Arts & Entertainment

Colombian Pacific getting ready for its great Petronio festival

Bogota, Jul 28 (EFE).- The Petronio Alvarez, the great music and culture festival of the Colombian Pacific, started Thursday the countdown to its great celebration in Cali with an opening concert that came to Bogota to take away “the Pacific to homes” throughout Colombia.

For the second consecutive year, the so-called Creative District Bronx, considered in other times the most deprived area of ​​Bogota, once again offered a vibrant sample of the peoples of the Pacific through the musical groups that will perform in Cali from Aug. 10 to Aug. 15 at the Petronio Alvarez festival.

“Here the Colombian Pacific finds its best port and is filled with the sound of the marimba, the taste of viche (an ancestral liquor of Afro-Colombians) and the cadence of traditional dances,” said Margarita Diaz, director of the Bronx Creative District. “This festival is a pretext to unite two worlds, recognize our roots and live our traditions.”

It is “a demonstration that all the departments and regions” of Colombia fit in Bogota, she said.

The Petronio, which will celebrate its 26th edition in “the sky branch,” is “a showcase of culture,” said one of the winning groups of last year’s edition, “Son y Sabor”, originally from Quibdo, in the department of Choco, bordering Panama.

This group of 10 members representing the shawm, have also been critical of the festival, which they consider has much to improve on, such as the international promotion of groups and culture beyond the days of the festival itself.

The “El Bronx” sector, one of the most dangerous in Bogota, was raided on May 28, 2016 by 2,500 policemen and soldiers who entered the place as part of a large operation in which at least 76 minors who were forced to practice prostitution. EFE

lmg/lds

Related Articles

Back to top button