La Voz en el Bullerengue: Canto de Libertad, ‘Creación al Instante’

Bullerengue is a music and dance practice influenced by West African black musical traditions that includes drummers, dancers, and singers. In recent decades, the vocal interpretation of Bullerengue has changed and become more relevant. This article presents a musical analysis of the rhythmic, melodic, and textual structure of some representative songs of the Bullerengue tradition, as well as an acoustic evaluation of the voice in these songs, using parameters such as resonance, timbre, pitch, and register. The analysis of the Bullerengue voice from functional listening is based on vocal concepts from popular singing, such as mixed register and twang vocal configuration, alongside cultural elements of the Afro-Colombian tradition. The interpretations of six Colombian singers are analyzed: Etelvina Maldonado de la Hoz, Eustiquia Amaranto, Ceferina Banquez, Sabina Escudero, Mathieu Ruz Lobo, and Carolina Oliveros. Although they have different ways of singing Bullerengue, they interpret Bullerengue as a community musical expression linked to their histories and contexts