history the LEJO DURAN

LEJO DURAN (Gilberto Alejandro Durán Díaz) (1919-1989)

Accordionist, singer and author. It was the first King of the Festival of the Vallenato Legend, which started in 1968 was born in El Paso (Cesar) on February 9, 1919, surrounded by a family of musicians: his mother Jane Frances Villareal, singer from drums, his uncle Octavio Mendoza who stood out as a composer and accordionist, and Luis Felipe Duran Nafer skilled on the instrument and his father who ran the accordion. His people skills, the message conveyed, the easy way to communicate, their stay in the friendship, the seriousness of their word, all of which, taken together, to him an admirable person. His first recording was made in 1950 for the Atlantic label Barranquilla and there Guepaje included the topic later known as The Trap. Love women and life, had 25 children in 18 loves. The April 30, 1968 on the stage "Francisco the Man" of Valledupar was crowned the first King Vallenato in the first edition of the Vallenato Legend Festival organized by the governor of the newly created department of Cesar Alfonso López Michelsen and "The cacica »Consuelo Araujo Noguera-. In 1979, the Colombian Institute of Culture decided to record live music from the most authentic accordion. He died in Monteria on November 15, 1989, a victim of diabetes and heart failure. At his funeral, and it was impossible to move past his coffin had to be "hand in hand" to the platform and then to the cemetery. Their music pays homage to the Vallenata woman Fidelina, Alicia Adored, Evangelina, Elvira, Reyita, Candy, Molly, Kate, Angela, Cornelia, La Niña Guillo, Mayito, Cholita, are just some examples of women as his muse work. His extensive work of more than 500 compositions is a true reflection of the people and the culture vallenatos of which there are over 300 registered works.