02. fairs andfestivals ISSN No. 2711-4317 02. and festivals 02 09 : a must-see destination fairs

A rich cultural agenda celebrated by the entire country Contents

ISSUE 02

Page 4 Carnival of Barranquilla Fairs, Festivals and Carnivals The Golden gate is covered in colors Text by Paul Brito Photography by Harold Lozada Colombia celebrates its cultural richness and diverse Our country is the scenery of major literary identity all throughout its territory. The country’s events such as the Bogota International Book Fair Page 10 cultural agenda is full of activities that have been (FILBo) and the versions of the Hay Festival in held year after year for decades to the point of beco- Cartagena, Medellin and Jerico. The Medellin Book Traditional Hairstyles and ming unique traditions, and also creates new events and Culture Festival, the Libraq Fair in Barranqui- Drums as a response to the search of different audiences. lla and the International Book Fair in Cali, among The Afro culture celebrates its traditions Carnivals such as the Carnival of Barranquilla others, are the showcase for the national publishing (Atlantic Coast), the Riosucio Carnival (Caldas, in the industry, for literature and for the most enriching Text by Javier Ortiz Cassiani Photography by Ximena Vásquez Coffee Cultural Landscape) and the Black and White conversations.Screens all over the country display a Carnival (Pasto, in south-western Colombia) bring plethora of new Colombian films, and a diverse cura- together traditional costumes, floats, masks, music torship fills programs with event cycles and festivals. Page 18 and dances from each region to put traditions into The first of these events in the continent started in Other Fairs and Festivals in life in festive spaces. Alternative events for younger Cartagena: such the Cartagena de Indias Internatio- Colombia audiences like Estereo Picnic, explore new sounds. nal Film Festival, FICCI, has paved the way for similar Colombia is music, color, dance and joy. But the events throughout the country. country’s culture also manifests itself in other artistic Colombia’s international prestige as one of the expressions: literature, film, theater, and visual arts happiest countries in the world is experienced daily mobilize large audiences and draw upon its full in all four corners of the country. This celebratory spi- cultural infrastructure. rit unites us as a nation and opens the doors of our homes to visitors from all over the world.

introduction – 03 Carnivalof

Atlantic coast The Golden Gate is Covered in Colors “He who lives it, enjoys it”, call the people of Barranquilla year after year during the celebrations. This simple phrase contains a joyful truth: it is only possible to understand the experienceBarranquilla of the Carnival by immersing oneself in 02 this thriving Caribbean city and personally sample the , floats, masks and colors that flood the streets. Text: Paul Brito Photos: Harold Lozada Fairs, festivals and carnivals

04 – ferias y fiestas xxxxxxxxx – 05 Barranquilla: The Carnival of Barranquilla is always experienced as fusion between the Magdalena and the Caribbean Sea port of development if it were the first time: locals turn into tourists every in voluptuous Bocas de Ceniza; the salty environment year during the season in which everything traditio- meets the gaita (an instrument of indigenous origin, WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW nal becomes surprising in the eyes of foreigners and made of the stem of a cactus) and the tambora (an Afro ABOUT BARRANQUILLA locals alike. A complete experience for the senses: instrument made from the heart of the ceiba tree). The an explosion of color on the bodies that overflow the fist is tragic, melancholic and sweet. The latter is epic, 1. It is a special, industrial and port crowded streets, a lunge of cumbia that enters the joyful and bombastic. The body becomes a the seam district. ears and runs through the body until the feet start between the two. The Cumbia Wheel in Barrio Abajo 2. It is the main economic hub of dancing, a smell of sweat, sea and river flowing from and the and Tambó Night in the Peace Square are also the entire Caribbean region. the Magdalena bordering an entire thriving, open to huge performances which rescue the deepest roots of 3. Its metropolitan area has the world and immensely festive city. the Caribbean festivities and folklore. holds the second-largest private The traditional costumes and masks are a central But at times it would seem as though the Car- investment in the country. element in this carnival that has been taking place in nival doesn’t need special events or venues. It’s just 4. Its population is approximately February, just before Ash Wednesday, every year for one big parade, a single river flowing into the streets, 1,232,000 people. over a century in the main city of the Colombian Cari- neighborhoods, corners, shops, hotels, houses, cour- 5. It has a dry tropical climate. bbean coast. Costumes play with the ability to dissolve tyards. “He who lives it, enjoys it”, preaches one of 6. A large part of its population is identities and make everyone equal, while transfor- the Carnival’s sayings. The city is transformed into a of immigrant origin. ming people into someone different, distant from huge stage in which everyone is the creator and artist everyday life an immerse in a sort of musical trance. of their own joy, of their own transformation into Hundreds of traditional costumes (like the someone else. No one is a stranger to others, no one BARRANQUILLA, A GROWING CITY mocking marimonda, the intimidating garabato and is a stranger to you, not even the one with the most the colorful congos), choreographies, cumbiambas, eccentric costume. Cumbia is heard about everywhere OVER 5 $1.9 MILLION 13% comparsas and huge floats adorned with outlandish as a living cult, sensual and melancholic cram into to million tons of goods per capita was the total annual income average fantasy tour tirelessly several kilometers under the life and it’s natural limitations, so it invites us to com- passed through district’s public investment growth in Barranquilla between Barranquilla’s port in 2018 in 2017 2010 and 2017 burning sun. The Barranquilla Carnival is several car- press in those short few days of vital rapture the indivi- nivals at once and tours through multiple and varied sible divinity of which Borges spoke about. And that’s areas of Barranquilla in parades such as the 44th Street why the streets are closed off for these human currents Between 2008 and 2018 the Carnival, The Flower Battle at the Cumbiodromo on to form bends of happiness and ecstasy. “I loved you city’s middle class grew from 70% average income growth per 40th Street, the King Momo Parade on 17th Street, the deliriously and with unrestrained passion” says the 19.6% to 30.2% household between 2008 to Grand Parade of Tradition and Folklore and the Grand famous song “te olvidé” (“I Forgot You”), considered 2018 Parade of Comparsas. Visitors don’t just stand and the anthem of the Barranquilla Carnival. watch, they interact with the dancers and jesters, dan- Almost all of the tradicional dances in the Carni- cing and joking with them and the crowd; everything val allude to the condensation of happiness in the side- 7 INTERESTING FACTS fuses in an immense performance to the sound of gai- lines of life and delirium. The Congo is one of the most ABOUT THE BARRANQUILLA CARNIVAL tas and drums. In recent years, other initiatives have vivid costumes because of its humongous turban cove- Investment: Revenue: emerged and pushed the city towards rescuing tra- red in artificial flowers, adorned with ribbons, lace and Duration: Contributions: ditions in search of new cultural proposals. That is mirrors, with a long ribbon reaching almost to the cha- in 2019, the Carnival of 4 days 49% 20,000 Barranquilla turned a profit of over the case of the Carnavalada, which will celebrate its racter’s heels. It is, too, one of the oldest. The costume of the resources come million pesos 19th anniversary in 2020. During the first part of the originates from the Congo in Africa and came to be from the private sector 384 billion evening, people sit and watch plays, dances and cir- known in Colombia through the Black African Cabil- cus-like performances. The party is on in a crescendo dos that were held in Cartagena de Indias. Supported pesos of emotion as people start as spectators and end up as by big totemic representations: bulls, donkeys, tigers, active characters, turning on their own center of gravity the dance is depicts men getting ready for war, with a until their bodies give out. high hierarchical chief distinguishable by a larger tur- The Night of the River is another organic and ban and ribbon and by surrounded by a squad. Throu- Tourism: centrifugal festivity. Dozens of groups from different ghout the entire Carnival, a war to the death is declared Profitability: Hotel industry: riverside areas follow the current of the Magdalena on killjoys. over 300,000 IT IS THE THIRD 186 hotels River and meet at the Caribbean Cultural Park, it’s not tourists attended its events most profitable event with over 14,250 beds and by chance that Barranquilla is just a step away from the in 2019 of this kind in Latin 7,841 rooms available delta river. The energy in the air makes you feel the America

06 – fairs and festivals Valeria Abuchaibe, Queen of the Barranquilla Carnival in 2018, during the Grand Parade on 40th Street.

Garabato is another popular dance in the Barran- val. Among its most attractive features, the second A variety of characters in costumes and make up walk the city streets. quilla Carnival which embodies the crucial ambivalence floor (out of three with diverse routes)stands out between life and death. It is a countryside origin and with the coronation dresses of 39 of the Barranqui- it has been uprooted to the people, the sweat and the lla Carnival Queens between 1918 and 2019. earth. However, everyone knows that the Carnival is Thus, the costume carries the Garabato: a woo- alive and well outside of museums. They also know den stick that looks like a cartoon version of a scythe that the true main player isn’t the show, but each used to clear vegetation. The Garabato is confron- Carnival spirit, updating the celebration and the ted with the costume of a skull and it represents the dance of life itself, each soul crossed by the ancestral fight between life and death. Folklore says that the fire of the festival. It is also every local that becomes scythe holds no power over the Carnival, and only a foreigner surprised by their own idiosyncrasy and during this time of grace and exuberance can life and every foreigner that becomes a raizal through defeat death with drums and millo flutes. the magic of revelry. This is why this year’s motto Almost every dance and cumbiamba speaks of and main theme for the 2020 Carnival of Barranqui- fusion, transgression and resistance. The Farotas lla is “For the people to enjoy!”. And since the peo- Dance, for example, originating of Talaigua, near ple are the main players, I asked a local from Barrio Mompox, in the neighboring department of Boli- Abajo what the carnival was and he replied with an var, recreates the way in which indigenous Faroto anecdote, with the familiarity and spontaneity that Warriors avenged their women being raped by the the Caribbean folk master so well. Spaniards, disguising themselves as women; An advancement and a symbol to what today we unders- tand as gender struggles and feminist vindication. Honoring all of the history behind the Carnival, the tradition and legacy that boils in each dance and Find out costume, the Carnival Museum opened in 2019. A more Carnival Museum started to operate. It offers its visi- here. Child in Bull costume in Dance and Cumbia Festival, held in the Peace Square. tors an interactive multimedia experience through objects, videos, music, and texts related to the festi-

08 – fairs and festivals Atlantic coast – 09 TraditionalAfro-colombia The Afro Culture CelebratesHairstyles its Traditions Music, gastronomy, dances, braids and hairstyles are part of the cultural practices that Afro-descendants bequeathed to the Colombian nation while and Drums 02 rehearsing routes of resistance and freedom.

Text: Javier Ortiz Cassiani Photos: Ximena Vásquez Fairs, festivals and carnivals

010 – ferias y fiestas xxxxxxxxx – 011 Tenderness is a grandmother braiding her grandd- of girls and women to later be used by Maroons as aughter’s hair on a Sunday afternoon on a street of escape routes. The wise claim hair in the beginning, San Basilio de Palenque; a town of northern Bolivar, hair was at the core: Alonso de Sandoval, a sensible in the Colombian Caribbean, founded by enslaved priest and Jesuit evangelist who spent a large part of Maroons who fled from the port of Cartagena de his life working on a treaty on the characteristics of Indias. The beat of the drums can be heard there Africans brought to Cartagena (America’s main slave since the 17th century and, perhaps, also since then port), said that one of the clearest signs to identify do grandmothers comb their granddaughters’ hairs them was the way they wore their hair, with which they while telling stories about resistance. made—according to the priest—”thousands of plea- Tenderness can also be two young black women on sant inventions”. a Friday at noon, on the day before a party in Gua- The poets who sang to the memory of those ens- chene, north in the department of Cauca in the laved also said that men and women would hide seeds Colombian Pacific, taking turns while trying diffe- in their large afros and, upon the chance, shake their rent hairstyles on the patio, under the shade of a heads to spread them in lands where freedom could wild cashew tree. In Guachene, a town inhabited by bloom. Others claim the abundant hair helped slaves Afro descendants since the times of the gold rush hide small pips of gold from the mines they worked, and the working haciendas, black people have brai- with which they would later buy their freedom. ded their hair. The truth is that routes and the complicity of These postcards of tenderness are replicated their hair and its design exists from long ago. And daily in several areas throughout the country. Colom- today Afro descendants in several regions in Colom- bia has a wide variety of regions inhabited by people bia are increasingly aware of the importance of this of African descent. Their music, gastronomy, dances, legacy. They take it as a component of their identity, oral tradition, and hairstyles broaden the experience but now their hair isn’t meant to hide, it is meant to of visiting our country. Multiple Colombian fairs, fes- be displayed and now tell a different story. tivals and carnivals have a distinct African touch. This route of pride, of beauty without complexes Memory hides behind these scenes: those who or impositions, can start in San Andres, Providencia tell what was long ago told to others, they speak of and Santa Catalina, the insular territories in Colom- Along with the drums, hairstyles are the main communication tool for the Afro community in the construction of their maps drawn with hair by expert braiders on the heads bia’s Caribbean Sea. national identity.

012 – fairs and festivals Afro-Colombia – 013 Afro-Colombian Roots There, in those isolated lands of barracudas and Afro-Pacific Routes green moons, of pirate stories and to the beat of the musical rhytms of mento, reggae, socca and calypso, The route, as in the old days of slavery, traces the Afro population: 4,311,757 you will find people moving in harmony with their Atrato River to enter the Colombian Pacific. The dreadlocks, raizal women weaving dreams on the head difference is that nowadays those territories are tra- 10.62% of the country’s population of some tourist, and young people in their daily work veled, not only to find evidence of a past that infa- wearing hairstyles that remind us that the diaspora mously condemned human beings to forced labor, didn’t happen so long ago; all of hem joining other but also to have fun with those traditions of resis- 10 destinations to learn about Afro culture black people from the greater Caribbean. tance, that reassured the right to exist and to an identity through the ways of combing their hair. San Andres Nuqui: the encounter Quibdo: the chirimia is the Capurgana: located Bahia Solano : the Drums, Braids and Afros in Those who have dedicated themselves to crea- and Providencia: being between the sea and the strongest sound in Quibdo. in an isolated corner of the sounds of the variations Palenque and Cartagena ting an inventory of hairstyling and braiding prac- a commercial port gave it its jungle fills Nuqui with natural A musical style played with country, the sounds of nature in the currulao, with snare multi-ethnic character, broad sounds. Its music sounds like wind instruments made of prevail in the musical culture drums and cantaoras, are the tices in the region don’t hesitate to highlight the in gastronomy and raizal rain, sea and beach, with the wood. of the region. base for endless dances and In this population, declared by UNESCO as a World peculiar styles used in Andagoya, a mining town in music. marimba in the forefront. festivities in the bay. Historical and Intangible Heritage in 2005, hairs- the department of Choco, the dextrity of those who tyles are as common as the pride founded by the work in Robles, in the department of Valle del Cauca Maroon Beknos Bioho in the 17th century, when he and in Villa Rica, in the department of Cauca, a little Tumaco: in the south of Guapi: the Guapi river sets Timbiqui: the festivals Buenaventura: floklore, San Basilio de Palenque: the country, Tumaco uses the pace for melodic music to celebrate ancestors with salsa and urban music roar this festival has a vivid colonial developed a sovereignty without shackles around in further south from the Pacific region in Colombia. music and dance to build and everyday life-the way rythms set to the beat of through the streets of this and African influence-drums, these lands. Braids, twists, screws, weaving… all sorts of techni- and dignify the cultural and they talk, sing and dance. drums and sweet voices are energetic and vibrant port shouts and both intense and In every home someone combs and braids hair with ques for hairdressing roam around alternative cata- historical memory of its typical of Timbiqui. town. subtle movements. people. the same ease as the one used to pile grain, sow logues that people create, and in the organization yams, prepare preserves and milk cows: the pea- of events and festivals to reward the best works. At ceful skill with which things that have always been the same time, ancestral knowledge associated with 5 carnivals and festivals that celebrate Afro- there are done. the plants used to take care of hair: aloe, artemisia, It is only natural, as well, that the only beauty peppermint, rue, mate and the bark of the guacimo parlor is called “Reina del Kongo” (Queen of Kongo) tree are combined in the cosmetology created over Petronio Alvarez Pacific Black and White San Pacho Festivities and that its owners take care of giving an ancestral past few years to preserve the natural quality of Afro Music Festival Carnival Where: Quibdo vibe to what they do. They braid to honor the routes hair. Where: Cali Where: Pasto When: August When: August When: January 2 - 7 of freedom, and their works have names as neat and In Istmina, Choco, a themed hairstyle contest Alabaos and Gualies tidy as the designs they stamp on their clients heads: is celebrated, associated to the patron saint festival Bay Festival Encounter Where: Solano Bay Where: Andagoya hundidito, tomate, puerca paria, African innovation in favor of the Virgin of Mercy, held in September, When: August When: August (also known as cacheta), these are just a few joyful in which the geographic and cultural values of the denominations of a skill that has its own history. region are highlighted. In this land where drums resonate with life, the In september and until the end of october, the 2 creole Afro-Colombian Afro-Colombian music Palenque Festival of Drums and Cultural Expression city of Quibdo, capital of Choco, the banks of the tongues has been held annually for over twenty years to cele- Atrato River, becomes a mass of people dancing in 1,025 brate the gastronomy, music, dance and hairstyles as the streets to the same beat. This is the festival of Creole: Spoken in the San Folk ancestral means of communication. Under the blue San Pacho, a celebration in of honor Saint Francis Andres Archipielago. rythms 157 October skies, the traditions inherited from Africa of Assisi that has been held since 1648 and that, Palenquero: Spoken in San musical come to life, adapted to the new places and preserved in 2012 was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage genres Basilio de Palenque. by committed generations who have placed the echo of of Humanity by UNESCO. Music, floats, dances their essence on the drumhead. costumes and the conscience of a community who About an hour away from Palenque we find used the festivities as a catharsis to reinvent them- RHYTMS OF THE COLOMBIAN PACIFIC Cartagena de Indias its truest historical memory: selves in the midst of daily anguish of work and

Currulao: it is the most popular Patacore: a dance derived from Bereju: melodic, rhythmic and Juga: it is a funerla rhythm due that of the African diaspora. A while back, black life, without knowing, perhaps, that it would build traditional dance of the Colombian Currulao, but with a religious origin. repeptitive movements. Similar to its rhythmic candence, whose neighborhoods imposed their style by making a state- one day constitute one of nation’s most important Pacific. It is characterized by being It is usually sung by a wide range of to Patacore, but much slower. It is manifestation of crying allows ment through people’s hair: braids, haircuts, abundant cultural events. a courtship dance to the rhythm of female, male and children’s voices. musically characterized by longer dancers to excecute strong yet drums. phrased tunes. delicate movements. afros, messages of vindication and an entire educa- In Buenaventura, the main Pacific port in tion on how to care for it roam the streets, schools, Colombia, where there has always been a strong

Aguabajo: the sounds and Jota: it is danced in groups of Bunde: it has an aspect of Abozao: a melodic rhythm with universities, offices, cultural events and daily life. influence of black movement aesthetics from the movements of this dance evoke the four people displayed in pairs to celebration, with a musical ensemble little drum presence. The dancers United States, black men’s hairdressers in the nei- rain water with a density of drums form a square. They trace complex composed by drums and voices. It go along with the music with and euphoric singing. figures using lateral and diagonal is melancholic, much slower and exclamations while performing movements. musicalized only by drums. sensual movements of courtship. Afro-Colombia – 015 ghborhoods compete for the best hairstyles. These hair. By the end of the 1960s, ethnographer Luis Flo- settings are meeting and social spaces for young rez published a lexicon detailing the different terms people, and with migration towards big cities in used to refer to human body parts. In the country these same practices have migrated, as his research, Florez found little over fifty terms to well, to the beauty dynamics in Bogota, Medellin refer to Afro-descendent hair. All of them with a and Cali. strong derogatory connotation. Achicharronao, For the past fifteen years, every June, the festival cadillo, churrusco (spring), duro (stiff ), pelicerrao, Weaving Hope, is held in Cali, in which the cultural tornillo (screw)… are some of the terms used to refer identity of the Afro-Colombian, raizal and palenque to hair. But people, with the same ability the weavers population is reaffirmed; the right to difference and use to braid hair, learned how to turn it around, to diversity is celebrated and local knowledge is set escape stigma, to turn it into a source of pride. for dialogue with other countries in America who Perhaps the grandmother, who on a Sunday are also recognized by the common memory of the morning diligently combs her granddaughter’s diaspora. The capital of Valle del Cauca and main abundant hair in the streets of San Basilio de Palen- urban center of the Pacific Region is also home to que, always knew. And she had the patience to braid one of the cultural events that has grown the most the identity and the beauty that some members of in past decades and that attracts the largest number this diverse nation now wear with grace. of tourists every year. This is the Petronio Alvarez Pacific Music Festival, which has not only become a reference point for a black music referent in the region, but also condenses in the same place, in a find out festive and contagious way, the most complete cul- more tural expressions of the afro-descendent population. here. It must be said that many paths had to be walked to get to the place we are now. In a society that condones slavery, identity can be turned into stigma. The hair that identified them also condemned Hair, once used to weave destinies, now showcases the route to celebrations and festivals of the Colombian them; the mockery grew abundant –like bushes of Afro-descendent people.

016 – fairs and festivals afro-colombia – 017 miscellaneous Other Fairs and Festivals in Colombia The local calendar is full of events, fairs and festivals in which Colombians celebrate their identity through artistic expressions such as music, dance Polo Courtesy Jonnatan Photograph: and theater. International Ballet Festival Music Where: Cali Those who visit Cali in April have the chance to switch Estereo Picnic Festival salsa moves for a classical dance. International com- Where: near Bogota panies and the Colombian Ballet Institute (Incoballet) After 11 years, this festival has become an opportunity take part in the event. Black and White Carnival, Pasto to find on the same stage bands like Guns N’ Roses, The Strokes and The Chemical Brothers, as well as up and Film Siembre Negro Pacifico Gastronomic Festival Arts and crafts coming bands. Cartagena de Indias International Where: Nuqui Film Festival (FICCI) A simple to appreciate the folkloric richness of Expoartesanias Vallenata Legend Festival Where: Cartagena de Indias the Colombian Pacific through and exchange of both Where: Bogota Where: Valledupar It’s the oldest film event in Latin America. Around 220 local and other regional cooks. It is the chance to This fair has become a promotion platform for the The flavorful and unique way in which we play the audiovisual pieces are showcased and the audiovisual taste traditional dishes and recipes resulting from Colombian craft sector, allowing craftsmen, desig- accordion in Colombia made UNESCO declare culture of Colombia and other countries in the region the exchange of gastronomic expertise. ners and entrepeneurs to venture into national and an Intangible Heritage of Humanity. is displayed. international markets. The festival is well renowned both nationally and Plastic and visual arts internationally. Cali International Film Festival Expoartesano Where: Cali Artbo Where: Medellin Petronio Alvarez Festival At the end of October, Cali becomes the branch of Where: Bogota This is a startegic alliance between Artesanias de Where: Cali the seventh art. The festival was founded by Colom- This event brings together national and internatio- Colombia and Plaza Mayor Medellín that seeks to It has become the biggest and most representative bian director Luis Ospina. Curatorship for docu- nal galleries. In addition to being an opportunity to connect the public to the country’s traditions. festival of Afro-Colombian folklore. Its musical mentaries is especially strong. buy and sell art, it also offers a diverse cultural and rhythms, the flavor of its concoctions and the academic program to bring the public closer to art. Fairs idiosyncrasy of the western region of the country at Gastronomy the center of these celebrations. Literature Manizales Fair Sabor Barranquilla Where: Manizales, Other music festivals Where: Barranquilla Bogota International Book Fair (Filbo) At the beginning of every year, the entire city Mono Nuñez Andean Music Festival, World Salsa This fair showcases the culinary wealth of the region, Where: Bogota transfoms itself around music, celebrating the Festival, Tango Festival. influenced by extensive migration. The festival offers Created in 1988, this fair gathers around 1,000 coffee culture. and academic agenda, workshops with guest chefs publishing houses. The fair, held in Corferias Performing arts and samples of traditional cuisine. during the first semester of the year, is the stage for Flowers Fair over 1,200 cultural activities, including book laun- Where: Medellin Ibero-American Theater Festival Gastronomic Exhibition of the Insular Caribbean ches and discussion groups with authors. Antioquia’s traditions meet in the country’s most Where: Bogota Where: San Andres innovative capital. An encounter between musical Every two years Bogota welcomes over 250 natio- Renowned local, regional and international chefs Hay Festival genres and generations. nal and international theater companies. The festi- get acquainted with dishes and techniques from San Where: Cartagena de Indias val presents a rich and diverse offer, ranging from Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina through an Discussion groups with major authors, Nobel Prize feria de cali street theater in public squares and avenues, up to exchange of experience with traditional island cooks winners, concerts and literary contests. The beauti- Where: Cali large productions is special venues. and gastronomy students from the archipelago. ful walled city is a luxurious stage where the greatest Salsa and other rhythms take over the city during the representatives of literature, film, journalism, music final of the year. and art get together.

018 – fairs and festivals Miscellaneous – 019 Fairs, festivals and carnivals

Colombia’s cultural agenda is full of activities that have taken place year after year over decades, finally becoming traditions. However, the country’s culture also manifests itself in other types of artistic expressions: literature, film, theater and visual arts mobilized large audiences and make use of a full cultural infrastructure. Our cultural richness is an important motive for celebration that is experienced on a daily basis in all four corners of the country. This celebratory spirit unites us as a country and opens the doors of our home to visitors from all over the world.