The magical harp of Colombian strings in India

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Carlos Rojas on Latin Harp; Groupo Cimarron performing at RIFF 2012— Kavi Bhansali

Quite unassumingly, they walked on to the stage, adjusted their instruments and played a tune. The audience, which had just come from a traditional Rajasthani folk performance, was just settling in its seats.

That one striking note from the Latin harp made the audience take a quick look at the stage and settle quickly. Before Grupo Cimarron could take off, the audience cheered loudly and flagged off a thoroughly entertaining and riveting musical performance.
All the way from Colombia, Grupo Cimarron was more than pleased to treat the Indian audience to a slice of Colombian folk music. In their first concert in India at the Rajasthan International Folk Festival, Grupo Cimarron simply wowed the audiences. Carlos Rojas Hernández, director of the ensemble which brings together some of the finest musicians who live up to tradition of Joropo Llanero (music comes from traditional cattle herders of the plains that stretch out from North Colombia to the Orinoco and into western Venezuela).
Carlos sits down for a quick chat after the performance, but gets so drawn into talking about music, that we spend a good hour exchanging notes. The name Cimarron, Carlos explains, comes from a wild boar. “Cimarron means a wild boar. Our country music is aimed at creating that wild pace and passion on stage. It is powerful, rhythmic and poetic at the same time. It’s the kind of music you would hear from cowboys. It has a folkish sense of charm with a great sense of rhythm,” says Carlos. The Latin harp that Carlos plays is a fascinating instrument. “I started learning the instrument when I was around 11-12. I looked up to the great grandmaster Joselito Romero for inspiration. The Latin harp’s music has been influenced by a wide range of musical genres since the instrument travelled a great deal from one country to another. There are essentially four types of Latin harps, which are differentiated by the material it is made of, the number of strings and the style with which one plays it,” he says. Carlos mentions that dance is an important element of the Joropo culture and Flamenco is crucial to the music of Joropo.
He says that the texture of music in Colombia matters a lot. “As a composer there are different ways to craft music and there is constant improvisation. Sometimes it doesn’t work in harmony, sometimes it does. So one has to keep trying to achieve the best sound and rhythm possible. Even as we deal with stringed instruments, the sense of percussion is important,” says Carlos. The ability to strike a chord with someone in the audience excites Carlos. He says that feeling is beyond words. “I find it extremely spiritual to move someone with music. The process of creating that sort of music and then seeing someone get emotional about it is fascinating. When I sing alone, I become very nostalgic and gloomy. I like composing with the young people in my team. They are full of energy and like action in music. That inspires and pushes me to look for something new within what I’ve created,” he adds.
Considering it was a huge challenge to bring them down from Colombia for the RIFF organisers, Carlos says he had been looking forward to visiting India for many years now, but is glad that they finally made it. “We’ve performed in several places in South east Asia including China, but always waited for India. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here. It is truly an exotic country. I would love to explore it and see the amazing diversity it has to offer. I’ve heard Indian classical music and it is simply mind boggling. As a group, we would love to collaborate with Indian musicians, but we hope they like our music here,” he says with humility and a heart-warming smile.