In recent years the fertile imagination and syncretist impulses of Afro-Colombian music—a dynamic sound that emerged during the 70s when local rhythms collided with sounds gleaned from imported African pop—has been receiving its due acclaim. Colombia's ubiquitous cumbia sound figures heavily in the mix, but the throbbing polyrhythms of West Africa define this raw dance music, where call-and-response chants and shuffling hand percussion, occasionally enhanced by lean guitar figures or sleek horn charts, cast deeply hypnotic spells.…
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