The first was Francisco Moscote Guerra known as Francisco El Hombre. He was born in Galán, La Guajira, his legend is the fundamental basis of our music, because from the moment he defeats the lord of darkness with the upside-down creed, he turns vallenato into music of light. The first song that was composed for a woman titled ‘Chencha’ is known from him.
The great Francisco Irenio Bolaños Marzal, known as Chico Bolaños; Well-known accordionists such as Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, Luis Villar, Rosendo Romero Villareal, Alejo Durán, Pacho Rada, gave testimony of this accordionist, who was the one who taught how to play the basses on the accordion and how to play the four airs together. He was born in El Molino, La Guajira, with a grandmother from Villanueva. The second song about falling in love with a woman is known from Chico Bolaños, until now titled ‘Catalina Daza’.
Tobías Enrique Pumarejo, known as Don Toba, is the first composer of vallenato music who makes himself heard without being an accordionist. His inspiration is framed in genres: lyrical, romantic, elegy and costumbrismo. Two fully defined slopes open up, the Escalona slope, and the Gutiérrez Cabello slope. It can be said without falling into pedantry that Don Toba is “the dad” of all the vallenato composers, romantic songs by Don Toba; ‘Shut up, sweetheart’, ‘The date’, ‘Look at me’, among others in other genres. Don Toba was born in Patillal, Cesar – Guajira.
Luis Enrique Martínez, was born in Los Haticos, La Guajira; This accordionist places the interpretation of a vallenato song in the universal order of interpretation, because he makes an introduction, preparation to enter the song, after the first verse has been sung he makes a musical interlude – what some people call “bridge” – A metaphor is used here to make a comparison between engineering and music. Once the second verse is sung, Luis Enrique approaches the accordion again, with an arrangement that is decorated, with a beautiful ending. Luis Enrique did play the accordion, because the bass sometimes achieved greater prominence than the notes of the right hand.
We expected that the researchers from the Vallenata Music Cultural Center would track these guides as proposed by the doctor Adrián Villamizar, with his research tool called ‘Placeres have’, but from what we know, the center will be filled with interviews and biographies, some are easy to find on Wikipedia. From the beginning, before the initiative to create a cultural center was given, I warned that the investigative processes had to be led by the academy, it is still possible.
Jorge Oñate, born in La Paz, represents the evolution of vallenato singing, you know the rest.
Rosendo Romero Ospino