Leandro José Díaz Duarte (February 20, 1928 – June 22, 2013)
was a Colombian
vallenato
Vallenato () is a popular folk music genre from Colombia. It primarily comes from its Caribbean region. ''Vallenato'' literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the ''Sierra Nevada de Santa Mar ...
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 Colombians, Colombian singer, songwriter and actor.
One of the List of best-selling Latin music artists, best-selling Latin music artists of all time, with over 20 million records world ...
,
Diomedes Díaz
Diomedes Díaz Maestre (26 May 1957 – 22 December 2013) was a Colombian vallenato singer, songwriter, and composer. He has been named the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Vallenato" and is nicknamed ''El Cacique de La Junta'' ( ...
,
Jorge Oñate,
Iván Villazón, among others.
During the 38th version of the
Vallenato Legend Festival, Diaz was proclaimed "King for Life of the Vallenato Legend Festival" along with
Rafael Escalona,
Emiliano Zuleta Baquero,
Calixto Ochoa,
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 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
Cesar Department (), or simply Cesar, () is a department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to the west with the Department of Magdalena and Depar ...
, between the municipalities of
Codazzi and
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
. 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
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in th ...
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...
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 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. In 1993 Ivo composed the song "''Dame tu Alma''" to honor his father. The song won at the
Vallenato Legend Festival as best song. He is the father of three children.
See also
*
Vallenato Legend Festival
*
Carlos Vives
Carlos Alberto Vives Restrepo (born 7 August 1961) is a Colombians, Colombian singer, songwriter and actor.
One of the List of best-selling Latin music artists, best-selling Latin music artists of all time, with over 20 million records world ...
*
Jorge Oñate
*
Rafael Escalona
References
External links
Colarte: Leandro Diaz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Leandro
1928 births
2013 deaths
Blind musicians
Colombian musicians
Vallenato musicians