A house that sounds: the music of Casa Salvaje, a playlist for every world

At Casa Salvaje the music changes with the hour and with the door you walk through. Morning coffee doesn't sound like Kanibal's fire, and dinner at SLVJ doesn't sound like the night, when the room becomes a club. That's why every world has its own playlist, and one more brings the whole house together: listen on Spotify.

A city that sounds

Few regions on earth have produced as much music as Colombia's Caribbean coast. Cumbia was born here from the meeting of three worlds, Indigenous, African and European, and since the 16th century it has played at village patron-saint festivals. The Barranquilla Carnival, about two hours away by road and recognised by UNESCO in 2003 as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, is still its great stage.

Cartagena added its own. Joe Arroyo was born here in 1955, and in 1986 he recorded "La rebelión", a salsa that tells the story of an enslaved African couple in 17th-century Cartagena. Some 50 kilometres away lies San Basilio de Palenque, founded by escaped slaves led by Benkos Biohó, whose drums, together with the African records arriving at the port, shaped champeta. And in 1982, when Gabriel García Márquez received the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, he brought Totó la Momposina and other Caribbean musicians so that cumbia would play there too.

A playlist is a pocket-sized picó.

I · Morning

La Domenica

A Sunday that never ends: coffee, a long lunch and aperitivo as the afternoon fades. Two playlists: one and another.

II · The fire

Kanibal

The pulse of fire and instinct, in two playlists.

III · The night

SLVJ

Two faces, like the night: Dinner, to behave at the table, and Party, for when you no longer have to.

Thursday to Saturday, when SLVJ becomes a club, the music plays on a Funktion-One system. Read why in the sound of SLVJ.

IV · The ritual

ONO

Where ritual meets desire: the ONO playlist.

Epilogue

Take the house with you

They all live on our Spotify profile. Follow it and take the house home, to the car or to the pre-party. It's a very coastal habit: on the Colombian Caribbean, music is shared, lent and played loud enough for the neighbours to hear.

The house plays on the web too. Every page of casa-salvaje.com has its own music: tap anywhere and it starts, always on a random song. The "Music" button lets you pause, skip and, at SLVJ, choose between Dinner and Party.