La Rébellion is a Salsa classic in Colombia. When they put this song on in a party everyone starts dancing and cheering. The composer of this piece is Joe Arroyo, a famous Colombian salsa and tropical music producer. This song was released in the year 1995. The song can be found on his album “Joe Arroyo y La Verdad”. The song was one of his biggest hits. As explained by El Tiempo, the lyrics to the song actually come from an older song called “El Mulato” by Robert y Su Banda released in 1978. The lyrics were interestingly written by Joe Arroyo’s wife.
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Joe Arroyo’s version of the song is a musical masterpiece combining incredible percussion beats as well as a top quality Latin piano part played by Chelito De Castro. This falls under the typical Colombian Salsa song but also has a tropical feel to it.
The musical aspect of the song is amazing so it is no wonder it gets people on the dance floor, but it is the lyrics to the song that is very notable and worth understanding.
The song takes place in Cartagena during the 1600s. To understand the lyrics we need to understand what was happening in Cartagena during the time frame that the song describes. As described in an article on Atlanta Black Star, Cartagena was South America’s largest slave trading port. Most slaves that were distributed throughout South America had passed by Cartagena.
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The song tells the story of a slave who rebels against a Spanish slave owner who hit the slaves’ wife. The song repeats that in the streets to this day, you can still hear the slave shout “no le pegue a la Negra”, which roughly translates to “don’t hit the black woman”.
This song is iconic and is considered one of the most famous Salsa songs of all time. The song relives history and allows people to remember the African roots in the country and in South America. It also stands as a reminder of how the culture has evolved away from those times. But most notable is the representation of a perseverant slave who would take a lot as a slave, but he would never stand by and let his wife get hit by a Spanish slaveholder.
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Joe Arroyo himself is an idol. His salsa and tropical music had a lot of influence and many were themed about the African influence in South America. His music lives on to this day and continues to keep parties going through the morning.
This blog would not be complete if I didn’t share the actual song with you. Now that you have read about the song you can listen to “La Rebellion” on Youtube.
Listening to this piece, especially the piano part, I feel confident I’ve heard it before, but I never understood it’s significance. I appreciate you giving the historical context, and that’s a powerful message, being willing to endure massive amounts of suffering, but not being willing to let your loved one suffer. With such a strong message, I wouldn’t expect the song to be as fun as it is. It definitely makes me want to dance. It has a strong sense of rhythm and character. A great song, I can’t wait to listen next week.
I had never heard this song until today. It is a very powerful song and the video conveys an important message as well. I enjoyed reading about the background of the song and importance it has in history. Great post!
Arroyo released this in 1986 not 1995. Egregious mistake. We Colombiand grew up listening to this song. It was played at all our house parties multiple times because our parties last for days. Whoever wrote this article is a moron. Do your research dummy.
Thanks for nothing,
Totally Offended Colombiana
Sorry for my typos, I’m so angry.
LOL you are so right the idk how I missed this back in 2018 when this was written. Indeed 1986 is the correct date idk where the 1995 came from. Must’ve really done this last minute for the assignment. Thanks for the comments if I could edit the article that I would. Don’t be offended, this was a low effort HW haha I never thought people would actually see this
to the author of this blog, would you consider this song to be a ballad?
They r clearly an idiot. The song was also released in 1986 not 1995!
in the 1600′, black lives already mattered…!
Just wanted to clarify, the link to the article to El Tiempo you provide state that the attribution to Joe Arroyo’s wife as lyric writer was only done for bureaucratic reasons to do with the record company.
This article is full of mistakes and terrible research.