|
Written by Tom Schnabel
Very Be Careful plays a traditional Colombian music called Vallenato, a musical style that - along with cumbia and salsa - represents much of the musical tapestry of this South American nation. Vallenato is a traditonal idiom, featuring German accordion, voice, bass, cajón drum and the driving, ever-present cowbell. Everyone in Colombia listens to Vallenatos: fishermen and farmers, campesinos and drug lords; it's a tasty musical brew that you'll hear played in most bars where regular folks congregate.
Lately, with the success of fusion beats from the Colombian coast - including the Vallenato Rock of Colombian superstar Carlos Vives - Vallenato music has gone through an identity crisis. Very Be Careful's Vallenato sound, on the other hand, keeps it real, taking the music back to its roots and paying tribute to legends such as Alejandro Duran.
Authentic or not, Vallenato music fuels dance floors all over Colombia and thanks to VBC - as Very Be Careful is sometimes called - here in Los Angeles as well. With their catchy groove, it's no wonder that VBC has opened for everybody from the Kronos Quartet, salsa kings Grupo Niche, the late Joe Strummer of The Clash and countless others.
As one critic said referring to the Central American parranda style of VBC: "like it or not, punker or sonidero, new-ager or new-waver, b-boy or cowboy, sober, drunk, few can elude the rump rousing radar of a VBC parranda".
|
(1)
Very Be Careful
