The great Afro-Pacific celebration dance, played on the marimba de chonta with drums, rattles and powerful women’s voices.
On the southern Pacific coast, Afro-Colombian communities built a musical world around the marimba de chonta, a wooden xylophone made from palm, together with cununo and bombo drums, guasá rattles and call-and-response singing by women. Currulao is the festive dance of this world: couples face each other, the man courts with energetic steps and a handkerchief, and the woman answers with grace. UNESCO recognised these marimba traditions in 2015, together with those of Esmeraldas in Ecuador. Some Pacific chants belong to religious devotion or mourning and are not meant as entertainment, so currulao should be presented within its community context.
