About a month ago, while in Colombia, I had the chance to go to the Porro-music Festival ("Festival Del Porro") in the town of San Pelayo, Corodoba. It was a unique experience to see, listen and dance to dozens of Porro bands and to share with local friends!
Porro bands ("Banda de Porro") are large ensembles of about 15 musicians that consist of snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, trombones, euphoniums ("bombardinos"), clarinets and trumpets (I personally find much similarity between Porro music and Porro bands and New Orleans "Second Line" music). For this festival many bands come from all over the country to participate in the contest, but the best part is the something called "La Alborada":
After a night of partying and dancing, at 4am all of the bands that will take part in the festival gather around the town's main square ("Plaza"). Here everybody starts drinking and lighting candels that are held up in the air while dacing and then the "Fandango" begins with EVERYBODY going towards the Festival stage in a very unique mixture of dancing/walking/drinking/shouting/candle-holding! This last for about an hour or two (Not that I was checking my watch but by the time you get to the Festival Stage it's already daylight) and then all the bands get up on the stage and play together some classic Porro tunes (the most famous one being "Maria Barilla") and the party simply keeps going for a few more hours.
Anyway, here's some footage that I took while I was there so you can get an idea...it also includes footage of the kind family and friends that where generous enough to let us stay with them during the festival (there are no Hotels in San Pelayo...at least to my knowledge). Maybe you'll start planning your trip so you can witness this unique cultural expresion of the "Sinú" region of Colombia for your selves. Check it out:
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