Armando Zabaleta
Armando Zabaleta | |
|---|---|
| Born | Armando Darío Zabaleta Guevara 21 February 1927 El Molino, Colombia |
| Died | 8 June 2010 (aged 83) Barranquilla, Colombia |
| Genres | Vallenato |
Spouse | Adelma María Meza |
Armando Darío Zabaleta Guevara[a] (1927–2010) was a Colombian songwriter, singer, and guacharaca player. His best known composition is "No Voy a Patillal", which he wrote about the death of Freddy Molina.
Biography
Armando Darío Zabaleta Guevara was born on 21 February 1927 in El Molino, in the Colombian department of La Guajira, to Fernando Antonio Zabaleta and Francisca Guevara.[1][2] He was a vallenato singer and guacharaca player, and he performed with accordionists including Luis Enrique Martínez and Colacho Mendoza.[1] Zabaleta was also a songwriter, and his best known song is "No Voy a Patillal".[1]
Zabaleta was married to Adelma María Meza, with whom he had five children.[1] He had Parkinson's in later life, and died on 8 June 2010 in Barranquilla.[1][3]
Notable compositions
Zabaleta wrote several songs in the genre of vallenato, and his best known is "No Voy a Patillal", which he wrote about the death of Freddy Molina, and which won the unpublished song competition of the Vallenato Legend Festival in 1973.[1] He wrote the song "Aracataca Te Espera" as a criticism of Gabriel García Márquez following his Nobel Prize win, and the song was recorded by Jorge Oñate with Los Hermanos López in 1974.[4]
At one point Zabaleta attempted to revive the long-term piqueria rivalry between Emiliano Zuleta and Lorenzo Morales by writing the merengue "La Sugestión de Zuleta", which mocked Zuleta, who believed it to have been written by Morales.[5]: 212 Morales wrote the song "La Bulla" to defuse the situation.[6]: 58
Other notable compositions by Zabaleta include "Margarita" (later recorded by Diomedes Díaz and Colacho Mendoza), "Amor Comprado", "Aborréceme", "El Villanuevero", "La Garra", "Lo Mismo Me Da", "El Trajecito Gris", "La Guacamaya Verde", 'Déjame Quieto", "Recuerdos de Emilianito", and "No Me Guardes Luto".[7][1]
Notes
- ^ In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Zabaleta and the second or maternal family name is Guevara.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Leonardo Herrera (8 June 2010), "Murió Armando Zabaleta, compositor de la canción 'No vuelvo [sic] a patillal'" [Armando Zabaleta, author of 'No vuelvo a patillal', has died], El Tiempo (in Spanish), retrieved 22 September 2025
- ^ Eddie José Dániels García (16 May 2024), "Armando Zabaleta: el fecundo compositor de "No voy a Patillal"" [the prolific composer of "No voy a Patillal"], PanoramaCultural.com.co (in Spanish), retrieved 6 February 2026
- ^ "Murió el compositor Armando Zabaleta" [Songwriter Armando Zabaleta has died], El Universal (in Spanish), 9 June 2010, retrieved 22 September 2025
- ^ Farouk Caballero (18 May 2024), "Gabo, Vives, Dangond y los cachacos", El Espectador (in Spanish), retrieved 22 September 2025
- ^ Simón Martínez Ubárnez (July–December 2019). "Del sistema penitenciario irlandés, al Convento de San Agustín de Tunja la canción vallenata La gota fría" [From the Irish penitentiary system, to the Convent of San Agustín of Tunja and the vallenata song La Gota Fría]. Revista Derecho Penal y Criminología (in Spanish). 40 (109). Universidad Externado de Colombia: 183–217. doi:10.18601/01210483.v40n109.07.
- ^ Abel Medina Sierra (March 2012). "Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, o la épica desafiante de un Cid cantador". La Dinistía Zuleta. Bogotá: Grafiq Editores. pp. 39–94. ISBN 978-958-99845-2-9.
- ^ Marcos Fidel Vega Seña (2005). "Juglares: Armando Zabaleta". Vallenato: Cultura y Sentimiento (in Spanish). Bogotá: Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. p. 78. ISBN 958-8205-69-7.
External links
- Armando Zabaleta discography at Discogs