Editorial Unimagdalena

Description in English: Buitrago is the tip of the iceberg of a musical tradition. In this cultured yet popular matrix, the guitar, piano, drum, guacharaca,  and accordion—the one that came late to the party—, coexist without getting in each other’s way. When he started out in music, he found in his region of origin—the old Magdalena Grande—a facilitating matrix in the stage of synthesizing influences and entrainments. It offered him genres, accompaniments, staff masters, front-line competitors, broadcast media, and insuperably graceful lyrics. He contributed many compositions to it and a unique performance style, which the knowledgeable Colombian public welcomed as they did with other masterpieces. Eulalio Meléndez’s “La piña madura,” his teacher and friend Andrés Paz Barros’ “Dame tu mujer, José,” his fellow Humberto Daza’s “La capuchón,” Rafael Camacho Sánchez’s “La varita de caña,” César Bermúdez Támara’s “La hija de mi comadre,” Buenaventura Díaz’s “El grito vagabundo”, or well-known songs such as Emiliano Zuleta’s “La gota fría,” Lorenzo Morales’ “Zorro cucho,” Tobías Enrique Pumarejo’s “La víspera de año nuevo,” and Rafael Escalona’s “El testamento” are some exceptional examples of this regional tradition—mixed-race in various senses—that the blond boy from Ciénaga honored and enhanced with his voice, guitar, and mischievous arrangements to return the favor. Buitrago built a remarkable artistic career in just a few years. He also died prematurely at the age of 29. His work traced a challenging path for other famous musicians from the region to follow, as Edgar Caballero Elías documents in this pioneering book on Buitrago.