Champeta, also known as terapia, is a musical genre and dance that originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia in the early 1980s. It developed from an earlier style termed chalusonga, which originated in Palenque de San Basilio in the mid-1970s. Chalusonga was a combination of Colombian chalupa and Afro-Cuban percussive music popularized by Estrellas del Caribe. When their music reached Cartagena de Indias, it evolved into champeta, which became a movement and identity among Afro-Colombians. It shows influences from African colonial settlements and from contemporary African culture, particularly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The word champeta originally denoted a short, curved, monkey-killing knife of the same name used in the region at work, in the kitchen, and as an offensive weapon. The word is first known to have been used as a cultural identifier in the 1920s. Socio-cultural researchers and sociologists have established that at some time before the 1920s the term champetudo started to be applied to residents of the more outlying districts of Cartagena, who tended to be poorer and of African descent. The term was applied by the economic elite with the intention of disparaging this surviving culture, with associations of vulgarity, poverty and Africanness. Thus champeta refers to a culture whose history is marked by slavery and mistreatment.
At the start of the 1970s, champeta culture became better-known in Colombia due to the development of a set of complex dances set to the rhythms of salsa and jíbaro and later reggae, as well as progressively more foreign or novel dance genres as providers competed for exclusivos, records other groups did not have in their library. This music was played at full volume through big loudspeakers known locally as picós (from the English word pick-up) by troupes of the same name. These early dances were called "therapy" for their relaxing nature, a distraction from the economic problems of the country.
Around 1981, "creole therapy" emerged as a musical genre to be performed and sung. Among its sources of inspiration was recorded music brought into the port of Cartagena from Africa and from other African settlements. Its first composers were people of African descent from Cartagena and Palenque de San Basilio, later joined by songwriters and entrepreneurs from Barranquilla and other parts of Colombia. It consisted in a fusion of African rhythms (soukous, highlife, mbaqanga, juju) with those from the Antilles (ragga, compás haitiano, also influenced by music of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian origins (bullerengue, mapalé, zambapalo and chalupa). This style of music came to be known as "Colombian therapy" and finally took on the name of the champeta culture. During the 1990s champeta underwent further changes in its musical and other content, with the introduction of digital techniques and placas (interruptions counter to the rhythm). Despite its social origins, champeta came to be as much appreciated as rejected by the social elite.
In 2000 Champeta music had a breakthrough in the Colombian Caribbean region's market with John Sayas "El sayayín" leading the movement
In champeta music, the rhythmic base dominates over the melodic and harmonic lines, producing a music easy to dance to and marked by its strength and plasticity. The instruments used include the voice, percussion, electric guitar, bass, conga drums, and the synthesiser, which contributes rhythmic effects. This musical form is characterised by a division into three sequential parts: the introductory music, the chorus, and el Despeluque, marked by powerful repetitive rhythms and usually accompanied by placas, interruptions counter to the rhythm. Song lyrics often display the rebellious attitude of Cartagena people of African descent, challenging social and economic exclusion or relating their dreams of change and progress
