ABSTRACT
During the past five centuries, African peoples and their descendants have contributed significantly to the development of music and culture in Colombia. From the beginning of Spanish colonization, they have blended their own music and musical practices with European and Amerindian influences, forming a rich and variegated musical tapestry. The specific ethnic origins of Colombian music are often blurred and complex because the process of mestizaje (the racial intermixing of European, Amerindian, and African peoples) began hybridizing cultural forms early on. As a result, few or no extant musical forms in Colombia are purely African; conversely, only a small portion of Colombian music has not been affected by African culture.
