Vallenato music

Traditional Vallenato music fuses cultural expressions from northern Colombia, songs of cow-herders from the Greater Magdalena region, chants of African slaves, Spanish poetry, dance from the indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and European-style instruments. Performed at festivals, ''parrandas'' where friends and family gather in the street, and in academic settings, it is considered vital to regional identity. However, the armed conflict in Colombia, a new wave of Vallenato and declining space for the ''parrandas'' remain threats.