FollowPalenque Records make their intentions clear: they are dedicated to Afro-Columbian music. The label was founded in 1998 by Lucas Silva (aka DJ Champeta-man) and takes its name from San Basilio de Palenque, a town in northern Columbia.
Palenque’s debut compilation, Champeta Criolla, New African Music from Columbia, is cited as the first time such sounds were circulated internationally and in addition to music they release directly, they also champion sounds for other labels to put out, such as European-based labels Soundway and VampiSoul.
Legendary seven-piece band Son Palenque are perhaps the label’s most known act. Formed in the early-1980s in Cartagena (on the Caribbean coast) by singer and composer Justo Valdez, they bring a percussion-heavy and psychedelic take on numerous rhythms cumbia, chalupa, bullerengue, lumbalu…
In a catalogue that stretches from popular traditional accoustic styles to songs built with a Casio SK-5 keyboard, other acts on Palenque Records include: Abelardo Carbonó, The Mystic Orchestra, and Paulino Salgado’s Batata y su Rumba Palenquera.
Keeping bodies moving at our PASS POP-UP studio at Fondation Cartier, Lucas Silva will present a DJ set direct from Bogota.
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