Music of Colombia

Modern Colombian culture is a mixture of African, native and European (especially Spanish) influences, as well as more modern American and Caribbean musical forms, such as Trinidadian, Cuban, and Jamaican.

In the late 1950s, Mexican rock artists like Enrique Guzmán[?] and Cesar Costa[?] became very popular in Colombia. Soon, native rock bands like Los Speakers[?] gained a wide following. Starting in 1967 (see 1967 in music), native bands like Genesis[?] (unrelated to the more famous band of the same name) fused native musical forms (like cumbia) with rock.

Cumbia[?] is a mixture of Spanish and African music, the latter brought by slaves. In the 19th century, slavery was abolished and Africans, Indians and other ethnic groups mixed more fully. Styles like bambuco[?], vallenato[?] and porro[?] was especially influential. When the waltz became popular in the 19th century, a Colombian version called pasillo[?] was invented.