If we were to draw a straight line between the Guamuez, Putumayo, and Guatapurí River in Valledupar, the distance would be close to a thousand kilometers, but by road it becomes close to 2,000, which are the same distances that Juan Andrés had to travel in two days. Patiño Murillo, to present his song to the Unpublished Song contest of the Vallenata Legend Festival.
We Vallenatos know that Guatapurí means cold water in the Chimila indigenous language, and that this stream is born in one of the lagoons of the Picos de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and that in approximately 72 kilometers of travel it drops 4,400 meters above sea level. sea, reaches Valledupar at 200 meters above sea level, giving identity to the capital of Cesar and tourist attraction to this region.
What do we know about Guamuez?
The Guamuez River rises in the Laguna de La Cocha, Nariño, and flows into the Putumayo River, crossing the region known as Bajo Putumayo, which includes the municipalities of Orito, Puerto Asís and Valle del Guamuez.
The River, after irrigating a vast region of the lower Putumayo, delivers its waters to the River that gives its name to the Department, which then deposits its waters into the Amazon River that runs through the countries of Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Brazil.
The Guamuez or Guamues area was originally inhabited by indigenous people, but after the presence of religious people, later by immigrants attracted by the gold bonanzas, oil exploitation and more recently by the coca leaf, it has been occupied by migrants, and not The presence of armed groups such as guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug traffickers that have spread terror in said region escapes this.
Arrive in Valledupar
Juan Andrés has come to Valledupar on three other occasions attracted by Vallenato music, but only on this occasion did he dare to present the song, in Paseo rhythm that is inspired by the Vallenato environment, with mention of the Guatapurí River and the Sirena Vallenata .
This 27-year-old systems engineer likes traditional vallenato. The taste for this musical expression was born with him since since he was in the womb of his mother, Amelia Murillo Lozano, “a small radio was stuck to her belly in which I would listen to those traditional vallenato songs by Jorge Oñate , Poncho Zuleta, Diomedes Díaz, Los Betos, among others, which are the ones I like, and make me almost unique in my town.
La Ant is the municipal seat of the Valle del Guamuez municipality, bordering Ecuador, which makes it special for commercial exchange between the two nations. Juan Andrés Patiño Murillo resides in that town with his family, accompanied by his mother, his father, a pensioner, Ermides Patiño Rubio and three brothers. Although of Tolimense origin, as his family migrated from El Espinal to La Hormiga, they have adapted to the culture of their new place of residence, a town almost on the border with Ecuador, and surrounded by the Guamuez River, which gives rise to the name of the Guamuez Valley, river that flows into the Putumayo River and this into the Amazon.
The population is made up of families from different regions of Colombia such as Tolima, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Nariño, Huila, Cauca, among others, who are mainly dedicated to commerce and services.
The municipal seat is one of the 13 municipalities that make up the Putumayo Department in southern Colombia, such as Mocoa, its departmental capital; Colón, Orito, Puerto Leguizamo, San Francisco, Puerto Caicedo, Puerto Guzmán, San Francisco, Sibundoy, La Dorada, Villagarzón and Santiago.
What is heard
The composer says that the vallenato that is preferentially heard in that territory is the “light, romantic vallenato,” and that, among his friends, he is almost the only one who listens to and prefers traditional vallenato. Not even on the town’s radio station do they program traditional vallenato, so among his friends with whom he parties and celebrates, he is the only one. “But I trust that I will help disseminate and position this vallenato,” he says confidently.
When asked about the music that is heard the most in that region, he reveals that it is Tecno-cumbia and popular music in which Colombian performers stand out.
Regarding the content of the composition that he submitted to the Inédita contest, he states that it refers to Valledupar, its Guatapurí River, the Sirena Vallenata and of course to the women of this land whom he admires for their beauty, their dark skin, their black eyes and his bearing, and since he already bathed in Guatapurí, he hopes to stay here, conquered by one of the women of the Valley.
By: Renato Laino Marchena