Vallenato Legend Festival

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Vallenato Legend Festival

Location(s)	Colombia Valledupar, Cesar
Years active	every year since 1968
Date(s)	End of April (usually four days)
Genre(s)	Vallenato, Folk

Spanish: Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata

The Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata is one of the most important music festivals in Colombia. It’s celebrated every year in April in the city of Valledupar, Department of Cesar.

1 Origins
2 The Contests
3 Winners
4 Dances and other events
5 External links

[edit] Origins

Festival's Co-founder Consuelo Araújonoguera

Its origin dates back to 1968 when the celebrated vallenato composer Rafael Escalona, the then governor of the state of Cesar and former president of the republic of Colombia, Alfonso López Michelsen, and the writer, journalist and former Minister of Culture Consuelo Araújonoguera, came up with the idea of organizing a festival that celebrated vallenato, a musical genre that’s autochthonous to Colombia’s northern atlantic coast and also celebrate a religious festivity of "The Virgin of the Rosario". Since 1986, the organization of this festival rests in the hands of the Fundación Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata (Vallenato Legend Festival Foundation) a non-profit private entity in charge of the promotion, publicity and defense of vallenato music as one of the immaterial cultural legacies of Colombia.

The Legend: The legend says that during the Spanish colonial period, two amerindian tribes from the Tairona culture; the Tupes and the Chimilas, along with other members of other tribes, rebeled against the Spanish colonizers after one indigenous woman named Francisca who worked as a maid for a Spanish family was severely punished by her jealous master, who cut her hair and whipped her publicly. One of her fellow Indian tribesmen also working for the spaniards, escaped and told his tribe's cacique about this offensive insult. The angry indians organized an attack, destroying most of the town and killing many people. When trying to destroy the temple, the "Virgin of the Rosario" appeared and with her cape blocked their arrows preventing them from destroying it. The natives, scared, escaped to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and knowing that the spaniards would follow them and would be in need of drinking water, they poisoned the "Sicarare lake". This resulted in the eath of all the spaniards involved. The Virgin reappeared and began touching their bodies with her wand and reviving them. The surprised indians finally surrendered.

[edit] The Contests

Without a doubt, the most important event during the celebration of this festival is the vallenato musical contest. The winners are chosen by a vallenato experienced jury that evaluate the contestants’ prowess in the four main rhythms which are paseo, son, puya and merengue. There are several categories in which the contestants may participate including: "professional accordion player", "amateur accordion player", "young accordion player", "best new vallenato song", and piquerías (verse singers).

Besides the annual winners, there’s also a special award given to renowned vallenato composers and performers, a statuette known as La Pilonera Mayor, which is given in recognition of the recipient’s dedication to vallenato music. La Pilonera Mayor is the highest honor given to a vallenato musician in Colombia and only six composers have received it until now. This award is given in honoris memoriam of disappeared Consuelo Araujonoguera.

Judges are selected by the Board of Directors of the Vallenato Legend Festival Foundation (Fundacion Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata) and must be affiliated members.

[edit] Winners

La Pilonera Mayor Award: Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, Rafael Escalona, Leandro Díaz, Calixto Ochoa, Adolfo Pacheco and Tobías Enrique Pumarejo.

No	Year	Professional Accordion Player	Amateur Accordion Player	Juvenile Accordion Player	Infant Accordion Player	Composer of New Vallenato Song	Winning song	Piqueria
1	1968	Alejo Duran	none	none	none	none	none	none
2	1969	Nicolas Mendoza	Emiliano Zuleta Diaz	none	none	Gustavo Gutierrez	Rumores de viejas voces	none
3	1970	Calixto Ochoa	Emilio Oviedo	none	Ciro Meza Reales	Freddy Molina	El indio desventurado	none
4	1971	Alberto Pacheco	Carmencito Mendoza	Antolin Arias	Adiel Vega	Santander Duran	Lamento Arhuaco	none
5	1972	Miguel Lopez	Ciro Meza Reales (Semiprofesional: Alberto Rada)	none	Luciano Poveda	Camilo Namén	Recordando mi niñez	none
6	1973	Luis Enrique Martinez	Egidio Cuadrado (Semiprofesional: Álvaro Cabas)	none	Raúl Martínez	Armando Zabaleta	No vuelvo a Patillal	none
7	1974	Alfredo Gutierrez	Alberto Villa (Semiprofesional José María Argote)	none	Gustavo Maestre	Nicolas Maestre	El Hachero	none
8	1975	Julio De la Ossa	Raúl Martínez (Semiprofesional: Luis Villa)	none	Orangel Maestre	none in 1st place	none in 1st place	none
9	1976	Nafer Duran	Álvaro López (Semiprofesional: José María Ramos)	none	Fernando Dangond	Julio Onate	La Profesia	none
10	1977	Jose Maria Ramos	Adiel Vega	none	Navin Lopez	Alonso Fernandez	Yo soy Vallenato	none
11	1978	Alfredo Gutierrez	Carlos Arrieta	none	Jose Alfonso Maestre	Octavio Daza	Rio Badillo	none
12	1979	Rafael Salas	Alvaro Lopez	none	Jose Vasquez	Pedro Garcia	El Poeta Pintor	Andres Beleno
13	1980	Elberto Lopez	Navin Lopez	none	Hugo Carlos Granados	Tomas Dario Gutierrez	Voz de acordeones	Luis Manjarrez
14	1981	Raul Martinez	Alvaro Meza	none	Miguel Avendano	Fernando Dangond	Nacio mi Poesia	Wilman Rodriguez
15	1982	Eliecer Ochoa	Gonzalo Molina	none	Jose Lopez	Gustavo Gutierrez	Paisaje de Sol	Antonio Salas
16	1983	Julio Rojas	Segundo Vanegas	none	Raul Vega	Julio Diaz	Yo soy el acordeon	Alcides Manjarrez
17	1984	Orangel Maestre	Carlos Bracho	none	Aider Vega	Juvenal Daza	La Espinita	Alcides Manjarrez
18	1985	Egidio Cuadrado	Omar Geles	none	Gustavo Osorio	Emiliano Zuleta Diaz	Mi Acordeon	Jose Villero
19	1986	Alfredo Gutierrez	Hugo Carlos Granados	none	Juan David Herrera	Rafael Manjarrez	Ausencia Sentimental	Ivo Diaz
20	1987	Nicolas Mendoza	Omar Geles	none	No 1st place	Santander Duran	La Cancion del Valor	none
21	1988	Alberto Villa	Hildelmaro Bolanos	none	Ivan Zuleta	Marciano Martinez	Con el alma en la mano	Juan Oviedo
22	1989	Omar Gelles	Juan Carlos Ovalle	none	Harold Rivera	Jose F. Mejia	Puya Almojabanera	Luis M. Onate
23	1990	Gonzalo Molina	Juan David Herrera	none	Jaime Bornacelli	Jose F. Mejia	No hay tierra como mi tierra	Rafael Zuleta
24	1991	Julian Rojas	Alvaro Meza	none	Saul Soto	Gustavo Calderon	Momentos del ayer	Jose Bornacelli
25	1992	Alvaro Lopez	Juan Jose Granados	none	Franklin Vega	Hernando Marin	Valledupar del alma	No 1st place
26	1993	Alberto Rada	Manuel Vega	none	Victor Beltran	Ivo Diaz	Dame tu alma	Alcides Manjarrez
27	1994	Julio Rojas	Ivan Zuleta	none	Sergio Luis Rodriguez	Ivan Ovalle	Yo vivo enamorado del valle	Guillermo Arzuaga
28	1995	Freddy Sierra	Harold Rivera	none	Sergio Iguaran	Hortensia Lanao	Que hago Senor?	Andres Barros
29	1996	Juan David Sierra	Moises Polo	none	Marlon Gonzalez	Alfonso Cotes Maya	La cabeza de Pavajeau	Wilman Felizzola
30	1997	Gonzalo Molina	Hugo Carlos Granados	none	Sergio Luis Rodriguez	Emiliano Zuleta Diaz	Mi pobre valle	No 1st place
31	1998	Saul Lallemand	Ramon Villa	none	Angel Torres	Luis Cujia; Ramiro Garrido; Sergio Moya; Luis Ramirez	Yo soy el cantor; Yo soy el son; recuerdos de viejos tiempos; puya del folklor	Jose Ariza
32	1999	Hugo Carlos Granadaos	Deivis Rivera	none	Manuel Jose Martinez	Felix Carrillo; Winston Muegues; Antonia Daza; Deimer Marin	Mi pobre acordeon; los barrios del valle; el orgullo de nacer; maestro de maestros	Julio Cardenas
33	2000	Jose Maria Ramos Jr.	Nemer Yesid Tetay	none	Luis Jose Villa Guete	Santander Duran Escalona	Cantares de vaqueria	Jose Bornacelli
34	2001	Alvaro Meza Reales	Christian Camilo Pena	none	Yosimar Rodriguez	Winston Muegues	La Estratificacion	Julio Salas
35	2002	Navin Lopez Araujo	Marlon Gonzalez	none	Camilo Carvajal Cuadro	Melquisedec Namen Rapalino	Vestida de gloria	Jose Felix Ariza
36	2003	Ciro Meza Reales	John Jaider Suarez	Luis Villa Guete	Jairo De la Ossa Otero	Martha Guerra	Un soncito tolimense	Teobaldo Penalosa
37	2004	Harold Rivera	Omar Hernandez	Fernando Rangel Molina	Carlos Mario Ramirez	Guillermo Doria Borrero	Raices de Oro	Jose Felix Ariza
38	2005	Juan Jose Granados	Angel Torres Arroyo	Mauricio de Santis	Camilo Andres Molina	Julio Cesar Daza	Sueno Vallenato	Julio Cardenas
39	2006	Alberto Jamaica	Rodolfo de la Valle Escorcia	Javier Rogrigo Alvarez	Jesus Ocampo Ospino	Ever Jimenez	El Valle es tú casa'	Ruben Ariza

[edit] Dances and other events

Piloneras Parade: This traditional dance was recovered from extinction in 1994 thanks to the Vallenato Legend Festival Foundation effort, and was added to the festival's programing as the opening show. This dance is traditional of the magdalena river reveres. Traditionally Dancers paraded on the streets using a giant wooden mortar and pestle, (usually used to squash corn and produce corn floor), the men and women danced around the "corn smashing' in a courteous and flirting way, dancing in front of friend's houses to receive liquor in exchange. But the festival kept the dance and turn it into a competition among groups of Piloneros and whoever exposes the best show becomes the winner. There are three categories; Infants, youth and adults.

Other events:

Record labels present their best artists and orchestras through out the Festival, usually before, during recess of events and after competition.

Many Nightclubs and Event Centers offer alternative parties with vallenato musical groups and other orchestras.

Certain families affiliated to this Festival often throw open "parrandas" or parties to special guests and friends.

The Festival also sponsors cultural activities related to the festival; debates, symposiums, panel discussions, traditional storytelling, paintings expositions, artesanias and book expositions, among other cultural events.

Valledupar and surrounding towns have cockfight arenas, that have tournaments during the Festival dates. This sport considered brutal for some represent a major attraction for locals and some tourists, but are not sponsored by the Vallenato Legend Festival. This sport is a strong traditional hobby for some locals (passion for some) mixed with vallenato "parrandas" and lots of gambling.