causing all sorts of trouble.
What’s on at the local peña? It doesn’t really matter, because it’s full.
Oh well… VAMOS A TUQUERRES!!!
More specifcally, vamos a la Laguna Verde
I don’t have any nice photos of Mindo, so here are some epiphytes in the cloudforest.
And here are some butterflies (and their eggs) at the local butterfly farm place thingy.
ECUADORABLE. How can you not like Otavalo, especially given the surroundings.
I don’t mention this in the book, but this is Somos Pacífico by Choquibtown which (a) is great and (b) name checks Buenaventura, currulao and dancing pegado (or ‘pegao‘ as it’s said here).
Here’s some random currulao, in case you need a marimba fix.
And if that’s not enough, here’s a Spanish-language documentary on Currulao.
Coo-ee! It’s guinea pig. Sorry, animal lovers. Alive-animals that is.
