In Aguas Blancas, the sprawling slum in Cali, Colombia, Jairo Varela has long been a legend, even before his death last week. Years ago, when I visited Aguas Blancas, one girl said to me “Jairo Varela has never forgotten where he came from, his songs talk about his race and his roots. He is our Cali”
The band Grupo Niche that Varela founded and led for more than three decades is not only Colombia’s most famous salsa band, it put Cali, the city that had been the heart of plantation Colombia, where Africans slaved for the Spanish, and black Colombia on the global culture map.
Even the name, Niche, was a statement of black pride in a country and continent where black culture is still looked down on by the establishment. Niche is slang for black i.e. of African origin, and Varela always said that “Niche is Cali, and Cali is Niche”.
By this statement Varela meant that it is Africa that makes Cali, 70% of whose residents are black, what it is - the soul of Colombia. His pride in Cali and in black culture burst through his songs and his lyrics. And with the global success of Grupo Niche, he made it more difficult for the Colombian elite to dismiss the country’s black heritage, as it has often wanted to do. The lyrics of Grupo Niche, reflected his own pride in black Colombia:
There’s a joke that’s going around, and the joke is on me,
I’ve got a big nose and big lips, And they can’t find anything good in that,
I’m black, it’s true, I’m from Mother Africa, And I feel proud of it.
Ironically, Jairo Varela Martínez, was not born in Cali but in Quibdó, in the Colombian department of Chocó, on December 9, 1949. But, as he said “ Cali is my cradle, the city that witnessed my birth musically, the city that has supported me without restrictions, synthesiing who I am, Cali and Grupo Niche is the same thing for me
At the age of 8, Varela formed a band in Quibdó called La Timba [a type of salsa music] and in the 70s he moved to Bogotá, where in 1978 he started the salsa group El Grupo Niche. Grupo Niche's first album: Al Pasito was released in 1980, did little to challenge the dominating salsa band of Colombia at the time, Fruko y sus Tesos. The following year, however, the group found success with their second album,Querer Es Poder, particularly with the single Buenaventura y Caney.
The group relocated in 1982 to Cali where they have been based since. After recording two more albums, Grupo Niche released No Hay Quinto Malo in 1984, which featured their signature song, Cali Pachanguero. The tribute hit single to the "world salsa capital" catapulted Niche as one of the top salsa bands of Colombia.
In 1986, the Varela incorporated Puerto Rican vocalist Tito Gomez, who had previously worked with the famous Puerto Rican salsa group, la Sonora Ponceña, and Ray Barretto, the Godfather of Latin Jazz. Later that year, Grupo Niche released "Me Huele A Matrimonio". Afterward, yet another Puerto Rican joined, the pianist Israel Tanenbaum.
As composer and arranger, Jairo Varela created a signature sound in Grupo Niche that was totally unique, producing vigorous, uptempo dance music such as Cali Pachangero andDel Puente Pa'llá and Han Cogido la Cosa, as well as sublime romantic melodies such as Una Aventura, Hagamos Lo Que Diga Corazon, Duele Mas, and Nuestro Sueño. Varela's and Niche’s great success was in its ability to reinvent itself over and over again, in the same way that all great bands have done, from the Beatles to Los Van Van. The sound changed many times, but always keeping its unique stamp and quality, Varela notorious for being a dmeanding band leader and his keeping a tight reign over the musicians.
Because of the quality of his sound Jairo and Niche managed to attract the best singers from all over the Caribbean. Some of the most famous singers from Niche throughout its history include Alvaro del Castillo, La Coco Lozano, Tuto Jiménez, Saulo Sanchez, Tito Gomez, Moncho Santana, Charlie Cardona as well as Willy Garcia and Javier Vasquez, now members of the group 'Son de Cali'. They have been very successful, and some of their songs are considered Classics of Salsa Music. The group still enjoys some of its past successes, and, as of 2006, is on tour, making worldwide presentations, and singing their most memorable songs.
As Varela and Niche, grew in stature to match the best salsa orchestra of Puerto and New York, at a time when Salsa was at its height, it also became the target for the Cali authorities. At the height of Niche's popularity in the early 1990s, Varela opened a state of the art studio and nightclub in Cali and was arrested for elicit enrichment, accused of having received money for performing private parties for accused drug traffickers, a charge Varela denied. Consequently, Varela spent 3 years in a low security prison.
Many people believe Varela was set up by the white establishment looking to punish an uppity nigger who was earning money and foregrounding black culture. For the white elite of Colombia he is the reminder that they are the minority; a wealthy, powerful minority but nevertheless intimidated by the predominance of a black population which makes up seventy percent of the city. “There is no one in Cali who has not touched drugs money.” One girl told me in Aguas Blancas. “Drugs money is everywhere. It was our economy, our currency. The police picked on Varela because he was earning money and was an inspiration to black people. They didn’t like that”
Of course on his release, Varela emerged even more popular, and given a hero’s welcome. After spending several years in Miami he returned to Cali, where he was actively working with Grupo Niche, which continues to tour worldwide. Last May, the band played a concert celebrating its 30th anniversary. He will be remembered for raising the standards for tropical music; touring the world with Grupo Niche to a degree previously unheard of for Colombian salsa band, playing Madison Square Garden 17 times and performing over 2,000 shows in the U.S.
Jairo Varela, the iconic founder and leader of celebrated Colombian salsa band Grupo Niche, died suddenly of apparent heart failure in his home in Cali, Colombia on August 8th 2012. He was 62 years old. Varela is survived by his partner, Damaris Dediego, and five children.
