When listening to the classic vallenato “Bodas de Plata” recorded by Luis Enrique Martínez in 1973 and then by Jorge Oñate the following year, one might think that the song was composed by its protagonist, Pollo Vallenato. However, this beautiful work is authored by Armando Zabaleta, one of the guests at the party that motivated this memorable vallenato walk.
Beyond the story of the party, the guests and the gifts, Zabaleta expresses the meaning of the marriage union within the framework of religiosity, a true ode to love, embodied in the musical harmony of the accordion, the box and the guacharaca .
There is no doubt that for Luis Enrique and his wife Rosalbina Serrano, that celebration would be an unforgettable date in their lives, but the stamp that the composer from Patillas imposed by immortalizing that sublime act was perhaps the best gift they could receive as a true sign of friendship. and honey.
In this song, not only is love praised as a couple, friendship is also exalted, those friends who were present at that beautiful party where the most famous accordions in the region played, and although the party was Luis Enrique’s house, the Joy spread throughout the Copeyano town that accompanied the celebration for several days.
After the famous meeting of accordion players promoted by García Márquez in his native Aracataca, and which according to some folklorists would be the inspiration for the first Vallenato Legend Festival, it could be said that Luis Enrique managed to gather, around him and his wife, the best performers of the classic vallenato from the 70s in the patio of his house, under a bower. Alejo Durán, Colacho Mendoza, Abel Antonio Villa, Andrés Landero, Pacho Rada, Ismael Rudas and the López brothers, attended the invitation in that legendary house where the composers Armando Zabaleta, Freddy Molina, Adolfo Pacheco, Juancho were also present. Polo Valencia, among others.
Luis Enrique Martínez, was born in Fonseca, La Guajira, but when he was 13 years old, his family moved to Fundación, Magdalena, where he worked in the fields and also as a sawyer, to later dedicate himself fully to the accordion in his adolescence. He met Rosalbina Serrano in El Copey, Cesar, the land where this woman, a native of the department of Bolívar, came to live with her family. Shortly after they were engaged, they got married and decided to make their home in that town.
By Alba Quintero Almenárez