Colombian music terminology

Colombian music terminology includes words derived from Spanish and other languages.

*"agüelulo": A teenage gathering, originally held in private homes and then larger spaces; a teenager who frequented such a place was a "agüelero" or sometimes a "cocacolos", after the main beverage drunk at "agüelulos", Coca Colacite book|title=The City of Musical Memory: Salsa, Record Grooves, and Popular Culture in Cali, Colombia|author=Wazer, Lise A.|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|location=Middletown, Connecticut|year=2002|id=ISBN 0-8195-6441-9]
*"música andina": An early national style of the 19th and early 20th centuries, developed from the Andean interior
*"música antillana": A kind of popular dance music based on Cuban and Puerto Rican styles
*"audición": literally "listening", can refer to a "special musical tribute to the career of a particular artist or group", performed before the beginning of a concert
*"baile": Literally, "dance", dances are alphabetized under their descriptor, e.g. "baile de cuota" is alphabetized under "cuota"
*"bambuco": An Andean style of dance music, perceived as a national music in the early 20th centuryBurton, Kim. "El Sonido Dorado". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), "World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific", pp 372-385. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0] , or an Andean lyric music performed along with "pasillo" as a common part of the "música andina" repertoire
*"balada": In popular music, refers to a kind of "Spanish romantic popular music", found across Latin America
*"bandola": A stringed instrument similar to a mandolin, used in "llanera" and "musica andina"
*"bandolin": A larger relative of the "bandola"
*"bingo bailable": A dance that includes bingodn games and salsa music
*"bolero": A loose term for love ballads
*"bombo": A drum used in folklore groups on the Atlantic coast, laid with sticks and used to start a performance by calling on the other drums to perform; a bass drum used in traditional "cumbia" ensembles
*"bugalú": An early form of New York salsa, popular in Colombia during the 1960s, a fusion of "son with rhythm and blues
*"bullerengue": A Costeño" form, performed by flute-and-drum ensembles
*"caja vallenata": A "vallenato" drum originally made from goatskin
*"calle de las salsotecas": Literally, "salsoteca street", referring to "Calle 44", a three mile long road in Cali, referring to the numerous "salsotecas" and "tabernas" along the street, known for featuring "salsa dura" and Cuban music during the 1980s and 90s
*"caballo": A rhythmic pattern played on the conga]
*"camaján": An alternate term for the "pachuco"
*"campana": A cowbell
*"campanero": A performer of the cowbell, notably played by audience members along with the on-stage performer
*"capachos": Maracas
*"música caribeña": A rarely-used synonym for "música antillana"
*"carrilera": A form of guitar-based music from the Antioquia province, associated "with the urbanizing peasant or working class"
*"carrito": Small, streetside vendors of recorded music
*"carrizo": A form of Colombian folk flute
*"caseta": A dance hall
*"cencerro": A timbales cowbell
*"champeta": A form of rootsy music from the Pacific coastal city of Cartagena, where an Afro-Colombian population developed the style; an Afro-Colombian style associated with Cartagena and Barranquilla, which combines elements of African pop, soca, zouk, mbaqanga and soukous
*"champús bailable": A Caleño tradition of house parties, which began in the 1930s and were usually held on Sundays; "champú", a beverage made from pineapple, corn, bitter orange leaves and a fruit called "lulo"
*"chandé": A Costeño" form, performed by flute-and-drum ensembles
*"chirimía": A kind of ensemble found in the northwest corner of Chocó province
*"chucu-chucu": An alternate term for "raspa"
*"cokacolo": A teenage dancer at a "agüelulo"
*"contrapunteo": An improvised, verbal duel
*"música colombiana': "Colombian music", formerly understood to refer to "música andina" in the 19th and early 20th century, when that style was perceived as a national music
*"baile de cuota": A type of dance party in Cali's working class neighborhoods during the mid-20th century
*"cuatro": A small guitar, used in "llanera"
*"currulao": A marimba-based music found along the southwest littoral Valle, Cauca and Nariño provinces of Colombia, as well as Esmeraldas in Ecuador
*"cumbia": A form of nation music, originally from the Atlantic coast and characterized by a "solidly grounded and complex layered rhythm with an airily syncopated melody"
*"empanada bailable": An alternate term for "champú bailable", referring to the "empanada"s often served
*"fandango": A Costeño" song form, performed by flute-and-drum ensembles
*"festivales": Community dances in Cali, held in neighborhood dance halls or pavilions
*"fiesta patronales": Saints days
*"flauto de millo": See "millo, flauto de"
*"gaita": A folk flute; a Costeño" form, performed by flute-and-drum ensembles; "conjunto de gaita" is a traditional "cumbia" ensemble
*"guabina": A kind of "música andina"
*"guacharaca": A scraper, common in "vallenato"
*"guache": Rattles made from filling metal or gourd tubes with seeds
*"guateque": Originally a Cuban word referring to a rural "campesino" party, which came to refer to a form of "salsa dura", characterized by "slow, grinding "son montuno"s with heavy bass and percussion; associated also with "El guateque de la salsa" ("The Salsa Party"), a popular radio show from 1989 to 1993
*"música de la interior": An Andean style, often used synonymously with "bambuco", characterized by a gentle and melodic sound and a well-developed melody at the expense of rhythmic complexity
*"joropo": Originally a folk dance performed in honor of saints days and other special occasions, such as birthdays and baptism; now more often a generic word for "llanera" based dance music; a courtship dance associated with central Colombia and that region's cowboy culture, a "dynamic, polyrhythmic mestizo style that fuses Andalusian, African and indigenous elements"
*"kiosco": A community pavilion, used for musical performances
*"llamador": A drum, traditionally used in "cumbia" as well as modern "música tropical"
*"llanera": A form of harp-led music
*"marimbula": A low-pitched thumb piano
*"flauto de millo": A folk clarinet of the Atlantic coast
*"melómano": A "music aficionado"
*"música": Literally "music", music forms are alphabetized by their descriptor, e.g. "música antillana" is alphabetized under "antillana"
*"música de negros": Literally "black people's music", a pejorative term used by the elite to deride musics such as "música antillana"
*"nueva ola": Literally "new wave", a kind of pop-"balada" performed by romantic crooners, which peaked in the 1960s and 70s
*"orquesta": A dance band
*"orquesta femenina": An all-female dance ensemble
*"orquesta infantile": An all-child dance ensemble
*"orquesta juvenile": An all-youth dance ensemble
*"pachanga": An early form of New York salsa, popular in Colombia during the 1960s, especially in the city of Cali [Waxer, pg. 92; Waxer cites the Cali claim to Helio Orovo, from personal communication on May 31, 1996]
*"pachuco": An iconic figure, a "ruffian and a hustler... an antihero", especially important in the culture surrounding the "Zona de tolerancia"
*"parrandero": A typical lyrical focus of the more macho side of popular "cumbia, referring to a boasting, aggressive and sexual "party-going man"
*"pasillo": A lyric song form from the Andean region
*"el paso Caleño": A traditional dance step from the city of Cali, characterized by a "rapid 'double-time' shuffle on the tips of the toes"
*"pasta americana": "Carrito" slang referring to the thicker and higher quality vinyl of American records
*"picó": Derived from the English "pickup", a large sound system among DJs in Cartagena and Barranquilla during the 1980s
*"pop tropical": A form of mid-1990s pop-salsa
*"porro": A village brass band; a song form performed by the flute-and-drum ensembles of the Atlantic coast region, as well as mid-20th century urban dance "orquestas"
*"raspa": A simplied form of "música tropical" which emerged in the late 1960s
*"refajo": A street slang from the Zona de tolerancia in Cali
*"rock en español": Spanish language rock music, most closely associated with the cities of Bogotá and Medellín in Colombia
*"rumba": Partying or merry-making, compare to "rumbero", a party
*"salsa": A Spanish Caribbean dance music created in New York City using elements of Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican music, a combination known in Colombia as "musica antillana"
*"salsíbiri": A term coined by Fruko to describe his own style
*"salsómano": A salsa fan
*"salsoteca": A venue that plays salsa
*"serenata": A pan-Latin tradition of street serenades performed by small groups of instrumentalists, especially guitarists
*"tambor hembra": The lead frum of the Atlantic coast drum choirs
*"tambor macho": A conga-like drum that leads the basic rhythm of the Atlantic coast drum choirs
*"terapia": An alternate term for "champeta"
*"musica tropical": A form of salsa-based music innovated by Joe Arroyo; a form of dance music based on various Atlantic coast genres
*"tiple": A small stringed instrument, used in "llanera" and "musica andina"
*"vallenato": A form of accordion-based music, related to "música tropical" and "cumbia", and originally associated with the Atlantic Coast
*"vallenato-protesta": A form of "vallenato"-based protest song
*"verbena": Free street parties held during the December Feria and sponsored by the city of Cali
*"viejoteca": Dance parties, originally appearing in 1993 for senior citizens but later appealing to middle-aged partygoers and finally abandoning any age restrictions; these "viejotecas" became associated with a revival of the "agüelulos" and nightclub scenes of the 1960s and 70s; originally from Cali, "viejotecas" have spread to Medellin and Cartagena
*"zarzuela": Operettas

Notes