“Violeta is a clear description of the joy of Huila.” With this simple and direct phrase, Huilense composer and tiplist Víctor Hugo Reina Rivera defines this party-loving bambuco, inspired by multiple origins: from his beautifully boisterous granddaughter to the rhythms and sonority of several of the most renowned composers of Colombian Andean music. which has just premiered in the performance of the Estudiantentina del Alto Magdalena.
In addition, it is accompanied by a colorful and cheerful video presentation, which can now be enjoyed on the YouTube platform (the video for ‘Violeta’, under the audiovisual production of Francisco Olaya, can be seen here).
“Violeta evokes this traditional rhythm that has marked for many years here in the department of Huila and for which we are famous in Tolima Grande,” highlights Reina Rivera.
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Remember, for example, the maestro Cantalicio Rojas, when he composed ‘Ojo al toro’, which is a party bambuco; to the maestro José Ignacio ‘Papi’ Tovar, who composed ‘Ulises’, in a tribute to the great Ulises Charry (one of the most important promoters of the rajaleña, a native rhythm of Huila), to Jorge Villamil, and thus to many composers and party bambucos that have marked a musical path that, upon listening to it, one says: ‘that is the sound of Huila.
‘Violeta’ already has an important journey in music. ‘Maestro Tuco Reina’, as he is informally known in Neiva (in memory of his father, who carried that nickname throughout his life), presented the composition that he had written for an instrumental trio at the Andean Music Festival Monkey Núñez. There he won best instrumental composition.
Last year, at the request of the Estudiantentina del Alto Magdalena project, which includes 16 performers, it was proposed as part of the repertoire and was accepted by the director Manuel Olaya. “So we are very happy with the work,” says Reina Rivera.
As a scholar of Colombian Andean music, Víctor Hugo Reina has a very brilliant career. He has dedicated 30 of the 45 years to music, which he started on the treble with his father Jesús Antonio. He obtained invaluable support from the musical researcher, composer, arranger, tiple soloist and Huilense pedagogue Enerith Núñez Pardo. He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the Universidad Surcolombiana, in Neiva, which allowed him to work as a teacher at the Batuta Huila Corporation.
“I owe a lot to the Batuta Huila Corporation because there I have learned that contact with the boys, it gave me a sensitivity to create music and from there the awakening of being active in all the festivals as a tiplist, as a composer, as a musical accompanist,” he added. with great pride.
Among them are, of course, the different festivals: from Tolima and Huila, through Caldas and, of course, at Mono Núñez, in which he has obtained recognition: “I think I have received about 12 awards between vocal and instrumental works , and they have already given me 19 recognitions as the best tiplist at the national level.
Precisely, at the Mono Núñez Festival he returns this year with an unpublished work called ‘Your memory’. It is an instrumental bambuco that takes the soloist treble format.
The Estudiantetina del Alto Magdalena is an initiative of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge. Last year, six circuits were integrated, in groups of plucked strings, such as bandolas, tiples, guitars, requintos, percussions and with work that perform instrumental music from the Andean region.
The students are part of the Sounds for the Construction of Peace program, and through it concerts, rehearsals and participation in national festivals were generated.
