Carlos Vives Interview - Refinery29

When I listen to vallenato, I’m transported to Colombia — the smell of crisp mountain air, the first touch of sunrise on my skin, the rich taste of a warm cup of coffee. For Carlos Vives, often referred to as “el rey del vallenato” and one of the South American country’s biggest stars, vallenato is inseparable from the agriculture of Colombia and the farmers, or campesinos, who keep it alive. “The genre started to become distorted when the life of the campesinos, the life of the agricultural workers started to suffer. The only way to keep vallenato alive is for the campesino to not be displaced. That the rivers, the earth, and the countryside are healthy. That the campesino is happy,” Vives tells Refinery29 Somos in Spanish. “This is the only way for vallenato to survive — everything else is industry.”