Within the framework of the celebration of the 474 years since the city of Valledupar was founded, the discussion ‘Prospective of Vallenata Culture’ was held, an academic and cultural meeting where the director of the newspaper El Pilón, Juan Carlos Quintero, shared; the plastic artist Marianne Sagbini, the business administrator and poet, Eduardo Santos Ortega; the architect Annie Marshall and the lawyer, composer and historian, Tomás Darío Gutiérrez.
At the time of the installation, the mayor of Valledupar, Ernesto Orozco, stated that his administration will be especially focused on promoting sporting and cultural events, “as a way to keep children and youth away from drugs. “With events like today, we are beginning to deliver good results to fix this.”
In the first moment of the conversation, and under the moderation of the rector of the University of the Andean Area, Gelca Gutiérrez Barranco and the director of the Municipal Culture Office, Yanelis González Maestre, Juan Carlos Quintero referred to the cultural and ethnic richness of the region where the city of Valledupar meets. Annie Marshall spoke about the architectural wealth of the city, and the way in which the block centers are connected to this day.
Tomás Darío Gutiérrez spoke about the beginnings of the ‘Great Valley of Upar’, and the natural, climatic and biodiversity elements that surrounded the human enclave of the capital of Cesar. “When Hernando de Santana came, he did not come to conquer, he came to avoid a manifestation of power by the blacks who inhabited the region of the Cacique Upar Valley.”
The business administrator and poet, Eduardo Santos Ortega, recalled the role played by Consuelo Araujonoguera, Alfonso López Michelsen and Rafael Escalona Martínez in the cultural and political awakening of the Valledupar region. “We have to continue consolidating the cultural perspective of Valledupar, to continue strengthening the identity of our city.”
“We cannot stay in the past, we are the germ of an identity, and we have to preserve it. When we are at a party, we are connected as a region,” said visual artist Marianne Sagbini.
Upon reaching its 474 years of foundation, the City of the Holy Kings welcomes numerous tourists who allow themselves to be infected by the countless memories and moments that the city experiences, and that is why the capital of Cesar has dressed up to celebrate its 474 years of history with a celebration that has lived up to a municipality that has great achievements in cultural, artistic and architectural matters.
As part of the celebration, the Mayor’s Office led today by Ernesto Miguel Orozco organized in record time a program that seeks to reward vallenatos, vallenatas, visitors and others for their constant support for the growth and development of the municipality.
The programming for the 474th anniversary of Valledupar continues on Saturday January 6 with a dawn in the La Nevada neighborhood, a Te Deum in the Cathedral of Santo Ecce Homo and will continue at night with a great concert in the Parque de la Leyenda Vallenata, where, among other artists, Ana del Castillo, Rafa Pérez, Peter Manjarrés, Yader Romero, Kandy Maku, Jhon Mindiola and Lil Silvio & El Vega will perform.