Panama group in international song contest
Entertainment, with Margot Thomas
AFRODISIACO, a stand out Panamanian musical group, are competing in the 57th Viña del Mar, Chile International Song Festival on Monday February 22 with their own composition, Viene de Panamá (Coming from Panama) .
The group led by Miroslava Herrera and Tatiana Rios will compete in the folklore category, along with Argentina,the United States, Chile, Peru and Colombia.
Their presentation with strong drum presence and “atravesao” fuses national rhythms with contemporary resonances and seeks to reflect the Panamanian identity,.” It was a fun composition,” says Herrera who has an abiding interest , in composing based on national folklore.
She was one of the MC duo at Carols By Candlelight 2015 and for a number of years has performed as a jazz singer. The former journalist was one of the team that propogated the founding of Newsroom.
Two literary works of Lope de Vega and Demetrio Korsi helped shape the chorus firstrecorded in 2014.
“The song also mentions some of our ancestors Nele Kantule, Victoriano Lorenzo and Bayano, who were also forged our identity,” says Herrera.
The Panamanian group will be presented during the first round of the festival on Monday night at 11:00 pm The concert can be seen through the channel 106 and NexTV, on Cableonda.
Aphrodisiac was chosen as the name for the group because it evokes the desire for freedom of the black slave in America, says Herrera.
“This is a project that seeks to rescue and to promote Panamanian identity through music” says the singer-songwriter. who says that through the sounds of drum rhythms seek to vindicate those who helped create national identity.
The group consists of eight musicians, but the festival calls for the attendance of only five. members to competition in the Fifth Vergara.
Among long-term goals, the group to record songs representative of the origins of black drum provinces of Colon, Darien and the Azuero region.
