The morning of Monday, October 17, 2016, when I was able to have a red wine with the minstrel from Montes de María, Adolfo Pacheco Anillo, on the banks of the Magdalena River, as it passed through Barrancabermeja, it was something magical. He, who had a striking backpack on his back with his name and the words ‘El tropezón’, the title of one of his songs, was an authentic narrator who put the word in the right place, next to the heart.
Seeing that mighty national tributary run, he began to talk about those memories that marked him forever in that musical world surrounded by accordions, bagpipes and verses, where he served as an excellent composer.
Without preamble, he began by saying. “In my life I never thought I would receive so many tributes, which are already 60, the most recent being the Río Grande de la Magdalena de Barrancabermeja Accordion Festival, where authentic vallenato is cultivated.”
He continued to express. “I carry in my heart the Festival of the Vallenato Legend, where in 2005 I was crowned as King for Life, this being my degree as a great Vallenato composer. This tribute was a great honor that was also given to Tobías Enrique Pumarejo, Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, Rafael Escalona, Leandro Díaz, Calixto Ochoa, and it was shown that I am a cultivator of this beautiful music that is imposed in the world”.
While he was making a statement, a man carrying a wheelbarrow full of fruit interrupted him to ask if he was Adolfo Pacheco, the author of the song “La hamaca grande.” The minstrel smiled, and declared. “Indeed, that is one of the songs that has given me the most satisfaction, but ‘El viejo Miguel’ is lit in my heart, the story of my father Miguel Antonio Pacheco Blanco”. The fruit vendor was moved, and gave him two tangerines.
‘The big hammock’
After that moment, after the pleasant dialogue stopped, he entered the field of his compositions that add up to more than 200, as he stated, the same ones that have the stamp of a small-town man and attached to his customs.
“If I tell about all of them, we will have to wake up here.” It’s the first thing she pointed out. Then she is directed by a song where he was able, with the power of his ingenuity, to mount a large hammock to the Vallenato town so that, rocking in it, he could sing. In turn, he united the power of the accordion and the voice of Andrés Landero, a musical feat that he achieved in exactly two minutes and 50 seconds.
“The one who inspired me with that work was the unforgettable compadre Andrés Landero, who went to participate in the Vallenato Legend Festival and did not win. So I decided with my song, which I did in 1969, to bring a musical present to Valledupar next to my compadre Ramón Vargas Tapias. It was a big hammock, bigger than Cerro e’ Maco”.
The old sanjacintero composer fluttered in his thoughts that sung longing that was a mess of feelings with elements attached to his land.
He continued speaking: “When the song came out, the historian, politician and writer Eduardo Lemaitre Román published a column in El Universal de Cartagena where he highlighted the work, but pointed out that the hammock was not good for making love.” The teacher Adolfo Pacheco, commenting on the letter, did not stop laughing and added that he sent him the reply.
“I thanked him for the praise for the song ‘La hamaca grande’, and I told him that I wasn’t that expert in matters of love, but I knew 25 positions by heart, that is, what can be called hanging sex.”
Moving on to another topic, he told about the recording of his famous song by the artist Carlos Vives, which gave him great satisfaction, mainly in the economic sphere. “Carlos asked my permission to record the songs ‘La hamaca grande’ and ‘El viejo Miguel’, and I gladly granted it. In the end he recorded the first one for me ”.
He couldn’t stand it, and told a curious anecdote when in 1993 he held the position of Director of the Traffic Office in Cartagena, and for royalties from his work recorded by Carlos Vives he received 25 million pesos.
“With that money, I immediately changed my car, fixed my house and lived better, but what would be my surprise that shortly after I received several lawsuits for illicit enrichment. I had to go out and face them asking Sayco for copies of the payment of the royalties and with that the case was closed”.
river of tears
That hot morning in the Colombian oil port, Adolfo Pacheco Anillo wanted to continue talking, when suddenly the song ‘Alicia Adorada’, performed by Alejo Durán, sounded in the neighboring venue. Immediately, the composer bowed his head and with his tears competed with the Magdalena River.
“That song fills me with feeling,” he said. And without asking him, he began to narrate: “I met Juancho Polo Valencia, the author of the song, on one of the tours with my countryman and accordion player Ramón Vargas. One morning, he was lying on a parapet and for a pillow he had a cardboard box. We called him and he woke up. He was given the accordion and, fasting, with the guava raw, he began to play and sing that beautiful song dedicated to Alicia Cantillo”.
Poor my Alicia, adored Alicia
I remember you in all my parrandas.
Poor my Alicia, Alicia Cantillo
I remember you with all my friends.
The old vallenato sage, Adolfo Pacheco, was on the banks of the Magdalena River, telling stories of his songs and of his region of Bolívar, not overlooking the following fact. “There was a woman who only went to bed with guys because those her age pretended a lot and didn’t turn on or push each other.”
He continued in that line and stated that this story was narrated to the writer Gabriel García Márquez, who did not stop laughing and asked him to repeat it. “That day Gabo took notes to record that Macondo exists.”
The dialogue on the bank of the tributary ended, and the maestro’s joy was great because that year he received a special tribute within the framework of the 31st Rio Grande de la Magdalena Accordion Festival. He then he approached the river again, and said. “God willing that the vallenato does not stop flowing with the same force, as the Magdalena River does now.”
That’s how it will be, Maestro, and thank you for contributing your root songs to that purpose, where you exhibited paintings of folklore and nature, you painted sadness black, the watercolor of pain. And he painted love in oil, without a brush and without a palette, seeking harmony in color like the poet. He also painted the big hammock with magnificent colors and drew the nostalgia doing the old Miguel… Thanks for his contributions.
By: John Corner Vanegas
@juanrinconv