Next to Cumbia, Vallenato constitutes one of the most important native musical styles coming from Colom-bia. The roots of Vallenato lie with the music of the Wayuu Indians of the Güajira peninsula of Northern Colombia, in fusion with diverse African and Caribbean influences. With the adoption of the accordion --introduced in Colombia by Northern Euro-pean merchants and colonizers during the early 19th century--, Vallenato acquired its current form to be a music for the transmission of folk and love stories, a music for celebration and serenades, in the traditions
of the Spanish troubadours.

Gustavo Nieto is the Musical Director of Sensación Vallenata, a group based in the Washington DC area, dedicated to performing Colombian Vallenato. Nieto is a native of Cartagena, Colombia, now living in this area. He talked to CLAVE about his work in popularizing Vallenato in the United States.

Clave: Gustavo, please tell us about Vallenato.

Vallenato is the true music, one of the most typical music of Colombia, in which the accordion plays the most important role. Of course, the accordion is not Colombian but German, but it was quickly integrated with the music of the country to form what is known today as Vallenato.

Vallenato comes in two forms: Sabanero and Vallenato. Saba-nero comes from Barranquilla, Colombia, and goes up to the plains, closer to the coast. Vallenato itself covers from Barranquilla to Valledupar. Pre-viously, there was a lot of discussion between the Vallenato and Sabanero over who had the most genuine form. But that discussion has cooled down due to the world-scale dissemination of Vallenato, thanks especially to the work done by Carlos Vives and other contemporary artists.

Vallenato's origins lie in Valledupar, a city in Northern Colombia that is the capital of the César Department. In this ancient city, there is a very famous annual festival of Vallenato, the Festival of Leyenda Vallenata, attracting thousands of people and hundreds of groups from all over the country. The name Vallenato is the combination of the word valle which means valley, and nato which means native.

Clave: What are the main components of Vallenato?

Vallenato is composed of some four basic rhythms: paseo, which can be slow or fast, depending on the kind of song. Merengue, a little faster and more danceable; similar to the Afro-Caribbean rhythm typical of the Dominican merengue. Puya, a slow African-based rhythm in which the caja plays an important role. Son, another slow-paced style which has the accordion play both the melodic and bass line at the same time, and highly similar to the paseo style.

Nowadays you can also find other rhythms, such as porro and even cumbia included within vallenatos played by contemporary groups. What is most commercial out there is the paseo or merengue, adding sometimes a cumbia rhythm for a little variation.

Clave: What are the main instruments of a Vallenato ensemble?

Originally, Vallenato was played as a parranda, a party or celebration, with the accordion, the caja, or a goat skin drum, and the guacharaca, a bamboo scraper, as the most basic instruments of the Vallenato ensemble.

Musicians such as Alejo Durán, Abel Antonio Villa, which were pioneers of this music, started to add other instruments such as congas and campana or cencerros. Then came Alfredo Gutiérrez, who was the one responsible for modernizing the Vallenato. He added guitar, bass, and harmonized vocals. In the previous style of Vallenato the accordion player would sing and play without any background vocals. Thus Alfredo Gutiérrez gave Vallenato a new, more modern form.

Eventually, artists such as the Binomio de Oro, modernized the ensemble even more, adding synthesizers, and other instrumentation. Nowadays, even slow Valle-nato ballads are sometimes played with electric drumming and other modern instruments.

Clave: What can you tell us about your group, Sensación Vallenata?

The group was created more than six years ago in the Washington DC area. Come to think of it, it must have been earlier since it's been six years since my arrival at the city. The group brought me from New York, where I was living at the time. The Rocha brothers called me and I came down to this city. When I got here, I found myself with a group that had already been playing for over a year. Because of work-related issues the accordion player had left the group and they invited me to join the group.

Eventually, the founders themselves left the group because of work and family, and then I added new musicians. Nowadays, it's a totally different set of musicians. But it's still Sensación Vallenata. I'm very grateful to the founders for keeping me in mind and for giving me the opportunity to continue with this work.

Clave: Who were the founders of the group?

David and Daniel Rocha, Hugo Moreno, Jorge Márquez and Rafael King were the original members of the band. Most of them left for work-related reasons, and assigned me the task of continuing the group's work, which I have done with a different set of people.

Right now, the group consists of Enid Meza as background singer, my nephew Humberto Pájaro Nieto in the caja, Waldo Pinto in the congas and Julio Muñiz in the bass, Albin Muñoz in the güiros, and Richard in the timbales. I play the accordion and sing lead. I am also the musical director of the group.

Clave: What are the future plans of the band?

We have recorded two CDs, and now we are mostly playing in local clubs and social events. But our aim is to continue ahead developing Vallenato music, to maintain the folklore alive, especially here in the U.S.

Our first CD was done with me as the lead vocalist, but the second CD was done with the well-known broadcaster Amin Segundo, who is from my hometown. But Amin has since then retired from musical activities due to work obligations.

We are currently working on a project to record with a national label. We are already preparing the material, which is all original music.

Gustavo Nieto resides in Wheaton, Maryland, and can be reached at (301) 962-0634.

Annotated Discography
Freddy Sierra and Eligio Vega, Vallenato (Tumi , 1993).
Carlos Vives, Escalona: Un canto a la vida, vol. I y II (Polygram Colombia, 1994)
Carlos Vives, Clásicos de la provincia (Polygram MÈxico, 1993).
Resources
www.vallenato.com. A comprehensive site about the history of Vallenato. In Spanish.
www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/7515/. A page dedicated to Vallenato and its folk roots. In Spanish.