Between the streets and the daily life of the center of Barranquilla A store houses a treasure of thousands of records that includes the largest collection of Caribbean and Afro-Colombian music.
Shane Butrón, owner of Discolombia, last branch of what was a chain of music stores, has a collection of some 10,000 records that made it recognized in 2016 by ‘The Vinyl Factory’ as the tenth best vinyl store in the world and defined as a special place to get “Latin relics.”
According to Shane, what sells the most are the salsa and African music records used in the sound systems that set the streets and parties in the cities and towns of the Colombian Caribbean, popularly known as ‘picós’.
Caribbean musical treasure
Beyond commercial or popular titles, the store has material for which buyers from other parts of the world usually come: Caribbean and African folk music, both recorded or licensed by Felito Records.
“What foreigners buy the most is the folk music from here: Cumbias, vallenatos and things like Ramayá Beltrán, Dolcey Gutiérrez or La Niña Emilia,” Shane tells EFE.
The record company Felito Records, Created in the 70s by Félix Butrón, Shane’s grandfather, it gave many artists the opportunity to record their music in their own studios in Barranquilla.
Thanks to this, popular compositions such as ‘Don’t kill me’, ‘Coroncoro’, ‘The striped shirt’, or ‘The four parties’, considered a signature Christmas song in the Colombian Caribbean.
At the same time, the label made compilations of African music that included songs such as the Cameroonian ‘Zangalewa’, by Golden Sounds, or ‘Bakuba Show’, by Congolese Pepe Kalle, that inspired the creation of champeta, a popular rhythm from northern Colombia.
“There are many songs (from the record company) that have been liked in Europe. For example, there is a song by Dolcey Gutierrez called ‘Calabá, calabao’ which is a fusion of Colombian music and African music,” explains Shane.
The story behind the store
Discolombia is the last branch of a chain that had 25 stores spread throughout the country.
“In 1963 the first warehouses began”says Shane, who regrets that music piracy has led to the decline of the network, which survives thanks to the vinyl boom in recent years.
Shane knows by heart the location of the records and when the requested one is not on the counters he dives into a dark warehouse where there are thousands of vinyls stacked and from which he extracts the ones sought by the customers.
“The winery was previously in another location, but over time, as the chain grew, this larger location was obtained”says the owner.
EFE
