When I got home, I saw the Colombiana in our office in front
of her laptop. She was singing a Vallenato. This is one of the
well-known popular rhythms in Colombia nowadays. It originated on the
country’s Caribbean coast and its name comes from Valle de Upar "Valledupar"(Valley of Upar) the place
of its birth.
The main composers
and performers have been Rafael Escalona, Alejo Durán, Emiliano Zuleta, Enrique
Díaz, as well as Carlos Vives, who introduced new styles to the vallenato with great success. Her
voice is always slightly off key, but she knew all the words to every song
those guys ever wrote.
“Hi mi amor,” I said. “Maybe some voice lesions would be
good. My treat.” I laughed. I was jealous of her fabulous memory.
“I am doing a very
important investigation of the effect of Vallenatos on the culture of Colombia, and especially the effect its popularity has on gender and feminism for my
thesis,” she said.
My heart rate jumped at the mention of her doctoral thesis
which she had been at for almost four years.
“Your thesis must be a thousand pages long by now you keep
expanding its concept and scope.” I said.
I knew what the result would be when I said it, but I was not
sorry. I was sick of waiting for her to finish her thesis and get her Ph.D. Married
to a woman studying for her Ph.D. was not fun and a lonely business.
Now, I understood how my first wife must have felt when I was
working all the time, and she was home alone with our children. What goes around
comes around.
