Lecture and Q&A

This all-woman percussionist group from Bogotá — Karen Forero, Giovanna Mogollón, and Diana Sanmiguel — mixes folk and Afro-Colombian rhythms with rap and beatboxing. In these musical traditions, men usually play percussion such as marimba, drums, and gaita (a cross between a bagpipe and a flute); women are confined to singing and/or playing shaker instruments like the guasa. La Perla has flipped this tradition on its head. The trio mixes Colombian rhythmswith other styles and genres (like Dominican merengue, Colombian champeta, or beatbox). Despite this mixture of old and new rhythms, the band manages to keep their bogotano sound. “While this music is inspired by the Caribbean, it is made in Bogotá,” Mogollón explains. “Bogotá is an epicentre of different influences, and we want that to be clear from our music” (thebogota.post).