The Samarian artist Carlos Vives In the last few hours he had an audience with the King of Spain, Felipe VI in which he presented a letter expressing his position on the pan-Hispanic question and took the opportunity to speak about the commemoration of the 500 years of Santa Marta.
However, Vives tells how Rodrigo de Bastidas He is associated with a “black legend” that he gave everyone a machete when he arrived. In reality, he discovered a place and a people that he fell in love with, and made an agreement with the chiefs to be able to build a magical space that created those who longed “they would kill him.”
“We must fulfill his dream, not victimize ourselves again, not murder him again and make him an example for the new generations, because there we are still the same: the Spaniards, the natives, the Africans…” , and if I When I see the face of a bagpiper from the Montes de María in Colombia, that is the unification of Spain Prehispanic America, and it seems to me to be the most beautiful mix,” he reflects.
“I think we should hug” summarizes this avowed history lover, who believes that since independence in the 19th century, the various American countries “fell into a narrative about everything that was done, about how they killed us Indians, about the present and the same past blurred.” .”
For Vives, this was “the collision of two ages, two human communities in different processes,” but he points out that “not all stories of the conquest were like this,” referring, for example, to the Sevillians Rodrigo de Bastidas, who explored the coast of what is now Colombia and In 1525 he founded the city from which the musician originally came: Santa Marta.
The Samarian singer-songwriter added: “Thanks to them Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) for facilitating this meeting with His Majesty to discuss the celebrations 500 years of Santa Marta, honor the legacy of Don Rodrigo de Bastidas and ratify the dream on which the city was founded; a pact with the Matunas that is characterized by the desire for progress, peace and harmonious coexistence. With our commitment to our “Behind the Pearl” initiative, we are working towards this dream. We do this by promoting sustainable development, the arts and creating well-being for all,” he said.
Vives (Santa Marta, 1961), which last spring “Step “It Had Never Be Recorded Like This” (2023), a reissue of his first albums around Vallenato, still with a purer and less contemporary vision, advocates making music a means of connection between the entire Latin American community, such as it is already happening worldwide.
