On 6 October, dancers and musicians from Barranquilla, Colombia, delighted onlookers at UN Headquarters in New York, when they performed a selection of dances from their annual “Carnaval de Barranquilla”. The day’s festivities were sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations, in celebration of the world Organization’s sixtieth anniversary. According to Pedro Roa, Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission, it was “the largest cultural event that has ever taken place at the UN”.
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| UN Photo |
Carnaval de Barranquilla usually takes place just before Ash Wednesday, lasting for four days, and is the second biggest carnival in Latin America after Rio de Janeiro, with approximately 25,000 people taking part in the festivities. Seamstresses work all year round to make the colourful and elaborate costumes, while participants practice their performances leading up to the event. The carnival dates back to the nineteenth century and celebrates the diversity of cultures in Barranquilla.
Carlota Velez, Counsellor for Cultural Affairs at the Colombian Consulate, says that the population of Barranquilla is a melting pot of different cultures, largely made up of people of European and African descent, as well as indigenous peoples. The influence of these diverse cultures is reflected in the unique sound of music played at the carnival, which features African drums and indigenous flutes. Ms. Velez says that there is a story behind every dance performed during the Carnaval, mentioning “Las Farotas”, a dance where the men wear wide flowered skirts with aprons and petticoats. She explains that the significance of this dance goes back to the conquest of Colombia, when “Spanish men wanted to make love to indigenous women, so the indigenous men dressed as women to fool the Spanish”, and according to the folklore, this pursuit would ultimately end in the death of the Spaniard. Ms. Velez also says that the small shuffling steps seen in some dances is a reference to the ankle chains worn by African slaves living in Barranquilla many years ago. The carnival is “a huge party and people work all year long so they can take off that week”. She says that it is “a very positive environment for a difficult country. It’s a channel for all this happiness, because the people of Colombia are very happy people”.
Gina Navarro, one of the 30 dancers from the Carnaval selected to participate in the UN event believes it is important to showcase Barranquilla’s culture to the world, as it “has so many colours, so many dances that the people should know”. Maria Clara Osorio, a UNICEF employee from Colombia, agrees in the importance of the day’s festivities, stating “I’m very happy that our Mission had this initiative to bring this group to the UN to share this with the world”. Popstar Shakira is one of Barranquilla’s better known exports.
In November 2003, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared that Carnaval de Barranquilla was a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity”.
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