* I'm only here to show the difference between texmex and vallenato, in how each style is played and i'm not here to put down texmex! (Remember, it's my response to Accordion abuse!)
This is just half the speed of a real professional accordion player from Colombia playing VALLENATO!
Read definition of vallenato:
Vallenato, along with cumbia, is the most popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in northeast Colombia. The name also applies to the people from the city this genre originated: Valledupar (from the place named Valle de Upar - "Valley of Upar"). In 2006 Vallenato and cumbia were added as a category in the Latin Grammy Awards.
Vallenato consists of four beats or "airs" that are differentiated through their rhythmic structure and the melody chord structure the accordionist gives it. These are: son, paseo, merengue and puya. The son and the paseo have a 2/4 time and the merengue and the puya a 6/8 time.
Son: is played with heavy accentuation and cadence stressed on the low notes of the accordion on its left hand side. It's normally mournful and slow.
Paseo: is thought to be an off-shoot of the son. Its speed can vary and today is the most widely recorded air.
Puya: its main difference from the merengue is the length of its lyrics. In the last 40 years, accordion players have begun to play it faster and each of the three instruments used in vallenato has a solo. It is considered the oldest of the four "airs", with roots in an ancient Indian dance of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
Merengue: is often confused with a Dominican genre with the same name, probably brought by related African tribal groups. It has a more narrative style and was often used to play décimas, a ten-line format with internal rhymes brought by the Spanish in the 16th century.
Its three traditional instruments are:
the caja vallenata: a small drum held between the knees and played with bare hands. It was used by the African slaves brought by the Europeans. Similar to a tambora drum.
the guacharaca: a wooden, ribbed stick similar to a sugar cane, accompanied by a fork that when rubbed together emits a scraping sound. It's about 18 inches (45 cm) long and one inch (3 cm) in diameter. It was used by the Indians to imitate the guacharaco's singing; a bird from this region to hunt and perform dancing rituals.
the accordion: three-line button, German-origin accordion.
Some renowned vallenato orchestras:
*Bovea y sus Vallenatos
*Diomedes Diaz musical group
*Los Hermanos Zuleta musical Group
*Ivan Villazon musical group
*Jorge Onate musical group
*Alfredo Gutierrez musical group
*Binomio de Oro de America musical group
*Los Diablitos del Vallenato musical group
*Carlos Vives y la provincia musical group
*Silvestre Dangond & Juancho De la Espriella musical group
*Peter Manjarrez musical group
*Jorge Celedon & Jimmy Zambrano musical group
*Embajadores del Vallenato musical group
*Los Chiches Musical group
*Las Diosas del vallenato female musical group
La Nueva Ola (The New Wave)
Is considered the new generation of Vallenato groups and orchestras that have created a distinctive sound for themselves while keeping some of the essence of their predecessors. Kaleth Morales is considered leading artist of this young wave of vallenato musical groups, even after his sudden death in a car accident in August 24, 2005.
Even US president Clinton and daughter were greeted by a Vallenato children group in Cartagena, Colombia.
Thank you and I hope you ennjoyed it.
Tags: Accordion Tejano Conjunto vallenato puya colombia mexico texmex
