Leandro José Díaz Duarte (February 20, 1928 – June 22, 2013) was a Colombian vallenato music composer. He is mostly known for his ability to compose very descriptive and narrative vallenato songs despite his blindness. His songs have been recorded by many Colombian musicians including

Carlos Vives Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo (born 7 August 1961) is a Colombian singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his interpretation of traditional music styles of Colombia such as vallenato, cumbia, champeta, bambuco and porro as well as genres ...

, Diomedes Diaz, Jorge Oñate,

Ivan Villazon Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

, among others. During the 38th version of the

Vallenato Legend Festival The Vallenato Legend Festival ( es, Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata) is one of the most important musical festivals in Colombia. The festival features a vallenato music contests for best performer of accordion, caja vallenata and guacharaca, ...

, Diaz was proclaimed "King for Life of the Vallenato Legend Festival" along with Rafael Escalona, Emiliano Zuleta Baquero,

Calixto Ochoa Calixto is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Calixto Bieito (born 1963), Spanish theater director known for "radical" interpretations of classic operas *Benedito Calixto (1853–1927), Brazilian painter *Renato Ribeiro Calixto (b ...

, Adolfo Pacheco and Tobías Enrique Pumarejo.

Early years

Díaz was born in a farm named "''La Casa de Alto Pino''" in the locality known as Lagunita de la Sierra then corregimiento of Hatonuevo in the Commissary of La Guajira which in 1928 pertained to the municipality of Barrancas. Díaz was born blind but that was not an impediment for him to develop a sense of the world he could not see. His parents took him to the Virgin of El Carmen festivities every year, vacation time in which his cousins visited him and sang to him for fun. He composed his first song at the age of 17 years and named it "''La Loba de Ceniza''". On October 4, 1948, Díaz decided to move to

Hatonuevo Hatonuevo (), Spanish for New Herd, Is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of La Guajira. A municipality of the La Guajira Department since 1994, it has a population of approximately 17,014 inhabitants, the majority of which being ...

where he participated in numerous parties with friends and which he was always asked to sing. He met local musician "Chico Bolaño" and established a friendship. Bolaño died shortly, death that inspired Díaz to compose the song "''Mañana''".

Life in Tocaimo

Díaz began to travel the region as a singer and established for a while in village of Tocaimo, located in the Department of Cesar, between the municipalities of Codazzi and San Diego. while living in Tocaimo, Díaz composed the song "''Los Tocaimeros''", in which he mentioned every single family name in town. He also composed two of his most renowned songs "''Matilde Lina''" and the "''Diosa Coronada''" whose intro inspired the Colombian Nobel laureate in Literature Gabriel García Márquez and appeared in the beginning of the novel '' Love in the Time of Cholera''. He also composed during time the songs "''La Primavera''" and "''La Ford Modelo''" among others. Another hit song, recorded by vallenato singer Jorge Oñate, was "''A mi no me Consuela Nadie''". Diaz met vallenato accordionist Pedro Julio Castro, a native of

San Juan del Cesar San Juan del Cesar is a municipality and town located in the La Guajira Department, Colombia. Etymology San Juan Bautista del Cesar name in en, John the Baptist and ''Chet-tzar'' or ''Sasare'' indigenous language for calm water, the name of the ...

and traveled the region for gigs.

Family

Díaz then met Elena Clementina Ramos, with whom he ended up having eight children, including singer

Ivo Díaz Ivo Luis Aldazabal Diaz (born 10 May 1972 in Matanzas) is a retired Cuban-Hungarian handball player who most recently played for Tatabánya-Carbonex KC. Previously he played for Hungarian record champions KC Veszprém and Spanish clubs CB Ademar ...

. In 1993 Ivo composed the song "''Dame tu Alma''" to honor his father. The song won at the

as best song. He is the father of three children.

References

External links

Colarte: Leandro Diaz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Leandro 1928 births 2013 deaths Blind musicians Colombian musicians Vallenato musicians

Early years

Life in Tocaimo

Family

See also

References

External links