Armando Zabaleta Guevara. Vida y obra musical. Documental música vallenata

Images from the documentary dedicated to exalting the life and musical work of Maestro Armando Zabaleta Guevara, broadcast by the Audiovisuales programmer in 1996 from the banana zone in the department of Magdalena, Colombia. A prominent composer, who suffered from Parkinson's disease for more than fifteen years, was born in El Molino, La Guajira, on February 21, 1927. He distinguished himself as a singer and guacharaca player alongside Luís Enrique Martínez, Nicolás Elías ‘Colacho’ Mendoza, and José María ‘Chema’ Martínez. He was also recognized as the composer of beautiful songs, including: ‘Amor comprado’, ‘Aborréceme’, ‘El villanuevero’, ‘La garra’, ‘Lo mismo me da’, ‘El trajecito gris’, ‘La guacamaya verde’, ‘Déjame quieto’, ‘Recuerdos de Emilianito’, ‘No me guardes luto’, ‘Lo mismo me da’, ‘La reforma agraria’, ‘Zona bananera’, ‘Contestación a la brasilera’, ‘El festival’, and ‘Aracataca espera’, among others. He won the Unreleased Song Contest at the 6th Vallenato Legend Festival in 1973 with the composition "No voy a Patillal" (I'm Not Going to Patillal), whose lyrics describe the sadness over the death of his friend Freddy Molina. In 1954, when Discos Fuentes created the group Los Vallenatos Modernos, Armando Zabaleta recorded several of his own songs, singing them himself. He was thus the first singer to organize his own vallenato group, well-dressed as seen on the cover of the album "Vallenato Protesta" (Protest Vallenato), and with all the instruments as seen on the album "Trajecito Gris" (Little Gray Suit), both recorded in the 1960s. He stood out as the first protest voice in vallenato, using music to raise his voice with his defiant songs. His style, marked by elements of rebellion, romance, narrative, and local customs, made him a pioneer of protest vallenato. It happened in 1968, when Armando Zabaleta, as a singer, recorded an LP with José María “Chema” Martínez Argote on accordion at Candelazos Curro, a Phillips label record label. The album cover was titled “Vallenato Protesta” (Protest Vallenato), and it included a song he wrote called “La Reforma Agraria” (The Agrarian Reform), which recounts the collective resentment of the peasantry on the Atlantic Coast. Neither Maestro Rafael Escalona nor Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez escaped the defiant barbs of Armando Darío Zabaleta Guevara. He died on June 8, 2010, at the age of 83 in Barranquilla. Vallenato music, Vallenato Festival, Miguel Herrera De León, Jorge Jerez Beltrán, Juan Manga García, Rafael Escalona Martínez, Jorge Oñate, Diomedes Díaz, Rafael Orozco, Zuleta brothers, Navín López, Iván Villazón, El Debe López, Alejo Durán, Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, Luis Enrique Martínez, Lorenzo Morales, "Pacho" Rada, Abel Antonio Villa, Calixto Ochoa.