Las insuperables gaitas de Lucho Bermúdez, maestro universal. Gloria eterna para el gran maestro.
Spanish
'En ritmo de gaita Lucho Bermúdez compuso el tema alusivo al instrumento: Gaita. Gaita hembra que lleva la melodía y la gaita macho que la complementa y apoya la función rítmica de la percusión en el formato folclórico; trasvasa, el concepto primigenio en orquesta, dándole protagonismo al clarinete, que hace de manera aproximada la sonoridad de las gaitas artesanales, las improvisaciones del clarinete que le otorga a la melodía la hermosura del fraseo con ese aliento jazzístico común en sus composiciones. En la gaita se presenta cambios armónicos en cada compás. Gaita, porro y cumbia son rítmicamente muy próximos, pero entre ellos, existen diferencias muy marcadas.
Porro: presenta una estructura responsorial. Los metales preguntas y las cañas responden. Género musical bailable del Caribe colombiano, expresión sincrética en los componentes socioculturales, casi siempre, lleva una introducción contradancística que prepara el desarrollo del tema.
Cumbia. Género musical bailable, el más conocido de Colombia en el mundo. En la cumbia hay un soporte rítmico del sustrato africano , base fundamental para embridar la exposición melódica evocadora de las tonadas indianas, el aporte hispánico en la parte letrística de la canción y contribuciones armónicas occidentales.
Un rasgo fundamental de la cumbia es su aspecto ceremonial, en el aspecto danzario que exponen ciertos toques: El llamador afincando el ritmo de manera repetitiva, y a veces, con ciertos pequeños giros diferenciales, casi imperceptibles al oído humano, pero en plena comunión con la percusión menor: maracas, guaches y a veces, guacharaca cuando la parte melódica la lleva el acordeón, los pasos del bailador, que a su vez, desafía al tamborero del alegre a un reto entre golpe percutido y la postura del cuerpo, teniendo en cuenta la función agraria, el campo y su acción de trabajo como expresión campesina en su vertiente más antigua, tal como lo sugiere la investigación etnomusicológica de George List en Evitar (Bolívar en 1964)' -enrique luis muñoz vélez
'The Coastal Invasion' is a giant tour through the work and career of Lucho Bermudez, who together with his own personal orchestra, recorded some of the most eminent Colombian cumba music of his day. Bermudez was a formidable composer who led the state's many big bands so innovatively that he came to be known as the musician who modernised Colombia's most important folk music style, bringing it into a new age through his various collaborations with his wife, Matilde Diaz.' -Juno
'The Coastal Invasion’ highlights the golden age of big band cumbia and the maestro who is often seen as Colombia’s most influential composer, Lucho Bermudez.
Bermudez was a key figure who modernised the tropical music of Colombia's Caribbean coast. At the beginning of the 20th century, this music was largely looked down on. Bermudez changed all that by injecting a modern, jazzy big band sound to the Afro-Colombian sounds from his native region.
The infectious Afro-Amerindian dance rhythms of Lucho Bermudez y su Orquesta took over the elite nightclubs of Bogota and Medellin and from there, his music spread all over Latin America. For many Colombians, the songs of Lucho Bermudez and his wife and starlet singer Matilde Diaz represent the sound of their nation.
This compilation contains a selection of the music of Lucho Bermúdez y su Orquesta recorded during the years that they lived and worked in Medellín, probably the best work the orchestra ever recorded.' -Radio Martiko
An Oligarch of Rhythm
The very first 1949 issue of the SEMANA weekly - the Colombian equivalent of TIMES or NEWSWEEK - featured a colorful portrait of Lucho Bermúdez on the cover. The cover article, ‘An Oligarch Of Rhythm’, explained how the dance music of Bermúdez was taking Colombia and its capital Bogotá by storm.
On the magazine cover Lucho Bermúdez plays the clarinet and is surrounded by fiery dancers and swinging palm trees. The clarinet was a popular instrument for dance bands worldwide, but in the Colombian context it had a special function: it adopted the role of the gaita, the flute played by Colombia's Amerindians since ancient times. The dancers bottom left on the magazine cover point to another quintessential aspect of Bermúdez’ music: the infectious cumbia and porro rhythms, which are generally considered to be of Afro-Colombian heritage. Lastly, the grooving palm trees signify the region where Bermúdez’ music came from: the Caribbean North coast of Colombia, where porro, cumbia and other rhythms had evolved.
Coastal Invasion
With its tropical climate and mixed population the Carribean coast was almost another world, far away from Bogotá, the chilly capital high up in the Andean mountains with it’s predominantly white population. Bermúdez moved to Bogotá in the mid 40s, and he was the first bandleader from the Carribean coast of Colombia to host his own night at a ritzy club in the capital. Coastal music styles like porro and cumbia were little known here. In those days the Bogotános listened to European and Andean music like bambuco and pasillo: gentle, waltz-based and often melancholic string music of mixed origin but overall with a strong Hispanic flavour. And here was Lucho Bermúdez’ band, Orquesta Del Caribe, serving up loud, infectious Afro-Amerindian dance tunes with an 11 man band: blaring trumpets, soaring saxophones, meandering clarinets, rattling percussion and pounding rhythms. To the ears of the Bogotános the music from the Carribean coast sounded exotic and unconstrained, and was described and even marketed as ‘tropical music’. It both shocked and excited the Bogotános, and eventually developed into a national craze. The Semana magazine wrote:
"Porro is currently the most popular of Colombia's dance music... but many assure that it is the most noisy, and some that it is the most vulgar. But nobody denies its joyousness."
And as with so many modern dance crazes that captured the youths, the music and its dance rang loud - and often racist - alarm bells among 'respectable people' and the establishment. Some years earlier the national daily EL TIEMPO had ran the article ‘Civilization of colour’, pointing out that:
"the blacks have decided to avenge themselves of the bitter fate they bear on their shoulders.. and the attack is advancing against what the previous masters held most dear: against their art. (...) The waltz is dead. The dancer and his partner must jump, swivel their eyes while raising one leg, move their hips in lewd gyrations, cross their eyes and spread their legs like frogs."
Interestingly the cover article ‘An Oligarch Of Rhythm’, was published in a national political magazine. And indeed the advent of porro was more than just a dance craze: it was a sign of an enormous cultural shift. It brought the Caribbean culture of the coast into the heart of the Colombian establishment, both literally and culturally. Coastal music - musica costeña in Spanish - would dominate Colombian music for decades to come, infecting much of Latin America along the way.
Bermúdez was not the only bandleader who was playing coastal music in big band arrangements for the middle and upper classes to party to, nor was he the first one. The genre had emerged in the coastal towns of Cartagena and Barranquilla, and Bermúdez was one of the bandleaders and musicians that developed the style to suit the burgeoning nightlife. Other influential bands included Orquesta Orquesta A N°1, Atlántico Jazz Band and Orquesta Sosa. Apart from artistic judgment, Bermúdez was the most successful of his generation, and his name is - together with singer and wife Matilde Diaz - for many Colombians synonymous with the Golden Age of Cumbia. This compilation contains a selection of the music Lucho Bermúdez y su Orquesta recorded during the years that he lived and worked in Medellín, representing some of the best work the orchestra recorded. -Edo Bouman
Radio Martiko
Belgian record label since May 2015.
'We try to dig deep into the vaults of our rich musical past, by collecting and digitising old records, cassettes and reels from worldwide regions. Our label is especially focused on reviving and (re-)releasing the best material we select during our digging actions, thanks to all the artists, labels, institutions, collectors and archivists, who are helping us by giving access to their collections. Discover our releases and many hours of authentic grooves and tunes from near and far away countries here, on our Soundcloud. Our shows from home mixing sessions and live DJ sets are mostly very eclectic and intending to be mind-opening. We are happy to share great music which has stayed under the radar, since it was never available on digital streaming platforms. Please understand that we keep the track lists hidden due to licensing work and agreements with the right holders.'
1. Danza Negra 2:25
2. Mi Pueblo 2:34
3. Colombia Tierra Querida 2:35
4. Nelly 2:53
5. A Orillas Del Chicagua 2:51
6. Gaita De Las Flores 3:04
7. Fiesta De Negritos 2:51
8. Que Caña Dulce 3:09
9. Roberto Mendez 3:22
10. Tambores De Chambacu 2:59
11. Prende La Vela 2:24
12. Santa Marta 2:39
13. Mi Cumbia 2:57
14. Gaiteando 2:38
15. Arroz Con Coco 2:55
16. Plinio Guzman 3:04
17. Navidad Negra 3:55
18. Tolu 2:41
19. Taganga 2:52
20. La Buchaca 2:38
21. Irma 2:42
22. Mi Cumbia (Alternative version) 3:13