Sounds and Colours’ Colombia Book Preparing for Take-Off
- 03 September, 2012Our Colombia book/CD project is approaching take-off. We’re just waiting for the final few tracks to be cleared for the CD, and putting the final touches to the book itself. We’re expecting it to be ready for delivery in the next few weeks, but don’t want to make too many promises. Especially, as we haven’t been able to keep to any of our previously revealed release dates! However, we did want to give a public announcement that it’s coming soon, and also give you a quick glimpse of the contents.
The book contains 208 pages of pure Colombian music, culture and current affairs. We have been very fortunate to have some amazing contributors for this project, who mostly worked on a voluntary basis. There will be articles from a range of voices (from Colombians, from scholars, from musicians, from fanboys like ourselves, and many others), interspliced with photos and illustrations, to give a real glimpse into the quite amazing and diverse Colombian culture.
Full contents for the book are below. We are just waiting to clear the last few tracks on the album so not ready to divulge the tracklisting yet. However, you can be sure it’s gonna be very nice indeed!
Music
Colombian Music: Introduction by Russell Slater
Andrés Landero, Musical Traditions and the Cultural Representation of the Sabana by Bardo Martinez
Ondatrópica by Russell Slater
Q&A: Eblis Javier Alvarez Vargas (Meridian Brothers)
Pernett: Out of the Lab and Into Your Computer by Gina Vergel
Joe Arroyo: Tales of a Caribbean Troubador by Alberto M Coronado
El Carnaval de Curramba (Barranquilla) by Gina Vergel
Musica Africana by Russ Slater
Music as Resistance: The Story of Champeta by Nicholas Carter
Q&A: Hugo Candelario
Picós by Mirjam Wirz (Photos)
Q&A: Hector Buitrago
Manu Chao in Colombia by Russell Slater
Film
Colombian Cinema: Introduction by Russell Slater
Colombian Cinema is Ready for It’s Close-Up by Carlos A Gutiérrez
Q&A: Ciro Guerra
Film Reviews
Q&A: Marta Rodriguez
Politics, Human Rights & Social Issues
From the Soul of Colombia to the Heart of Venezuela by Stephanie Kennedy
Voice of Witness: Danny’s Story
Colombia’s Quest for Peace and Justice: The International and National Context by James Petras
The Sierra Nevada Indians by Survival International
Colombia’s Cultural Mixology by Jamie B. Gelbtuch
Pablo Escobar as Tourist Attraction by Mindy Laughton
Arts & Books
Ornament and Crime by Humberto Junca Casas
A Gabriel Garcia Marquez Reader by Gina Vergel
William S Burroughs’ Yage Letters by Leslie Wylie
Neckeyenosebreaking: The Life and Work of Andrés Caicedo by José Sandoval Zapata
Populardelujo: The Taste of Others by Jose Roca
Hector Abad’s Colombian Tragedy by Ed Hart
Plus
Photos by Ewald Vanvugt and Raul Linares
Illustrations from Power Paola and Lido Pimienta
Original artwork from Typozon
AND
16-track CD compilation of new music from Colombia, featuring a wide range of styles.
If you would like to pre-order a copy you can do so by going to soundsandcolours.com/01-colombia where there are a number of options depending on whether you are based in the UK, Europe or the rest of the world. As soon as the book goes to the printers we will remove the option to have your name printed in the book. As it stands, everyone who buys a copy soon will have their name printed in the inside of the book.
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Tags: Colombia, Colombia Book, Colombian Arts, Colombian Literature, Colombian Movies, Colombian Music, Sounds and Colours Presents Colombia
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4 Comments
Wait a minute/ Un minuto! Why weren’t some of the top researchers in Colombian music, like Ana María Ochoa, Miguel Birenbaum Quintero, Maria Elena Cepeda, Deborah Pacini Hernandez, among others, contacted to contribute to this work? Is the intention one of mass market journalism, or is it a matter of the editorial oversight?
Jorge Arévalo Mateus
Project Director
Colombian Cultura; Initiative
Center for Traditional Music and Dance
Hey Jorge,
I’m Russ, the editor of the project. Hopefully what we’ve done with the book is something a little different, and that will give people a new perspective on Colombia. One of the things we wanted to resist was going down an academic route, and so we only contacted a few academics in regards to contributing the project (not all of whom could contribute in the end). Most of the articles have been written by fans of Colombian music, film, arts and culture, with our contributors based around the world, giving a multi-dimensional view of Colombia.
We don’t intend the book to be the “definitive guide” to Colombian music, film or arts, more like a scrap book of views, ideas and stories, that will give people an insight into Colombia that they wouldn’t get from reading a collection of academic texts on the country. I don’t think you can level “mass market journalism” at us. If you have a look around the site I’m sure you’ll get an idea of what we’re all about.
Best,
Russ
Hi Russ,
Often the problem with fan pieces is the uncritical eye, which can obscure underlying cultural and aesthetic values in favor of the surface “hip” cultural factor. What we academics call “cultural colonization.” Such charges, as I’m sure you’re aware, have been leveled at Ondatropica’s producer and other examples of British-Colombian “collaborations”, such as Onda’s predecessor Sidestepper.
If the focus in on looking at Colombian popular culture in a new way, then you have to present it in relation to the ways that Colombian expressive cultures have always been changing; that is, as active, living, transformational processes both within Colombia and, now, globally. With all due respect, these are the “multi-dimensional views” that matter. This could be done in an exciting and captivating manner, which could actually serve the larger audience you seek. I would like to see the publication/recordings; perhaps even review the book/CD for both academic and non-academic publications, blogs, etc.
JAM
Hey Jorge, a very long debate could very easily start from your comment, especially in regards to Ondatropica/Sidestepper. However, the only thing I really want to add is that you shouldn’t make the assumption that we are after the “mass market” or a “large audience.” Since we launced Sounds and Colours a couple of years ago many people have sent in comments saying how much they love the website and what we do, and that there’s very few websites doing this for South America in English. The logical thing for us then was to produce a book which would capture what we’re about, but also be something collectible, something that could potentially have a longer life, or more significance. There’s no advertising in the book and we’ve made the price as cheap as we possibly could. We just want people to enjoy it, whoever they may be (and however many of them there are). If you like the sound of what the book is about, then please buy a copy. If you’re not interested then so be it. Our intention is not to compete with other researches or resources about Colombia, to reach a “mass market” or to make out like we’re some kind of holy messenger sent from Colombia to tell other Westerners about it’s culture; we just wanted to produce something that we’d love to have, and that hopefully our audience will too.