Lucho Bermúdez – Carmen de Bolívar

The ballroom sound of Colombia's mid-century cities. Clarinettist and bandleader Lucho Bermúdez took coastal rhythms such as porro and cumbia into big-band arrangements for urban dance halls, and Carmen de Bolívar, a porro named after his home town, is his signature. Listen for how the brass and clarinet lines sit on top of a rhythm that still carries the coast's lilt underneath the orchestra.