La Banda del 5: “It is forming” a new vallenato style

Every month has the day “5” on the calendar. Especially November. The name of the group was born from that strange Colombian custom of baptizing the neighborhoods with the same day of its foundation. It was a November 5. That neighborhood in the southeast of Valledupar took its name. Then the group took that day to be baptized.

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On November 5, Jorge Oñate also released the album called the power of my songs. It was in 1999. Exactly the time when the artists of the “new wave” of Vallenato began to emerge. Peter Manjarrés, Silvestre Dangond, then Kaleth Morales, were some of those who were at the genesis of that era that revolutionized vallenato lyrics and sounds.

There was a second generation with Martín Elías, the Kvrass group and others. La Banda del 5 was also born there with other members, including bassist Marlon Rangel and cashier Marco Peñaranda. A few years ago they were renovated. First came the vocalist Júnior Saavedra. Then Roberto Carlos Kammerer’s accordion. They arrived and also the successes.

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First season

The group was founded in 2012. They put out some productions and timidly made themselves known in the city. The project did not work out as they had thought, but they kept trying. The name of the band began to permeate in certain spaces. But then they refounded themselves and brought in the members that would make it work.

“Every moment was good and special. Maybe before we wanted things to happen quickly, but it wasn’t then, it was today. Everything has been growing and now we are happy with what is happening to us”, says Marlon Rangel, founder and bassist of the group.

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Before the refoundation they won the Francisco El Hombre Festival. It was in Riohacha in 2015. The only vallenato music festival that rewards contemporary artists. It served as an impetus to continue working. In 2018 they went into debt to release the album Magical. That’s where the first local success was born, Call me.

Second season

His second success came with his latest renewal. Roberto Carlos Kammerer had just worked with another singer from this new generation, Simón Figueroa. He brought his accordion notes and novel composition along with his brother, Alberto Kammerer, who made Crazya song that put them in the mouths of young people from Valledupar.

They also revamped production. They brought the current guitarist of “Mono” Zabaleta, who had already worked with them, and gave him the confidence to produce this song. It was Juan Pablo Aconcha who was in charge. Both the lyrics and the production had a different proposal. Unique mixes, sounds and fresh lyrics.

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One morning after a party they found out that Silvestre Dangond reposted part of the song on his Instagram. He moved them and they cried. They then met with him personally. He showed them his backing. That triggered the song more than it was. Within a few months they took Second season. It was the preamble to his first album, which would also be titled.

Their new accordion player made them change their decision. He had a header phrase that ended up convincing them. “RK had us bored with the phrase ‘It’s taking shape, well.’ Every day was the same. Some friends told us to call him that because he had an album name”, says vocalist Júnior Saveedra. And they ignored him.

First chapter

Since the release of their first album, which consists of 14 songs, it is not possible to speak of one success, but of several. But there is one song that stands out. A theme that broke with the paradigms of vallenato because something similar had not been done. Both in the lyrics and in the production of Juan Pablo Aconcha.

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That song is written by Alberto Kanmerer, who is not part of the group but is close to it through his brother, accordion player Roberto Carlos. The name of the song The heartbreaker. Alberto had already recorded it alone with a style closer to the urban one. Júnior Saveedra, the vocalist of La Banda, had heard it and wanted to record it because he knew it would be a hit.

“One day Pepe (Alberto) gets in the car and shows me the song. I told her that she was very cool and that she should record it with me, but sucking cock. He told me no, that he was going to record it by himself. Later, between all of us in the band, we seriously told him that if he wanted to do the feat with us”. In the end she gave in.

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It is the most popular song on the album. They ensure that you can go further. Silvestre Dangond backed them up again. He appeared in a video singing the choir of The heartbreaker. They would like to record the remix version with this established artist.

Second chapter

With that enthusiasm they had planned the live launch, as is customary in vallenato. “A businessman proposes us to hold an event at the La Placita nightclub. From one moment to another they took our body out, they said that things were no longer going. Rafael and Osman, the group’s managers, told their members that it was time to postpone the event.

After that mishap, some small businessmen, musicians and journalists from the city began to organize another live launch in a different place. They came up with the historic Plaza Alfonso López, but it was complex to fill it due to its capacity for 10,000 people. During that break, the CD began to play louder and they jumped into the water. They filled the square.

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La Banda del 5 not only leads the new style that is being forged in contemporary vallenato music, but also, spontaneously and naturally, is spreading it to the youth of Valledupar. Or, as people in the capital of Cesar would say in traditional words: “The Band of 5 is making it boja”.

*From the Color Foundation of Colombia.