Biography

Cruz Neyla has lived most of her life in Andagoya (Chocó), planting on elevated terraces and washing other people's clothes. Her tools are a wooden table carved like an accordion, her strong hands and her voice. Single mother, very young, washed gold in the Chocó mines to raise her daughters and sons; She subsequently lived in Medellín for nine years as a domestic worker. Several years ago, she returned to Andagoya, managed to build a brick house - traditional houses are tall wooden constructions - away from the frequent floods of the San Juan River. Cruz Neyla is part of the group of praise of Andagoya to which she now proudly belongs. The alabaos are "intoned and dialogued prayers", vocal polyphonies used in funeral rites that have a strong influence on the Gregorian form brought by the missionaries and reappropriated by the people. Its current manifestations can be located mainly in the Colombian North Pacific area, the Alabaos are for adults and the Gualíes for minors. It is a current practice in which women and men participate, stronger in rural areas than in urban areas. Cruz Neyla says that “when someone died they sang to her for two reasons: one, of sadness because in any case they would not see their loved one again, and two, of joy because that person who died was no longer going to be more slave because he was gone forever. " For Cruz the Alabaos are a fundamental part of her culture and their expression as a black woman, she is a living reflection of their ancestors and ancestors who fought to free themselves from enslavement and proclaimed death as liberation.