Escalona: Un Canto a la Vida
| Rafael Escalona | |
|---|---|
Rafael Escalona
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Rafael Calixto Escalona Martinez |
| Also known as | "El Maestro" (The Master) |
| Born |
May 26, 1926 Patillal, Cesar, Colombia |
| Died | May 13, 2009 (aged 82) Bogotá, DC, Colombia |
| Genres | Vallenato |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, diplomat |
| Years active | 1941–2009 |
Rafael Calixto Escalona Martinez (May 26, 1926 – May 13, 2009) was a Colombian composer and troubadour. He was known for being one of the most prominent vallenato music composers and troubadours of the genre and for being the co-founder of the Vallenato Legend Festival, along with Consuelo Araújo and Alfonso López Michelsen.
He was also a long-time friend of Gabriel García Márquez, who included him in his stories and once told him that his own masterpiece novel, 100 years of solitude, was just a 350-page Vallenato. Escalona's songs compile the history and stories of the Magdalena Department of the past 20th century. Escalona was an atypical music composer: he does not play any instruments or sing so his songs can in some ways be difficult to analyze. His songs constitute a legacy of a past generation of Colombians in his memory, a pictorial collage, full of grace, that narrates stories, customs and gossips from his region. He also left a legacy of his loves and pains, humour and poetry. In 1991 Caracol TV produced a television series named Escalona, after him.
He was born on May 26, 1926 to Colonel Clemente Escalona Labarces, veteran of Thousand Days War and Margarita Martinez Celedon in Patillal. Because Patillal was a village in a rural area surrounded by farms, it was relatively small and there wasn't that much to do after school, other than play with other kids and make up games; build miniature farms or build kites and fly them all day. He had a very happy childhood, and dreamed of becoming a painter or cartoonist, usually drawing funny depictions of classmates and teachers. But his all time friend and classmate, Jaime Molina was better at drawing than him, something that drove him instead, to read poetry and songs. He grew up listening to peasants and troubadours of the region that often passed by the village bringing news from Valledupar and other regions, since there was no post office or other source of news that arrived at this isolated place.
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