Los Gaiteros

The Music of the Gaiteros occupies a major place in the Colombian musical landscape, so much for the cultural diversity of which it testifies than for the characteristic to produced sonorities, source of joy andadmiration.
 
The music of Gaiteros is made to be played in concert, because from this magic interaction with the public is born a very particular festive atmosphere.
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This music was, for a long time, almost goes away from going, doubtless because the discographic industry, highly monopolized in Colombia, preferred kinds to him more popular and thus easier to sell.
 
Their pressure was such as numbers known musicians went until interpreting the texts of Gaiteros on rates/rhythms and melodies more marketable. It resulted from this a dramatic situation for Gaiteros.
However recently, more and more of musicians express the desire to make leave the music Gaiteros and more particularly Gaita of its anonymity. We can be optimistic today, because this music knew to regain the heart of the Colombians and is currently carried out on most of the territory. With this renewed interest coincides arrived of a new generation of Gaiteros which could quickly take down all the honors at the time of festivals.
The music of Gaiteros is also known to cause peace and of love.
 
At the time of the concerts and of the festivals of gaita, so much the public which the groups in competition forget their competitions to deliver itself entirely to the music and the dance and it are not rare to meet festivals being able to last two to three days.
 
What still strikes in the music of Gaiteros, it is this constant search of dialogue and balance between the rate/rhythm, the melody and the words.
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The cumbias and the puyas which result from it find their sources in the 3 cultures which marked Colombia the most: Indian culture of the Caribbean, in particular that of Kogui (Gaitas), Africa (percussions) and Andalusian Spain (song).
The songs find their inspiration in the multiple experiments which mark the everyday life, that they are happy or unhappy, and with which the public can be easily identified.
 
The instruments which make the music of Gaiteros are the flute gaita, the maracas, called maracon, and of the drums.
 
The female gaita (gaita will hembra), is made of a surmounted " cane " of a made head of a mixture of beeswax and vegetable ashes where enchasse myself a feather of bird to allow to insufflate the air; it includes/understands 5 holes and one plays the melodies there.

 
The male gaita (gaita macho) and the maracas accompany both the melody played by the female gaita. The male gaita includes/understands one to two holes; el machero shakes its large maracas, enriching the play and returning it more complex.
 
The large drum or the merry drum is made in a hollow trunk. Its greater end is covered with the skin of a young goat tended by a entrelassage of cord. Its function is to create the emotion and the rate/rhythm.
 
The tambor llamador (calling drum) is a smaller drum, like the large drum. Will tambora is made of a covered hollow trunk of skins at its two ends, those being tended by cords. It is played with two sticks and its function is to give to the group its rhythmic base.

 

" Los Gaiteros " is a formed whole of six talented musicians, worthy heirs to the generations of musicians who preceded them.
 
Juancho Fernández (song and percussions).Recognized on all the Colombian terrictoire,it took part in the group " Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto " as percussionist, singer and compo- sitor on three generations. In addition to a exeptionnelle voice, it has the gift of the improvisation.
 
Zoraida Rojas (song and coros).It known to be distinguished in a number of festivals. The richness and the power of its voice give to the group all its dimenssion representative of the music of the Colombian coast.
 
Javier Will pull up (gaita male and maracas). He was, as of the 13 years age, the director of a group of Gaitas. Of the family of Will pull up, it brings to the group all the influence of Ovejas. He is a type-setter and plays with brilliance the multiple instruments of the coast.
 
Fredis Arrieta (gaita female). He was received, during two consecutive years, with the greatest honors at the time of Festivals of Gaitas with San Jacinto and Ovejas. Belonging to the new generation of gaiteros, it is characterized by an astonishing pulmonary force at such point that it is the only one with being able to play of its gaitas. Type-setter and virtuoso of San Juan de Nepomuceno it directed various groups of gaita.
 
Andrés Avella (drum). It left the study and the rigidity of the academies to launch out in the world of the musics of the coast. The University Carnival of Bogotá enabled him to meet the large Masters of this music. It is able to play of many rates/rhythms and all the instruments of Gaiteros. Shine
 
Eduardo Garzón (drum Alegre and Coros). El Gato is well-known in the Colombian academic world just as outside Colombia by its rounds. When it plays of the drum, it is characterized by its control from the rate/rhythm and the improvisation, creating an atmosphere specific to the virtuosos. It devotes its life and its studies to the Colombian Caribbean music. Los
 
Gaiteros also animate engineering departments of instruments, percus-sions, of gaitas, other instruments, of song and dance.
Luis Eduardo Garzon
José Plata
Zoraida Rojas

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