An international
music festival will take place on Friday, December 1, when accordionists
Jorge Celedón (Colombia), and Panamanians Ulpiano Vergara and
Samy & Sandra Sandoval take to the stage of Figali Convention
Center, in Amador. The event will be an extravaganza for "Tipico"
and "Vallenato," the native genres of Panama and Colombia,
respectively.
Jorge
Celedon will arrive in Panama after a successful tour of Hispanic
regions of the United States to promote his latest album. His partners
on the stage, Ulpiano Vergara and Samy & Sandra Sandoval are considered
true celebrities in Panama.
Ulpiano
Vergara is a veteran accordeonist with over 30 years in show business.
Samy & Sandra, a brother-and-sister duo from the province of Herrera,
made Tipico music popular in Panama's cities some ten years ago. Until
then, the genre was considered "unsophisticated" by city
folk, but Sandra's sensual movements on the stage, combined with the
introduction of Caribbean-accented rhythms, quickly made the cosmopolitan
audience of the capital change its mind.
Vallenato
and Tipico are in fact, regional variants of the same genre. Panama
was a Colombian province until 1903.
