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The first place they lived was in an efficiency apartment in Manhattan, New York,
with four apartments to one community bathroom. Sheryl attended a public school that
was far removed from the schooling style of her native Colombia. Some of the
differences were strict dress code enforcement and academic performance that were
standardized in all Colombian schools. Students were required to wear a uniform and
were expected to be prompt and well-mannered during class attendance. New York was
much more lenient in their policies for a dress code and academics, Sheryl elaborates on
how awful the attitudes and penmanship was among her fellow U.S. students.
Sheryl and her family returned to Colombia in 1969. Her parents had high hopes
of starting their own transportation business. Sheryl found that the idea of going home to
Colombia felt very refreshing and she was excited to return to the lifestyle that she left
behind.
Sheryl explained that the culture in Colombia had a strong matriarchal family
structure. The Catholic Church was very prominent and Holy Communion was a goal to
achieve among the youth. Life seemed more sheltered and no major life concerns at the
time she lived there. Sheryl says that there was a time that people would sell their teeth
for money. Although the Colombian peso was strong, there was clearly a large gap in
income between the lower and upper classes.
As her parents business attempt failed, Sheryls mother had talked of returning to
the United States. She wanted to stay in Colombia and was considering attending
boarding school in Colombia to avoid spending her high school years in New York.
In 1972 Sheryl and her family returned to the United States. They moved into a
project housing development in Queens, New York. Sheryl attended 6th through 8th grade
and felt like she began to fit in better, she had made friends with other children living in
her apartment building and was viewed as equal. Sheryl believes that this is related to the
impoverished living state they all had in common. She remembers an incident at school
where Viet Nam war protesting was being exercised by middle school students in the
streets. All of her classmates were scared as profanities and shouting could be heard
inside her class room from the protesters on the street. The Viet Nam war was viewed as
the most unpopular war in the history of the United States during the 1960s and 1970s.
Sheryl moved back to Miami 1975 where she attended 9th through 12th grade. The
dominant culture in the area that she lived in was Jewish; this was much different from
her familys typical Catholic neighborhood. Cubans were the largest Latin community in
her town and so the music was very colorful and seemed to be a way of life for the
majority of the population living in the area. Salsa music and dancing became very
popular at this time, the night club and disco scene was very prominent and people
seemed to be happier with life in general. She remembers dancing and music being
played in the neighborhood streets; this seemed to be a regular nightly occurrence.
In 1979, Sheryl decided to enlist in the United States Air to get away from home.
She shipped out as soon as she graduated high school and was off to basic training in San
Antonio, Texas. She was 17 y/o when she enlisted without the approval or knowledge of
her father. He was stationed at sea with the US Merchant Marines.
Sheryl is now a United States Citizen and works as a nurse at the Department of
Veterans Affairs hospital. She is happily married to her husband and has four children,
one grandchild with one more on the way.
Music and tradition fuses together in Cartagena, Colombia, the songs and dances
tell stories of times when settlers from Spain came to the continent and brought along
slaves from Africa. There is a mix of cultures, along with different instrumental sounds
and styles of music.
The African influence in the music is clearly heard in the drums called the
tambora, tambor alegre and lamador, each have their own distinct pitch. In addition to the
drums, they use rattles called maracas and metal guaches, these are all played during the
traditional cumbia dance ritual.
The Spanish influence brings in other instruments such as different sized flutes.
Modern cumbia music has a larger variety of instruments: clarinets, accordions, trumpets,
trombones, bongos, pianos, guitars and voice. These Spanish versions are more of a
tributary to the folklore and celebration of the culture.
In the musical performance the cumbia, the women wear a very long dress that
has a pleated section and can be held up by their arms. The dress is fanned out as they
would turn their bodies back and forth. The men wear a hat that they take off and put
back on, imitating a gesture of salutations and introductions. There is also a scarf worn
around the waist that the men would take off and try to wrap around the women they are
courting during the dance.
The dance folklore of cumbia started with a slave that had an injury to his foot
from an ankle shackle that caused him to hobble around while dancing with his partner.
People perform the same hobble movement today to commemorate or sympathize for the
way he danced.
The cumbia dance dates back to the 17th century when Spain was settling the
Caribbean coast of Colombia. The word cumbia is descendant to the African word
cumbe which is the word for dance.
A typical example of traditional Colombian cumbia music is heard in a song
called La Pollera Colora this translates to: The colorful skirt in English.
http://discovercolombia.com/cumbia-the-rhythm-of-colombia
Cumbia style and instrumental fusion can be heard by listening to songs arranged
by artists such as maestro Luis Enrique Martinez and a variety of Latin club deejays that
remix the traditional sounds with new dance, house and hip hop sounds.
Cumbia has been deemed the foundation sound and style of Latin based music
found in the United States. This is according to an article called Cumbia: The Musical
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