BATATA Y LAS ALEGRES AMBULANCIAS

Batata & Las Alegres Ambulancias was started in 1905 in San Basilio de Palenque to preserve the Afro-Caribbean musical traditions of the funeral ceremony.

Graciela Salgado Valdez, lead vocalist of Las Alegres Ambulancias, is the only daughter of Manuel Salgado Batata and Maria de la Luz Valdez, From a very early age she heard the sound of drums and her mother’s singing.

Led by Graciela and the singers from the cabildo, Las Alegres Ambulancias are masters of the oral tradition, keeping the Bantu and Angola languages alive. Singers both young and old preserve the legends, stories, music and songs that come from their African ancestry.

Batata & Las Alegres Ambulancias are representative of the culture of Colombia’s Caribbean area; they are a living demonstration of how this 500-year-old African tradition is surviving in this globalized world.