The Vallenato Festival pays tribute to Iván Villazón: 40 years of legend

Author of songs like The rainbow, My sorrows, You ended my life, The love of your life was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2015 for his album El Camino de Mi Existence.

(Special documentary: ‘Vallenato, a told song’: journey to the origin and heart of the Vallenata Legend Festival)

​Ricardo Arquez, Mompoxino writer and analyst in the newspaper Portafolio, who is currently working on a research project on the career and life of the artist Iván Villazón, which is titled ‘I live to sing’, shared the following note in tribute to the artist vallenato

Iván Villazón Aponte has carried on his shoulders a significant commitment to making Vallenata music, it is not a surprise to anyone.. The Colombian artist, with 40 years of musical career (1984-2024), has established himself as one of the most important and influential figures in the vallenato genre.

His musical work has been framed in a population that ancestrally decided to express its identity and collective feelings through innovative and at the same time radical music. These resounding approaches lead us to ask ourselves: What has it represented, and how does it continue to stay alive in the pallet? Iván Villazón embodies the essence of traditional vallenato, and, with a style that he has innovated with types of songs, without having deteriorated the very essence of the vernacular, inheriting and preserving the authentic values ​​and sounds of the genre. His impeccable command of his unmistakable “tenor” voice and his extensive repertoire of classic vallenatos make him a guardian of musical memory.

The life in the music of Iván Villazón has been a “variant” of the regional culture, the concept as a person, and as a singer leads to considering the genesis, which has moved like an eternal echo towards the collective feeling in the historical memory of the nation. As his musical spirit soared, his influence through mindset and leadership has continued to reverberate in the collective “soul,” leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of Colombia and beyond. His legacy serves as a beacon of inspiration for generations to come, reminding us of the transformative power of music and the enduring beauty of cultural heritage. The above defines his dimension, calls to think about his cognitive peculiarities, his character, discipline, and creativity, to explain why and how his involvement in vallenato music produced effective results.

The narrative in the life and work of Iván Villazón, from the beginning, connected deeply with the people, From the beginning he had contact with the spiritual sources in Urumita, Pueblo Bello, and the Guatapurí River. The natural dimension of Cerro Pintao where a large water reserve springs up, orally penetrated strongly into their human sociology. The path conceived by Iván in the course of time takes a journey in-crescendo as he discovers and builds the inner artist through the awareness that he gained of himself in the face of music.

Under the palo e’ mango, in the Plaza Alfonso López de Valledupar, among the embracing shadow calming the heat of the penetrating sun that hovered over the skin of the people, with their words that walked by themselves, they told how Iván emerged from the holes in the earth. The social and political sphere that was woven at the time. Valledupar, and the rest of the territory, belonged to the Department of Magdalena until 1967 when it achieved its autonomy, as a new Department, then Iván Villazón Aponte was 8 years old. He lived in a peasant and rural society (until the middle of the 20th century). A white blanket radiating from cotton was spread almost throughout the territory (1950 and 1980).

During this period the “awakening” of Valledupar took place, after a long time of lethargy and isolation. Iván Francisco, from the beginning, grew up in that social environment of cultural traditions. The role of his father Crispín as a political promoter of the creation of the Department of Cesar. In that environment, his upbringing, social and cultural experiences were complemented. It had a marked connection with the provincial, the regional landscape with the spirit of the water sources, the dairy songs, the oral tradition that germinated wild, together with the banda and vallenato music that was beginning to sprout, penetrated Iván’s soul. . He drank from those spiritual springs.

Urumita and Pueblo Bello were a stronghold that helped Iván connect with nature, with the oral and folkloric ecosystem. In the house of his grandparents Pedro Nel Aponte Marzal and Blasina López Baquero, it was a refuge where he began to feel the fire of resounding folklore as a manifest vision, because Rafael Escalona lived in his grandparents’ house, and Ada Luz his eldest daughter was born there. Band musicians and vallenato groups frequently attended, which left a mark in Iván’s eyes. All these scenes produced the marking of a cultural and social structure in which Iván has obeyed.

Iván Villazón is aware of the impact that the music industry can have, that the social masses can be manipulated to promote anti-values. Villazón has had respect for the masses or the public that consumes what he sings, he has had a firm commitment to the purpose of music: to unite family and friends, not to condemn society to moral destruction and make them easy prey. of consumerism with banal songs. Villazón does not belong to a monstrosity that fosters a cultural anti-value in the face of what happens with certain musical styles. Villazón recreates his inner artist in each scene, and Iván does not shout while singing. There are many vallenato music singers who scream. Iván is a gentleman on stage, in his style he does not hide at all the fact that he is a singer and that he is a singer. Iván Villazón does not like abusive or sexist songs, “he emphasizes his firm position against harmful content. He refuses to compromise his artistic integrity by promoting songs that perpetuate negative stereotypes or encourage violence against women.

It is said in Valledupar that without having any needs he displaced family commitments due to his radical “abandonment” to his studies. The “genetic” origin from which he germinated musically, evidently music stuck in his arteries, this is how Iván expressed it:

“Musicality comes from my father’s side, my paternal grandmother Ana María de Armas Pumarejo who played guitar, treble, in turn my great-grandmother Clemencia Pumarejo played piano, and violin, in addition to that on the Mestres’ side she also had a musical anchor, on the side of the Baqueros sangre of Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, there was also a sprig of music.”

His ability to choose song lyrics has captured the hearts of millions.. Iván Villazón is an artist who has known how to preserve the essence of vallenato, adapting to new times without losing its identity. A legacy that consolidates him as a cultural icon of Colombia in 40 years of legend.