Roots & Rhythms: Darlina Sáenz & Akolá Tambó

About

Traditional Bullerengue singer Darlina Sáenz leads a hypnotic night of drum-fuelled Afro-Colombian music and dance with Akolá Tambó. With the combination of guttural earthy vocals, syncopated hand drums and dance. Central to the practice lies a profound connection with the audience and fellow percussionists’ “sentimiento”, which shapes a hypnotic dreamscape of music and dance. \* Darlina Sáenz is a Colombian traditional burrerengue singer (cantadora) from Necoclí, Antioquia, Colombia’s Caribbean coast. As one of Colombia’s great Bullerengue masters, Darlina is widely regarded as an iconic bearer of the Afro-Colombian Bullerengue tradition, a genre historically transmitted orally and closely tied to community rituals, women’s storytelling, and percussion-led singing. Her artistic career has been recognised with awards for best original song, best group, best singer, best voice, and best vocal style at various bullerengue festivals in Colombia and abroad. \* London-based Akolá Tambó shares the ancestral rhythms of bullerengue, a drum-fueled Afro-Colombian music and dance tradition born from resistance. Their trance-inducing performances inspire radical joy and connection, inviting audiences to rediscover their roots through the heartbeat of the drum. The name Akolá Tambó -meaning “remember the drum”- reflects their mission to honour tradition and the transformative power of rhythm.