From the mouth of lead vocalist Liliana "Li" Saumet, salt water sounds like "agua salá" or "agua sala'a". The Caribbean accent is just part of the smooth rounded sound from Colombia known as Bomba Estéreo, a band that blends traditional cumbia with other musical influences.

Rock'n'roll has Cleveland; Country music has Nashville and Salsa has Cali, Colombia. Grammy nominee, Alberto Barros, brings us a mano a mano between three Salsa Divas representing the Salsa Capital of the World.

The pouring rain doesn’t stop Aterciopelados from rocking the park in Bogotá. “Rock al parque” is probably the biggest open-air (free!) rock festival in Latin America, held annually in Colombia’s capital. Listen in as Aterciopelados sings out a tribute to this fun festival and to fellow bands performing there. (How many of them have you heard?)

Shakira serves up another smoking, upbeat song. This one’s about a love triangle, as seen through the eyes of the other woman.

New York has the Hudson; Paris has the Seine; London has the Thames. Rivers were important in the building of these cities: they were commercial routes and also a source of food. Aterciopelados (in English, literally “The Velvety Ones”) the well-known Colombian band, remind us of the importance of our rivers with the title song of their socially conscious album Río.

Stop thief! A stranger with a foreign accent and talk of riches has come in and taken all the native gold, leaving poverty in his wake. Colombia’s talented ChocQuibTown manage to sing about serious geopolitical exploitation in a way that’s fun to listen to (and danceable, too).

Guess who was voted the best new band in the world in 2009? Drum-roll, please… Our friends Bomba Estéreo! Yabla met them back when they were the opening act of (the also great and friendly) ChocQuibTown. Since then, Bomba Estéreo have been spreading like fire all over America and Europe.

Shakira certainly knows something of the change-up life. A Colombian, she lives in the Bahamas, dates an Argentinian, switched to English, was a brunette, is now a blonde. In this video for “Gitana” (Gypsy), watch her flirt with Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal as she tells us what fans already know.

The old saying goes “Hijo de tigre, sale pintado”. Literally, it means the baby tiger is going to bear the same marks as his father. But it also means that there are some things we inherit and carry with us. Here, Aterciopelados is singing about leaving some inherited, violent habits behind.

ChocQuibTown is the most important Colombian hip-hop band of the moment and they have been pretty busy exporting their music around the world. From Argentina to Texas, people are dancing to their rhythms. But even as the band travel, ChocQuibTown hasn’t forgotten where they all come from. On the contrary, they are inspired by their Colombian roots.

Lo hecho está hecho means “What’s done is done,” and what’s done is another international hit from the bilingual diva from Barranquilla. The English language version is called “Did It Again,” and what it did was to give Shakira her 10th consecutive top-40 hit in the UK.

The most famous Colombian hips belong to Shakira. In this video we see a lot of the sensual dance and catchy music that have made Shakira’s name known throughout the whole world. Beware the full moon when this lovely she-wolf is on the prowl.

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Fonseca is known for his letras pegajosas (sticky lyrical hooks) and happy rhythms. Fonseca became a sensation after attending Berklee School of Music in Boston—a move that he claims gave him the ability to stand out among his musical peers.

The Colombian Pacific coast is a forgotten paradise. Its habitants complain about the lack of attention from the rest of the country, but it might be this bit of isolation that helps them maintain their rich culture. ChocQuibTown comes from the world’s rainiest lowland, and it is there that they learned to mix African drums and Latin beats with hip-hop and funk, creating a totally new sound that’s firmly rooted in their tradition.

It was his father who gave him the nickname “Juanes,” created by combining his first name (Juan) and the beginning of his second name (Esteban). Pops may have realized that it made for a perfect pop idol calling card, as he also taught him to play guitar.