Image of Panamanian Polleras, a red "pollera de lujo", an older traditional pollera and a blue "pollera de lujo"

A pollera is a Spanish term for a big one-piece skirt used mostly in traditional festivities and folklore in the Spanish speaking world.

Spain[link]

In Spain skirt worn by women almost a century ago. They are made of wool or cotton and are very colorful. The large gathered skirt is generally white with two or three ruffles which have a floral design or embroidery. The top has several ruffles as well on the shoulders and has inlaid yarn. There is a large pompom matching the yarn in the front and back of the top. The yarn also matches several large ribbons at the waist and the slippers that go with the outfit. The clothing includes a headdress called a tembleque (or tembeleque) which is made of beads attached to a spring so that they tremble when the wearer dances.

Colombia and Panama[link]

In Panama and Colombia, hand made polleras evolved during time to a very elaborate piece of clothing. Currently it is the National Costume of Panama. Girls and women would generally own two polleras during their life: one before age 16 and one at adulthood. A single pollera can cost from several hundred to several thousands of dollars and take up to a year to create. The gold and pearl mosquetas and tembleques that accompany a pollera are generally passed down as heirlooms through generations.

Bolivia[link]

Huayno singer Wendy Sulca wearing a traditional Peruvian pollera

In Bolivia the word pollera denotes a pleated skirt very much associated with the urban mestizo and the rural indigenous classes where women usually wear this garment (nowadays also instead of the woven indigenous dresses). The urban pollera typical of the Bolivian altiplano should be made of 8 meters of cloth and it is worn with 4-5 embroidered underskirts, which gives the Cholitas (mestizo women who wear the pollera) some "round" lookings… There are still quite a lot of women around who wear this skirt which originates from the Spanish rural dresses and for the Carnaval de Oruro and other festivities even women who don't usually wear it put it on for the dancing.

External links[link]

• The Pollera of Panama
• Photos of the Cholitas wearing the pollera of La Paz

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2008)

Carlos Alberto Sánchez (born in Girardot, Colombia, 1974),^[1] better known in the entertainment world as Charlie Zaa, is a Colombian singer who has gained fame across Latin America and among Hispanics in the United States. Zaa is the son of singer Luis Humberto Sánchez.^[1]

Zaa was a singer with two famous Colombian salsa orchestras: "Grupo Niche" and "Guayacán".^[1] When he launched his career as a solo artist, he decided to switch to the bolero rhythm.^[2] This career decision was made during the middle 1990s, and Zaa became an instant teen idol in Latin America. At that same time, he also became paparazzi fodder, with his photos coming out in a large number of magazines. Zaa was also featured on the covers of many of these magazines.

Since becoming a solo singer, Zaa has also received much television coverage, being featured in a large number of important television shows.

On July 23, 2004, Zaa suffered a severe abdominal pain as he was about to begin a concert in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He could not perform that day, having to be taken to a local hospital. Zaa was then flown to Miami, Florida, where he remained hospitalized until he was diagnosed with having a kidney condition. Soon after, his personal doctor corrected the problem in a surgery performed in his native Colombia.^[3]

Charlie Zaa has recorded over 10 CDs since launching his career as a solo artist. His CD Sentimientos, in which he sings some past hit songs, sold over three million copies throughout Latin America and the United States.^[1] His albums Sentimientos and Un Segundo Sentimiento led to him winning the 1998 Artist of the Year award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards.^[4] For his fourth album, Zaa returned to the Sonolux studios in Bogotá, where he made his first album Sentimiento, and to his original producer, Milton Salcedo, and recorded old romantic standards, boleros and waltzes, in an attempt to replicate the success of Sentimiento.^[5] Zaa's album De Un Solo Sentimiento was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award in 2002.^[6] In 2011, Zaa's album De Bohemia reached the top of the Billboard Latin Albums chart.^[7]

References[link]