COLOMBIA

Adoration of the Child God (Cauca department)

Recordings and text : Jérôme Cler
1 CD AIMP CIV / VDE 1349, 2011

In the Andean valleys of Cauca (in the south-west of Colombia), black communities, descended from the slaves who mined gold for the Spanish, annually celebrate the “adoration of the Child-God” from Christmas until the Feast of Kings.  The ceremony involves songs and dance until dawn before a  manger in a village house.  The originality of this group of 6 musicians is seen in the presence of a violin, which accompanies the women, who are singers and mistresses of the ritual.