Bomba or Bomba del Chota is an

Afro-Ecuadorian Afro-Ecuadorians or Afroecuatorianos (Spanish), are Ecuadorians of predominantly Sub-Saharan African descent. History and background Most Afro-Ecuadorians are the descendants of enslaved Africans who were transported by Spanish slavers to Ecuad ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

, dance and rum al form from the

Chota Valley The upper valley of the Mira River, called the Chota River in its upstream portion, in northern Ecuador, and the small villages in it are usually referred to as 'El Chota', and it runs east–west between the two ranges of the Andes. It lies in ...

area of

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

in the province of Imbabura and Carchi. Its origins can be traced back to Africa via the

middle passage The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first ...

and the use of African

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

labor during the country's colonial period. Africans brought to labor as slaves in Ecuador brought with them this music form heavily influenced from the

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

cultures of the

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

. The people dance in pairs to the drums and use improvisation to build relationships between the dancer and lead drummer. This music and dance tends to have a prominent Spanish, mestizo and indigenous influence in the melodies. It could go from a mid tempo to a very fast rhythm. It is usually played with guitars along with the main local instrument which is also called bomba which is a drum along with a guiro and sometimes

bombo Bombo may refer to: Music *Bombo (musical), ''Bombo'' (musical), a 1921 Broadway production starring Al Jolson *Bombo (song), "Bombo" (song), by Norwegian singer Adelén *Bombo criollo or just bombo, a family of Latin American drums *Bombo legüer ...

s and bongos. A variation of it is la ''banda mocha'' which are groups that play bomba with a bombo, guiro and plant leaves to give melody. Recently it is enjoying some national exposure but outside the Chota Valley it is mostly popular in cities such as

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

and Ibarra which have important concentrations of afro-chotan people. In these cities sometimes it is played in discothèques and has some public performances as well as popularity among mestizo and indigenous people. The word ''bomba'' is most likely of

origin.

List of most popular bomba bands

* Edgar Gonzalon "Negrito de la Salsa" *La Banda Mocha * Marabu * Mario Polo * Mario Congo * Nery Padilla * Oro Negro * Poder Negro

External links

Articles about bomba del chota as well as afro-ecuadorian musicvideo of "Bomba bomba" by Grupo MarabuShort documentary about the Banda Mocha, a local variant of bomba musicChoreography of children dancing to Bomba music
Afro-Ecuadorian Ecuadorian music Latin American folk dances Latin dances {{music-genre-stub

List of most popular bomba bands

See also

External links