What kind of conflict was there in regard to Costeño music?
P.W: The area that I was working in encompassed a variety of ethnic groups. To understand Colombia, you have to understand its geography and demographics. There are four big regions in Colombia. One is the main central highland Andean territory, which is somewhat the center of wealth and power. It is the area where the Spanish settled but is now populated of white and mestizos who are of fairly lighter skin. Then, there is the Pacific coastal region. This region is very under-developed, poor, and malarial. It is populated of mainly black people who were brought over as slaves. Next there is the northern coast, which is the Caribbean coastal littoral, that is wet, hot, and tropical region. The fourth region is the Amazon plains which go off to the east and into the Amazon basin. In the town that I was working for my Ph.D., people had very different musical tastes. There were people from the highland interior, who are white and mestizos. Their main musical tastes ran from tango to Mexica
