
Watch: Picó, the sound systems of Colombia's Caribbean coast with Edna Martinez
The sound system culture that gave rise to champeta.
In our latest Listening Room session, DJ and curator of her own picó compilation Edna Martinez discusses the colourful sound systems born in the working-class neighbourhoods of Colombia's Caribbean coast.

Spreading across Cartagena, Barranquilla and Santa Marta, picó culture gave rise to champeta and built one of the Americas' most impressive collections of African music.
Starting with the arrival of radio in Colombia in 1929 and the street listening parties that followed, Martinez charts how communities pooled money to buy sound rigs, gave them names and identities, and assembled collections of Congolese soukous, South African mbaqanga, Antillean zouk, Puerto Rican jíbaro and more.
Watch now and check out the Listening Room session archive here.

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