as summer draws to a close, i'm listening to a lot of Afro-Colombian tunes... lately, i'm especially fond of the songs of Petrona Martínez. this 70+ year old folk singer is from San Basilio de Palenque, a town founded centuries ago by runaway slaves in coastal Colombia where the language still contains strong influences from the Kikongo language of Congo and Angola. Petrona Martínez inherited a strong singer’s tradition from Bullerengue, an Afro-Colombian dance rhythm born during the African fight for freedom from slavery and originally sung solely by pregnant women confined to their homes and thus unable to attend village dances. she learned them from her grandmother and great-grandmother as they sang while doing daily tasks & at her town's festivals. In 2002, at age 63, she was nominated for a Latin Grammy & continues today to pass on the tradition, singing while dancing or just sitting in a rocking chair... this one's my fave:
