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How the Petronio Alvarez Festival Is Globalizing Afro-Colombian Music
The Petronio Alvarez Festival Hhghlights Afro Colombian music; Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also help.
It was not surprising that the audience, a mix of Colombians and visitors from the U.S., Europe and elsewhere, knew the band’s material; they are among the few groups from the South American country’s musically-rich Pacific coast that is the focus of the “Petronio,” as it’s known, to reach tens of millions of streams on Spotify. Markle spoke in perfect Spanish from the stage and the royal couple not only danced to and heard music from the Pacific coast, but also attended events focused on challenges facing the people of the historically-marginalized region. “You can’t be a purist,” she added — drawing on the example of Spain’s flamenco, which drew many such debates for decades, only to see the artist Camarón de la Isla fuse the traditional form with other contemporary sounds, reaching great success.
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