“Con el rumor de las palmeras se siente el eco de música lejana…” Turururu.  (With the murmur of palm trees I feel the echo of far away music). The calling of the drums, the humming and the voice of Matilde Díaz, the slow softness of the music and that elegant melancholy. All of these things make “Danza Negra” an absolute jewel. This is some of the most beautiful music ever made in Colombia.

The song describes the “pilanderas” (the women who knead corn) dancing to that far away music, the cumbia. Once we are immersed in the movement, the song gets to its emotional core with a lovely image:  “Near the ocean I hear the cries of a black man who sings about his loves with sadness” (sorry but, “sus amores” sounds much better in Spanish). As I said today in my many #LuchoBermúdezfacts, many of us were born because our parents fell in love dancing to this music.

Lucho Bermúdez, the man who wrote this song, began his life of musical wonders one hundred years ago in El Carmen de Bolívar, the same small town where Amira la bisabuela, Amirita la abuela, Yeya la tía and Vicky la mamá were born. And, let’s face it, where a part of my heart and my love for music was born as well. 

Back in the days, on January 25th of 1912, little Lucho was born in the house of Mr. Luis Bermúdez and Isabel Acosta. According to the biographers, his father was a poet, historian and math professor (oh well) and he knew what he was doing when he sent the child to Santa Marta to learn how to play the clarinet.

Aside from cumbias y porros, Lucho Bermúdez wrote gaitas, fandangos, mapalés, paseos and merengues, that is, almost every rhythm in the Colombian Caribbean coast.* He also invented his own thing called “patacumbia” (http://bit.ly/x33fXJ), a hybrid between the African pata-pata and the Colombian cumbia. Yes, he was a genuis.  As a less known fact, he also recorded joropos, rhythms from other parts of Colombia. For example, here is “Huracán” (dedicada a la gente de Parque Patricios #nonfact) - http://bit.ly/A7Mwr3

Speaking of Parque Patricios, el maestro wrote this “Danza Negra” during his time in Buenos Aires with Matilde Díaz his most beloved singer, wife and mother of Gloria María (http://bit.ly/yBw0dl). By defining the sound of big tropical bands in Colombia from the thirties, Lucho Bermúdez made a crucial move: he took traditional rhythms from the afro-Colombian coast recorded them (among other places, at the Discos Fuentes studio in Medellín and at the RCA Victor Studios in Buenos Aires), played in them in the newly-created radio stations in Colombia and put them in big bourgeois salons and clubs in Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba and the United States. All those “white folks” must have loved him for that. When my grandma Amirita moved from El Carmen to Bogotá after she married grandpa Justo in the 40s they danced with the Lucho Bermúdez Orchestra at the Club Metropolitano in Bogotá. Those must have been the days.

Today, El Carmen de Bolívar (tierra de amores, de luz y ensueño - http://bit.ly/mExqM8. By the way, this is Vicky la mamá’s favorite song in the world) will celebrate his life and his legacy with a concert that starts in 5 hours in the main square. I grew up listening to his music and all those songs are still a fundamental part of the soundtrack of my life wherever I go. So, today, more than ever all my love for this man and his legacy. “Lucho Bermúdez tu papá” #LuchoBermúdezfact.

* This bafleo has already paid tribute to his music several times: with “Salsipuedes” - http://bit.ly/yQzWbf, “Borrachera” (written during the worst hangover in the history of the Caribbean) - http://bit.ly/pW8zBB, “Caprichito” - http://bit.ly/yZbXfn, “Tina” (the most beautiful woman) - http://bit.ly/ydoO8W, “San Fernando” (a fun place) - http://bit.ly/jrKkU3 and  “La Pollera Colorá” (the song was written by Wilson Choperena, but he knew how to play it masterfully)- http://bit.ly/ArURIl

But there is so much more. For example, the song that sings about the importance of a full and unbroken coconut (http://bit.ly/xTHlM5); or about dancing with a candle (http://bit.ly/zuvWfH), the indigenous tribe of the Kalamary (http://bit.ly/wNPNTU), optimistic and, of course, instrumentalized, patriotic outbursts with the clarinet (http://bit.ly/dt32Sm); Arturo García who, apparently, was a good dancer and a nice guy (http://bit.ly/A37PHT); parties in which he could have named the guests without the diminutive (http://bit.ly/7UhWzU); psychedelic patacumbias (http://bit.ly/zOll0e); mosques (http://bit.ly/xxA4Uc) and “balnearios” (http://bit.ly/18mODq).

Finally, for those of you interested in knowing the different trajectories of this song among DJs and, perhaps more interestingly, in the Mexican Cumbia Sonidera, you can take a look here - http://bit.ly/ybnS7h