An Introduction to Champeta with Charles King

This Afro-inspired music style is quintessentially Cartagena and Charles King its pioneer.

Meet Charles King

This smiling face is Charles King, a local legend in the champeta scene of Cartagena. Though he lives in the city these days, he’s originally from San Basilio de Palenque, a village named by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and, together with Cartagena, the birthplace of champeta music. If you know Spanish, click play to meet the man of the hour. If you don’t, click play anyway for a window into Charles King’s world via the sweeping views of his neighborhood of San Jose de Los Campanos.

What is Champeta?

Again, Spanish speakers can click play on the video below to hear the origin story of champeta straight from Charles King. For the rest of us, here’s what he says in a nutshell: Champeta is the musical revolution of the Colombian Caribbean. Pulling on African rhythms like highlife, soukous, and soweto, this Afro-Colombian fusion style swept through the neighborhoods of Cartagena’s poorest periphery starting in the 1970s. The name “champeta” comes from a short, curved knife popularly used at work, in the kitchen, and sometimes, as a weapon in the neighborhoods this musical genre took off. The name also dates back to the 1920s when the city’s well-to-do would often derogatorily refer to the poor and Afro-descendant communities on Cartagena’s outskirts as “champetudo.” Today, however, the term “champeta” signifies one thing: the feel-good rhythm found blaring full volume though loudspeakers, locally known as picós, every day and night of the week.

Learn the Basic Steps

While champeta is normally danced with a partner in sensual embrace, Charles King introduces you to two classic moves you can practice solo.

Put it to Practice

These eight champeta songs were hand-picked by Charles King himself, many of which are his own musical contribution to the genre. Try out those moves you just learned or make up a few of your own and don’t stop dancing until the playlist does.

Support a Local Tour Operator

Alternative Travel Cartagena offers a Champetour with Charles King as your guide. The tour takes you to a place near and dear to his rise to fame, the city’s labyrinthine and chaotic Bazurto Market. While tourism’s on pause, Alternative Travel Cartagena is offering the option to advance purchase their Champetour gift card-style, meaning you pay now and cash in later when you (or a friend) books that trip to this Caribbean gem. If you happen to never visit, consider it a donation to a worthy tour operator that needs help staying afloat and an artist keeping music tradition alive in Cartagena. Sign up for the tour by filling out this form.

On behalf of Charles King, thank you for your support!

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