There, By The Shore: La Escuela Folclórica

La Escuela Folclórica – Working with Youth and Kids to Strengthen Afro-Colombian Traditions

“We’re Afro-Colombian. This is in our blood.” – My community members, on several occasions

Cumbia presentation at school

Identifying a Community Need

My first weekend in town at site, nearly 18 months ago, I walked around to get out of the house and to understand the lay of my new land. If the town was much larger I may have gotten lost, but with only one real street (unpaved like all the other streets, alleys and paths) I wasn’t at much risk of anything other than unexpectedly surprising a stray dog. Crossing around the dusty softball path, seeking shade from the fierce sun, I heard the banging of wood and metal accompanying a joyous and rhythmic yelling. Using anything at hand – discarded and rusted oil drums, plastic buckets, sticks and boards – a group of young kids was getting the energy out of their systems by pounding out beats and belting out chants. In the true sense of the word, it was awesome: wondrous and eye-opening, invoking of awe. I was hit with a wave of aural and visual joy. It was – in sum – totally rad.

Working with the English teachers in the high school being my primary project, I had my eyes and ears open in an attempt to understand the needs of the community and find a secondary project outside of teaching English where I can (hopefully) make a larger impact during my service. Stumbling upon this raucous group of merrymakers, I was convinced that something related to youth and drumming was where I could apply some energy and get a better understanding of the local culture.

Informational meeting - lots of interested teens and kids!

Drums at school - lots of repair work needed

Developing a Plan and Finding a Local Counterpart

After many months of thinking about this idea and having numerous conversations on the topic with neighbors and potential community counterparts, I was well into formulating a solid plan: Reach back into the (gradually disappearing) traditions of this Afro-Colombian community and get the older residents of town to teach traditional dancing and drumming techniques to the musically inclined, rhythmic teenagers and kids, seeking financial support from a Small Project Assistance (SPA) grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Peace Corps to fund the project start up.

Mapalé presentation in the park for the town's festivities

With some frustration that potential community counterparts – critical for short-term success and vital for long-term sustainability – seemed to back out at committing to work on the project with me, through sheer coincidence a master drummer and dancer (“El Doctor” as he is known) moved to my town, escaping the crime of the city to live more peacefully here in town where he had family. A natural partnership was formed between us through evenings spent on his front porch talking about drumming and dancing and the overwhelming amount of free time of the local youth. Using his expertise and experience teaching traditional Afro-Colombian drumming and dancing to youth, my project planning and coordination and relationships with teenage students through months of English classes at the high school, we refined the project plan, roughly:

1. Gather potential students together to see who wants to learn drumming and/or dancing;

2. Form a group of youth dancers (12 to 18 years old) to present at the town’s festivities;

3. Present at the festivities to energize the town and gain momentum for the project;

4. Apply for a SPA grant to equip the group with the traditional instruments (drums and other percussion, flutes) and uniforms for two traditional styles of dance (cumbia and mapalé);

5. Strengthen the formation of a youth drumming and dancing group and use these teenagers to help form and develop a similar group for children (6 to 11 years old);

6. Present both groups locally here in town and the youth group in surrounding communities;

7. Develop “youth leaders” that can oversee the group and allow it to become a sustainable entity in the community responsible for all future drumming and dancing activities.

El Doctor tuning some drums

Selling the Project and Getting the Funding

Identifying what we had in the community and what we needed for project success, we decided to apply for a SPA grant and seek some financial support to get the group off the ground. After many long nights on my end and many conversations with the Doctor, a local seamstress, other community leaders, my Peace Corps bosses, and the teenagers I submitted our request for SPA funding. Detailing the need for this project and potential positive impact for the community, all foreseen budget expenditures (including how we would meet a minimum 25% financial support of the project to be contributed by the community, either in direct money or in in-kind contribution such as use of space or labor contributed by community members as part of the project), a calendar of activities, goals that we would meet, number of participants and beneficiaries as well as a plan for long-term sustainability, our request pushed for us to receive the maximum financial limit established by Peace Corps Colombia for SPA grants. After a few more email exchanges with the grant coordinator and some additional polishing for the proposal, my counterpart and I took boat, bus and taxi to the PC Colombia office in Barranquilla to present and defend the project to PC office staff – my Project Manager, Director of Programming and Training, Training Manager, Grant Coordinator, and other indispensable personnel that had assisted in shepherding the process. I led the hour-long presentation, completely in Spanish, and then answered questions with my counterpart before being asked to leave the room for a few minutes while the decision makers deliberated. Five minutes later smiles were on all faces in the room, hands extended for firm handshakes with the men, arms opened for hugs with the women. Not only was the project approved, but it was approved at the maximum possible amount for the Peace Corps posting. Awesome. El Doctor and I rushed to the bus stop to make it back to catch the last boat to town, feeling like champs. Money in the bank. The “Escuela Folclórica” (“Folkloric School”) was born.

Drum practice

One of the drummers hanging out before practice. Instruments from left to right: Llamador, guache, tambor alegre, tambora.

Making Things Happen

There has been way too much going on in this project – and I have been too busy to write detailed postings on all the many aspects of it – to provide an intricate account for now. Here’s a run-down of what we’ve done and how we’re taking the project from a plan to a reality:

Juegos de Instrumentos – Drums, other percussion instruments are flutes are what compose the local type of music we would be making. The school had drums that, in theory, we could use but they would need some significant repairs including changing the leather skin (the drums at the school had holes in their skins owing to bugs and being poorly kept). El Doctor got to work making two new sets of drums – working with and leading some of the teenage musicians in polishing the wooden bodies, curing the leather skins, and putting the drums together; not only is the result two sets of drums for the group, but also a transfer of knowledge on traditional drum making techniques and the history of the instruments to the youth drummers. Separately El Doctor purchased additional percussion instruments and flutes to complete each of the instrument sets or “juegos de instrumentos.”

Untying the tambora for a tuning

Wooden husks for drums. Left to right: Tambor alegre, tambora, llamador.
Estuches – Cases for the instruments. We got these custom made to make sure they fit the drums well. Absolutely necessary for good storage of the drums and to keep them safe from the elements and animals and bugs that might munch on them or burrow into them looking for places to lay eggs.

Brand new drum cases

Checking to make sure the drums fit

What happens to drums that aren't properly cared for...

Drums poorly maintained and not kept in cases lead short, brutish lives, often winding up in trash piles.
Vestuarios – A local seamstress (Liana) has done a fantastic job getting us uniforms, “vestuarios”, for two traditional styles of dance: Cumbia and Mapalé. The final result will be ten cumbia uniforms for youth male dancers, ten for female dancers, ten mapalé unforms for youth male dancers, ten for female dancers, and then six more cumbia uniforms for the youth musicians as they wear the same cumbia clothing for all different songs they play. That will be forty six uniforms in total. After me making a few trips to the market to buy the fabric and other components of the traditional uniforms, Liana has finished the youth uniforms and is now repeating the process to have the same two styles of uniforms for the childrens’ group we are also forming. My room – currently the storage space for the uniforms while we continue to try to identify a more permanent location is awash in while cumbia pants and shirts, bright mapalé shorts and skirts, and sombreros vueltiao worn by the musicians and male cumbia dancers.

Cumbia uniforms in progress
Prácticas – Dance and drumming practice has been pushing forward. The youth have learned not only cumbia and mapalé, but also garabato and cerececé, two other traditional Afro-Colombian styles of dance and music. In this, we are extending beyond the Afro-Colombian traditions of the north Atlantic coast of Colombia and into some of the styles traditional to the Afro-Colombian diaspora on the Pacific coast in the department of Chocó. The kids, practicing Sundays at school, have been learning cumbia and mapalé. I have the luck to join in as well when some of the male dancers fail to show up to practice – it’s a great way to work up a good sweat on and everyone gets a real kick out of my yelling a cumbia “Uepa!” yell or bouncing around in a mapalé solo. I’ve also picked up some rhythms on the tambor alegre and instruction in gaita (the traditional flute with indigenous roots) just got underway with me putting my effort into learning it as best as I can.

Guiding some young dancers during practice

Kids´group

Drum practice with both the kids and teens

Working on our finger placement during gaita practice

Drum practice - Trying to get some rhythms down on tambor alegre

Working on some mapalé moves

Kids practicing, wearing some sombreros vueltiao

Even the Peace Corps Volunteer gets a chance to dance!
Líderes – The teen group has selected three leaders: One for the male dancers, one for the female dancers and one for the musicians. There has been a little start and stop with delegating responsibilities, but the musician leader – Rafael, a good friend of mine here in town – has been vital in getting things as well organized as they currently are. Other than El Doctor and myself, he’s been instrumental (no pun intended) in pushing this project forward.

Rafael relaxing on his tambora
Presentaciones – We’ve had several presentations and the group has getting requests to present at town events. There have been three presentations for the school – Cumbia, Mapalé, and a separate drumming presentation (including yours truly on tambor alegre) for the Día de la Afrocolombianidad (Afro-Colombian Day). The group showed off their new uniforms for a Mother’s Day presentation at the senior citizens center, an event that was a hit. We’ve been invited to present in the next adjacent town during their town festivities in next month, an occasion that has the teenagers quite excited. And the musicians have shown up as surprise guests at three birthday parties (including my own, nearly bringing me to tears with joy and appreciation) to create some noise.

Mapalé presentation at school

Mapalé

Cumbia presentation for Mothers´Day at the senior citizens center

Cumbia presentation at school

Cumbia presentation in the park for the town´s festivities - we borrowed these uniforms since we didn't have any of our own at that time. And the torches were home made.

Mapalé in the park

Pushing Forward and Catching the “Fever”

We’re not without our challenges and we certainly have had our share of frustrations: Lack of a dedicated practice space, competing town events which occasionally distract the youth participants, and – not least of all – the challenges associated dealing with a 40-odd teenage males and females and about 60 children. We’re pushing forward though and have a lot more work to do. Although this is technically a secondary project for me, I find myself spending about equal amount of time working on items for the group as I do in my primary project of co-planning and co-teaching. It’s well worth it, even if it means more late nights and using some of my own living allowance for small things that weren’t included in the original budget (photocopies, boat transportation to the city to buy materials at the market, etc.) It looks like a busy next few months for me and the group as we get more organized and show off our skills in presentations here and in other areas.

It’s going to be a fun next few months working on this project. There is such a “fever” in town now for this activity that I have witnessed impromptu dancing break out in the street and in my house when several of the dancers are together. From my window I often hear the “rat-tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat,- tat-tat-tat-tat” of cumbia drumming from kids beating out the rhythm with sticks on buckets or boat hulls. Needless to say, I smile a lot. If this is truly in the blood of the community, we’re striking at the vein.