Pa’ Los Que Bacilan: Exploring Social and Political Messages in Afro-Colombian Popular Music
Throughout the history of music in Colombia, there have been many expressions of identity made through popular music genres. Some of these popular music genres, specifically vallenato, salsa and hip-hop, have provided a medium through which Afro-Colombian artists have disseminated powerful social and cultural messages. The messages the artists are trying to communicate have strong ties to their identities and their local communities, while still revealing conditions that black people experience throughout all of Colombia. This essay attempts to unearth and draw a connection between different Afro-Colombian musicians that have used three of the most popular musical genres in Colombia to make bold claims about their identity and communicate social and political messages which often times critique, among the many injustices in Colombia, racial prejudices to people of African Descent in Colombia.
