57th Vallenato Festival a Success in Valledupar

The 57th Vallenato Festival, known in Colombia as ‘La Leyenda Vallenata’, took place in Valledupar, the capital of the Cesar Department, on the Caribbean Coast. It is a unique festival, which celebrates the popular folk Colombian music style Vallenato, attracting tourists and participants from various parts of the country, as well as foreign guests.

This year, the festival honors Colombian living music icon Ivan Villazon. The festival kicked off on May 1 and concluded on May 4. Contestants from 17 Colombian departments and three foreign countries (the United States, France, and Venezuela) participated in the festival.

How did the Vallenato Festival originate?

The creation of a folkloric music festival was initiated by Alfonso Lopez Michelsen, former governor of the Cesar Department, Rafael Escalona Martinez, vallenato composer, and Consuelo Araujo Noguera, who later became Minister of Culture in Colombia. This idea came about in 1967 when the Cesar Department was created when it split from the larger department of Magdalena.

As Valledupar became the capital of Cesar, there was a need to strengthen its cultural identity and create an event that would be as important as the Carnival in Barranquilla or the Festival of the Sea in Santa Marta. Vallenato originated in the former Padilla Province, at the crossroads of the current departments of La Guajira, Magdalena, and Cesar, in the northwest of the Colombian Caribbean coast.

Vallenato music is played on three instruments – accordion, cajon, and guacharaka. This is why these instruments and the performance of the singers are the main pillars of the festival. In addition, Consuelo Araujo Noguera was fond of dancing and offered to organize a dancing parade during the festival, so that women (who were not allowed to play accordion at that time) could participate.

Parade of Willys Parranderos Jeeps

A few days before the festival, the city organized a parade of Willys Jeeps on the main city square Alfonso Lopez. This involved old-style cars, passengers wearing traditional costumes and playing traditional instruments onboard. The jeeps were led by the President of the Vallenato Festival Foundation, Rodolfo Molina Araujo, and the mayor of Valledupar, Ernesto Orozco. Over 100 vehicles participated in the parade.

The history of the jeep parade started from the tradition when revelers, called paranderos in this part of Colombia, were driving jeeps on the streets of Valledupar and nearby villages in the 60s and 70s. At the end, they would stop at the main square Alfonso Lopez and play music. Willys Jeeps were typical cars in the region. They replaced mules that were used for field works or to transport people and goods.

Religious roots of Vallenato Festival

The festival has its roots in the religious festival honouring the miracle of the Virgin of the Rosary every April 26. The story goes back to the 16th century. According to legend, the Virgin of the Rosary appeared during a battle between the local indigenous people and the Spanish conquistadors, managing to stop the bloodbath. Later, She appeared after the poisoning of a lagoon with barbasco (plants that contain poisonous chemical compounds), bringing back to life all the people that had died from it. People used to give the Virgin of the Rosary a variety of offerings.

Parade of piloneras opened the Vallenato Festival

As a prelude to the main part of the musical festivities, the parade of Piloneras for children and young people took place on April 30, consisting of 59 groups. For adults, the parade took place on May 1. In the adult category, there were 138 dancing groups. Each group had a musical band which followed them. The dancers and musicians walked along the Simon Bolivar street from the school of Alfonso Lopez to the park La Leyenda Vallenata. The groups of piloneras competed against each other to take home the award for the best group.

The Pilon dance is a mixture of the Vallenato walk and the puya. The dance symbolizes the process of making the flour for Colombian flatbread arepas. The woman dances with a plate with the image of corn and the man dances with pilon – the wooden stick that was used to press the maiz until it gets soft.

This year, the piloneras witnessed thousands of people who came to cheer on their friends and family members. They were singing with the bands, dancing, and sharing bottles of water with participants. The dancers were performing under the blazing sun, and they kept dancing even after the nightfall and despite the heavy rain.

Competitions

The festival hosted 313 contestants, including accordion players, who were performing the four traditional musical rhythms to aspire to win the main prize and the crown. The rhythms are Paseo, Merengue, Son and Puya. The competitions were divided into four categories: professional, amateur, youth, and children.

During the festival, you can attend free concerts by vallenato bands—amateur, professional, or children—in the city’s parks and on the main square. There, you can also admire performers of piqueria (a sung duel in which opponents attack and defend themselves with sarcastic verses), with composers presenting their own works.

The musical finals took place in the Parque Festival de la Leyenda on May 2, 3 and 4. After awarding the best vallenato performers, famous artists performed, including Colombian singers Silvestre Dangond, Anna del Castillo, and Ivan Villazon, along with the Dominican musician Juan Luis Guerra and US-Mexican band Grupo Frontera.