LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- Preforming at this years Festival International, Kombilesa Mi fuses traditional Colombian beats with the Afro influence of the Palenque culture.

Hailing from San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia, the first free African town in the Americas, Kombilesa Mi combines Spanish and the local Palenquero language to create a unique blend of traditional Colombian music and urban rap. Much of the groups music aims to keep alive the culture of Palenque, which only has around 3,500 residents.

Born in mid 2011, Kombilesa Mi was the fusion of several Palenke hip-hop groups that sought solidarity and preservation of their traditions as people of Palenque. Part of this involves the use of Palenquero in their lyrics, which is a Spanish-based creole language. Palenquero is influenced by the Kikongo language of Congo and Angola, and also by Portuguese, the language of the slave traders who brought enslaved Africans to South America in the 17th century. Although Palenquero is Spanish-based, its grammar differs from Spanish, making the language unintelligible to Spanish speakers.

In the groups music, consisting of nine members, you can hear the sounds of traditional percussion, metal handmade drums of their own design, and marímbula, as the group raps in Spanish and Palenquero. This creative blend of Afro and Colombian sounds has created a specific genre of music the band self-categorizes as rap folklórico palenquero.

Through their tours abroad, the groups has established rap folklórico palenquero as a broader social movement, connecting audiences both inside and outside of Palenque. To hear Kombilesa Mi in action, the group will perform at Festival International in Lafayette on Thursday, April 25 from 8:15-8:45 p.m. at the Scene LUS stage.

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