Championing music of the rare, international kind (i.e. Korean hip-hop, Scottish salsa and West African lullabies accompanied by Carlos Santana), the Putumayo label will present an evening of Latin American folk music infused with indigenous instrumentals and contemporary lyrical content. Putumayo artists Toto La Momposina, Mariana Montalvo and Belo Velloso will bring musical styles ranging from Colombian cumbia to the African beats of Bahia to Mandeville Auditorium for Putumayos Latinas on Nov. 7.
The eldest of the trio, Toto La Momposina, carries the torch in defense of her native Colombian cumbia. Traveling from village to village along the Atlantic Coast, La Momposina spent her youth learning the flavor and rhythm of local dances, and mastering traditional percussion, string and wind instruments. Drawing inspiration from these diverse travels and her deeply rooted musical background, La Momposina sings gentle serenades that build slowly with throbbing percussion, backed by the ripple of native Colombian gaita flutes. Keeping alive the musical form cumbia, La Momposina attempts to preserve the rural style from the threat of commercialization.
Unlike La Momposina, Chilean-born Montalvo spent a long 30 years away from her native country after her 1970s exile during Augusto Pinochet’s military takeover of the country. In spite of her absence, Montalvo stays true to her Chilean roots by giving fresh renditions to the nation’s traditional folk music, incorporating unique instruments, such as the South American charango (a small guitar often made from the shell of an armadillo), quena (a notch end-blown flute) and zampona (pan pipes) into her music. Her engaging melodies and lush, poetic songs carry strong elements of the “nueva canción” — a South American musical movement that emerged in the 1960s and ’70s.
As the niece of international superstars Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethania, Velloso was exposed to a variety of Brazilian musical styles, including samba, bossa nova and tropicalia. Merging these traditional Brazilian rhythms with the beat of African drums, she pays tribute to the vibrant spirit of Bahia, a region rich with African heritage.
“I started recording at a time when few Brazilian artists were paying attention to all of Bahia’s rhythms,” Velloso said. “So the influence of Bahia’s rhythms, like “axé” and “ijexá,” has been significant for the mixture of pop, rock and the style of MPB [popular Brazilian music] that I was doing.” You can hear these influences in her songs as strong, smooth melodies pounding with the festive spirit of Bahia and African heritage.
Combining indigineous melodies, African beats and Latin American rhythms, Putumayo Latinas promises to be a night charged with revolutionary energy. Tickets are available at the UCSD box office (534-4559) and are half price for UCSD students.
