when fulfilling 70 years of life there are too many stories to tell, and even more so when he has an accordion on his chest that has marked his destiny with its notes. that happened to Egidio Rafael Cuadrado Hinojosa, King Vallenato in 1985who did not know where to begin to narrate his musical career that began at a very young age in his native Villanueva, south of La Guajira.
By putting his thoughts in order he began saying. “To recount all the episodes of my life, time is short, but I will try to remember the testimonies of life, triumphs, faith and hopes”.
Egidio is a noble, simple fighter with an extraordinary musical wisdom that has led him to excel to the point of crossing borders, having a huge message vallenato that sounds on an accordion accompanied by a song.
Without further ado, he stated: “When I was six years old, Vallenato music caught my attention because at home my brother Hugues played the accordion. In view of this desire to learn to play, my mother Cristina Hinojosa he bought me an accordion and that was my greatest happiness. I have never let go of the accordion”.
FROM VILLANUEVA, FOR THE WORLD
The first song that Egidio learned to play was ‘This is me’, by Aniceto Molina. So, he sang the first verse. “If I go, if I go, remember that I will return. Pray to God, pray to God, that one day I have to come back. That love that left never came back, because God wanted it that way, because that’s how I am.”.
When he stopped singing, he added that from a very young age he fully immersed himself in the vallenato world, accompanying different singers and participating in the Vallenato Legend Festival of the year 1973, contest where he reached the crown of Amateur King. Soon after he made various recordings until he reached the series ‘Stagger’, and the musical groupThe province‘ with Carlos Vives, where for 30 years sets the musical standard.
Later he recounted that in 1979 he left his land for Bogotá to look for other horizons and he succeeded. Of course, there was a lot of sadness in his heart. From one moment to another some tears appeared. She respected that moment where words were unnecessary. Already more serene, he said: “My mom’s death was too hard for me. She was the axis of everything, the one who supported me in my desire to be a great accordion player. I felt lonely and sad. That was one of the reasons for leaving.”
Egidio, in the capital of the country, began a new story, meeting, through the teacher Rafael Escalona, who lived with his sister Dinaluz, prominent personalities from politics, the economy, culture, sports and journalism.
“Thank God, what happened in Bogotá was definitive for my musical career and also for my claims to be King Vallenato, an honor that I achieved 38 years ago, having my brother Heberth Cuadrado (QEPD) as companions in the box and Efraín ‘El Toto’ López in the guacharaca”.
That triumph when interpreting the promenade ‘El mejoral’ and the merengue ‘La vieja Sara’, authored by Rafael Escalona, the son ‘Amparito’ by Lorenzo Morales and the puya ‘La puya puyá’, authored by him, triggered a new history by taking the trophy to the then president of Colombia, Belisario Betancur, who received it very emotionally and made him a promise that he kept.
“I knew how to take advantage of my reign and I visited President Belisario Betancur, who was my friend. That day he promised me the management before the embassies so that he would be the spokesman for Colombia taking Vallenato music to many parts of the world. In total, I was in 20 countries.”
He continued counting: “That same year that I was crowned King Vallenato in a party I met Carlos Vives, at that time the famous ‘Gallito’ Ramírez. That afternoon he sang three songs with me. ‘The house in the air’, by Rafael Escalona; ‘Absence’, by Santander Durán Escalona; and ‘El cantor de Fonseca’, by Carlos Huertas. I can say that from that party he started everything that led us years later to be in the wonderful television series ‘Escalona’. In addition, being the accordion player of the group ‘La Provincia’ that reaches 30 years, being quite an event where he performs. What a great honor to also win the Latin Grammy Award.”
CARLOS VIVES, THE BROTHER
Believing that he was going to continue with his story, he remained silent, raising his heart to the highest, and expressed. “Carlos Vives is everything to me. A brother and a true friend. The one who has always been by my side in good times and also when I was in very poor health due to Covid. It is the best thing that has happened to me in the musical and personal field”.
About Carlos Vives, he told an anecdote that happened in Madrid, Spain. “We were going to start the concert, and from one moment to another I was entertained talking to a beautiful young woman. He was so entertained that Mayté Montero began with his bagpipes to introduce the song ‘La gota fría’. When it was my turn to enter with the accordion, I wasn’t at my post, and that’s when I heard Carlos say. “Compadre Egidio, to work”. I ran out, while Mayté began the introduction again.
He changed the subject and noted that he has a happy home made up of his wife Fanny Maldonado and their two children José Félix and Katerine. In addition, that he is not in his plans to withdraw from him, noting: “The art of the accordion player does not have a quick retirement, that happens to athletes. I feel good and more now that the release of the musical production arrives’Escalona, it had never been recorded like this‘, which will be released on next April 19.
Egidio Cuadrado’s dream of learning to play the accordion, promoted by his mother, was definitive, taking him to the top together with the singer Carlos Vives, who knew how to choose it so that neither of them would get cold feet, but instead would count his own history, as the teacher Rafael Escalona did.
Egidio, the son of Agustín Cuadrado and Cristina Hinojosa, the same never leaves his hat turned, his Arhuaca backpack and his 12 accordions. He who enjoys them in his quiet moments on his farm in Villeta, Cundinamarca, listening to songs by Juan Gabriel, Julio Iglesias and Claudia de Colombia, thanked the interview where he revealed unprecedented details in the midst of the dawn of sentiment, where a tear or a smile made it possible for a vallenato song to irrigate his noble heart, telling the world that life makes the most sense when the accordion of a Vallenato King sounds.
By Juan Rincón Vanegas/Special for EL PILÓN.