VALLENATO LEGEND

This story, which is supposed to happen in the early twentieth century, sums up the episode that became, over the years, the mythological support Vallenato music, the defeat of the devil in a vibrant accordion duel at the hands Francisco Antonio Moscote War, the peasant farmer who became legend and was immortalized in the history of Vallenato Francisco under the name of the man. The detailed account of his life, the story of his exploits as an accordionist, and specifically its consecration in front of the devil, are part of a series of documented chronicles written by Angel Medina Acosta in the Spectator (April 82), in which evidence is collected reliable and eloquent about the adventures of the troubadour, the symbol of Vallenato music.It is likely that the encounter with the devil has been the result of the popular imagination, and even more so if it occurred in the territories of magical realism.Perhaps they discuss their accuracy. But the truth is that the event has served as a living legend and has reaffirmed the identity of a people with Vallenato music in its cultural heritage more valuable. So Francisco Moscote ceased to be a modest herd assistant and became a portentous accordionist whose existence was forever surrounded by an aura of fantasy and mystery. His fame spread even to the pages of literature: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez described him as "an old man nearly 200 years globetrotters passing through Macondo often spreading the songs composed by himself and recounting in minute detail the news that occurred in the villages of their itinerary. " Francisco the Man (who was probably born in 1880 and died in 1952, according to Vallenatólogos), it was just the first accordionist in the history of Vallenato, but if one of the members of that admirable army of pioneers who planted the seeds and structured this musical genre. Moscote Francisco was one of many singers mostly illiterate, with the accordion slung over his shoulder and without any accompaniment, tirelessly toured the most unexpected corners of the region, having in his verses their sorrows and their joys, recounting stories personal, or expressing his immense love for a woman. While the fame of Francisco the Man is watered by hamlets, villages and towns, many accordionists, perhaps as skilled as he preferred to remain anonymous from their homes, giving vent to his passion for music. According to García Márquez, all these musicians were like the early medieval minstrels, they sang when they felt the need to, after being stimulated with a fact. Verses made, executed and interpreted accordion his own songs. As a musical genre brings different forms of expression, which are named: Piqueria: reflecting a duel between accordionist who is qualified with applause for the winner, the Puya: extremely rhythmic and characterized by choirs with which responds to the verses of a singer, Merengue, also rhythmic, but less than the puja, which identifies a specific kind of fun to sensual and erotic connotations of African origin and unrelated to the Dominican merengue, and the Walk: The youngest of all. For some, the ride has offspring of the waltz, the way to dance. Its development was influenced by the movement of people into the area of ​​Valledupar banana at the time of its prosperity and to the cotton plantations, where a lot of manpower needed, even people inside the country. El Paseo is lilting, rhythmic and became more commercial. Today Vallenato has taken two directions. The traditional farmers who follow the lines of "man Francisco", obviously with a strong tendency to walk and the new generation. In the early 90's showed that young people are able to receive and enjoy the tradition, when provided in their own language. The new school to Vallenato sings the classics began to recover Upar Valley, the main region where the deed Vallenato and merge it with the language of rock. The event is quite a jolt to the culture of Vallenato, but well accepted since removed it from its regional and international. Among the singers who welcomed the new musical line highlighted Tulio Zuloaga, the most important representative of Vallenato pop and secure the best known of all the world is Carlos Vives.