Encuentro Vallenato Femenino
| Encuentro Vallenato Femenino | |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Evafe, EVAFE |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Music Festival |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Locations | Valledupar, Colombia |
| Years active | 2016–present |
| Organised by | Decuplum Foundation |
The Encuentro Vallenato Femenino (transl. Women's Vallenato Encounter[1]), also known as Evafe or EVAFE, is a vallenato music festival that has been held annually in the Colombian city of Valledupar since 2016. Evafe hosts several competitions for female accordionists, as well as for singers and songwriters.
History
Evafe is organised by the Decuplum Foundation (Spanish: Fundación Decuplum), directed by Sandra Arregocés.[2] The competitions are open to women who perform vallenato, a genre of music from the Colombian Caribbean that has traditionally been male-dominated.[1] Authors of an academic article on women who have won competitions at the Vallenato Legend Festival wrote that Evafe was possibly created "in response to the absence of female winners in the different categories of the Vallenato Legend Festival".[1]: 11
The first edition of Evafe took place in November 2016 at the Plaza Alfonso López Pumarejo in Valledupar, and was dedicated to Rita Fernández Padilla; competitions were held in five categories.[3] Since then, Evafe has taken place annually. Several spin-off Evafe events have been held outside of Colombia, in countries including Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.[4]
Competitions
Evafe hosts competitions in several categories, whose winners are given the title of "queen" (Spanish: reina). Five awards are given to accordionists:
- Professional accordionist (Spanish: reina acordeonera profesional)
- Child accordionist (Spanish: reina acordeonera infantil)
- Caribbean (Spanish: reina caribeña), awarded since 2020, whose competition requires a performance of porro and cumbia.
- Outstanding apprentice (Spanish: aprendiz destacada), awarded since 2019.
- International, awarded since 2025 to an accordionist from a country other than Colombia.
The other competition categories of Evafe are Singer (Spanish: cantante), Songwriter (Spanish: compositora), and Best group (Spanish: mejor agrupación), which was awarded from 2016 to 2018.
In 2025, in addition to the usual competitions, a competition between past winners of the professional accordionst category was held, and the winner Wendy Corzo was given the title "sovereign of the professional accordion" (Spanish: soberana del acordeón profesional).[5]
Winners of the competitions that are open to adults
| No. | Year | Professional accordionist | Caribbean | Best Group | Singer | Songwriter and Song | International | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2016 | Leidy Salgado | N/a | Evelyn Gómez, Wendy Corzo | Jadith Muegues | Diana Marcela González "Viejo Amor del Valle" |
N/a | [3] |
| 2 | 2017 | Wendy Corzo | La Milagrosa (Mila Martínez, Leidy Salgado) |
Tatiana Díaz | Sheila Tarazona "Contestación a Escalona" |
[6] | ||
| 3 | 2018 | Nataly Patiño | Revolución Femenina | María Alejandra Navarro | Andrea Barrios "A una Juglaresa" |
[7][1] | ||
| 4 | 2019 | Loraine Lara | N/a | Laura Cardona | Elsy Serpa "Sueño de Mujer" |
[8][1] | ||
| 5 | 2020 | Yennifer Quintero | Leidy Salgado | Isabella Vergara | Juana Contreras "Acordeón Loco" |
[9][1] | ||
| 6 | 2021 | Isabel Sofía Picón | Carlina Julio | Sara Marcela Acosta | Elvia Diana Rincón "Me Cansé de Fingir" |
[10] | ||
| 7 | 2022 | Maciel Gómez de la Ossa | Loraine Lara | Nina María Murgas Zuleta | Sandra Rivera "Mi Niñita" |
[11] | ||
| 8 | 2023 | Anny Gulfo | Nataly Patiño | Nayeli Rodríguez | Ovetta Jiménez "Rebelde" |
[12] | ||
| 9 | 2024 | Alma Luz Araújo Castro | María Victoria Castilla | María Paula Abdala | Yina Martínez "Mujeres y Vallenato" |
[13] | ||
| 10 | 2025 | María del Rosario Ortiz | Yorledys Meza | Sara Pacheco | Yolanda Ariño | María de Jesús Suastes Mexico |
[5] | |
| "—" denotes years in which no award was given. | ||||||||
References
- ^ a b c d e f Marcos Fidel Vega Seña; Alejandro Alzate Giraldo; Daniela Castaño Arango (2026). "Mujeres ganadoras de la categoría: Canción Inédita en el Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata (Valledupar – Colombia)" [Winning women in the category: Unpublished Song at the Vallenato Legend Festival (Valledupar, Colombia)]. Anagramas Rumbos y Sentidos de la Comunicación (in Spanish). 24 (48). Universidad de Medellín: 1–26. doi:10.22395/angr.v24n48a12. ISSN 2248-4086.
- ^ Liliana Vanegas (15 August 2025), "Llega la versión número dorada del Encuentro Vallenato Femenino a Valledupar" [The golden edition of the Encuentro Vallenato Femenino is coming to Valledupar], Radio Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish), retrieved 14 March 2026
- ^ a b Miguel Barrios (21 November 2016), "Ledys [sic] Salgado, reina vallenata del encuentro femenino celebrado en Valledupar" [Ledys Salgado, vallenato queen of the encuentro femenino held in Valledupar], El Heraldo (in Spanish), retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ Humberto Carrillo Mindiola (13 November 2021), "Mujeres con pico y espuela en el Sexto Encuentro Vallenato Femenino", Radio Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish), retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ a b Humberto Enrique Carrillo (18 August 2025), "Wendy Corzo, indígena kankuama, es la nueva soberana del Encuentro Vallenato Femenino 2025" [Wendy Corzo, indigenous Kankuamo, is the new sovereign of the 2025 Encuentro Vallenato Femenino], Radio Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish), retrieved 14 March 2026
- ^ "Las ganadoras del segundo Encuentro Vallenato Femenino" [The winners of the second Encuentro Vallenato Femenino], El Pilón (in Spanish), 14 November 2017, retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ "Conozca las nuevas reinas del vallenato" [Get to know the new queens of vallenato], El Pilón (in Spanish), 12 November 2018, retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ Liliana Martínez Polo (25 November 2019), "Loraine Lara: una acordeonera en dos reinados vallenatos simultáneos" [Loraine Lara: an accordionist in two simultaneous vallenato reigns], El Tiempo (in Spanish), retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ Humberto Carrillo Mindiola (17 November 2020), "Evafe: el encuentro vallenato femenino tiene nuevas reinas" [Evafe: the encuentro vallenato femenino has new queen], Radio Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish), retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ Carmen Lucía Mendoza Cuello (15 November 2021), "EVAFE 2021: estas son las nuevas reinas del Encuentro Vallenato Femenino" [EVAFE 2021: these are the new queens of the Encuentro Vallenato Femenino], El Pilón (in Spanish), retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ José Alejandro Martínez Vega (14 December 2022), "Ramillete de reinas vallenatas: Evafe coronó a sus monarcas" [Bouquet of vallenato queens: Evafe has crowned its monarchs], El Pilón (in Spanish), retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ José Alejandro Martínez (7 November 2023), "Ella es Anny Gulfo, la nueva reina profesional del Festival de las mujeres" [This is Anny Gulfo, the new professional queen of the Women's Festival], El Pilón (in Spanish), retrieved 7 March 2026
- ^ Milagro Sanchez Florez (26 August 2024), "Una cordobesa se coronó como reina en el Encuentro Vallenato Femenino" [A Cordobesa was crowned queen at the Encuentro Vallenato Femenino], El Heraldo (in Spanish), retrieved 7 March 2026