The Vallenato Legend Festival is one of the most important musical festivals in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. The Festival features a vallenato music

Vallenato

Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...

 contests for best interpreter of accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

, caja vallenata and guacharaca

Guacharaca

Guacharaca is a musical percussion instrument usually made out of the cane-like trunk of a small palm tree. The guacharaca itself consists of a tube with ridges carved into its outer surface with part of its interior hollowed out, giving it the appearance of a tiny, notched canoe. It is played...

, as well as piqueria

Piqueria

Piqueria is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae....

 (battle of lyrics) and best song. It’s celebrated every year in April in the city of Valledupar

Valledupar

Valledupar is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department and was founded in 1550 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Santana. Its name, Valle de Upar , was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; Cacique Upar...

, Department

Departments of Colombia

Colombia is an unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District . Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly , elected by popular vote for a four-year period. The governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods...

 of Cesar

Cesar Department

Cesar Department or simply Cesar is a department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to the west with the Department of Magdalena and Department of Bolivar, to the south with Department of Santander, to...

.

Origins

Its origin dates back to 1968 when the celebrated vallenato

Vallenato

Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...

 composer Rafael Escalona

Rafael Escalona

Rafael Calixto Escalona Martinez 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...

, the then governor of the state of Cesar and former president of the republic of Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Alfonso López Michelsen

Alfonso López Michelsen

Alfonso López Michelsen was a Colombian politician, lawyer and journalist. Lopez Michelsen was President of Colombia from 1974 to 1978. He was the son of Alfonso López Pumarejo, who was also president of Colombia from 1934 to 1938, and once again from 1942 to 1945...

, and the writer, journalist and former Minister of Culture Consuelo Araújo, came up with the idea of organizing a festival that celebrated vallenato, a musical genre that’s autochthonous to Colombia’s northern atlantic coast and also celebrate a religious festivity of "The Virgin of the Rosario".

Since 1986, the organization of this festival rests in the hands of the Fundación Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata (Vallenato Legend Festival Foundation) a non-profit private entity in charge of the promotion, publicity and defense of vallenato music as one of the immaterial cultural legacies of Colombia.

The Legend: The legend says that during the Spanish colonial period, two amerindian tribes from the Tairona

Tairona

Tairona was a group of chiefdoms in the region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in present-day Cesar, Magdalena and La Guajira Departments of Colombia, South America, which goes back at least to the 1st century AD and had significant demographic growth around the 11th century.The Tairona people...

 culture; the Tupes and the Chimilas, along with other members of other tribes, rebelled against the Spanish colonizers after one indigenous woman named Francisca who worked as a maid for a Spanish family was severely punished by her jealous master, who cut her hair and whipped her publicly. One of her fellow Indian tribesmen also working for the Spaniards, escaped and told his tribe's cacique

Cacique

Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...

 about this offensive insult. The angry Indians organized an attack, destroying most of the town and killing many people. When trying to destroy the temple, the "Virgin of the Rosario" appeared and with her cape blocked their arrows preventing them from destroying it. The natives, scared, escaped to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain range apart from the Andes chain that runs through Colombia. Reaching an altitude of 5,700 metres above sea level just 42 km from the Caribbean coast, the Sierra Nevada is the world's highest coastal range...

, and knowing that the Spaniards would follow them and would be in need of drinking water, they poisoned the "Sicarare lake". This resulted in the death of all the Spaniards involved. The Virgin reappeared and began touching their bodies with her wand and reviving them. The surprised Indians finally surrendered.

The Contests

The most important event during the celebration of this festival is the vallenato

Vallenato

Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...

musical contest. The winners are chosen by a vallenato

Vallenato

Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...

experienced jury that evaluate the contestants’ prowess in the four main rhythms which are paseo, son, puya and merengue. There are several categories in which the contestants may participate including: "professional accordion player", "amateur accordion player", "young accordion player", "best new vallenato song", and piquerías (in which each competitor's goal is to 'diss' their opponent through clever lyrics).

Besides the annual winners, there is also a special award given to renowned vallenato composers and performers, a statuette known as La Pilonera Mayor, which is given in recognition of the recipient’s dedication to vallenato music. La Pilonera Mayor is the highest honor given to a vallenato musician in Colombia and only six composers have received it until now. This award is given in honoris memoriam of disappeared Consuelo Araújo.

• Judges for competitions are selected by the Board of Directors of the Vallenato Legend Festival Foundation (Fundacion Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata) and must be affiliated members.

King of Kings

The Rey de Reyes festival editions occur every 10 years, since 1987 and only previous winners can participate. The first winner was Colacho Mendoza

Colacho Mendoza

Nicolas Elias Mendoza Daza, also known as Colacho Mendoza was a Colombian Vallenato accordion player and was crowned king of accordion players on many occasions in the Vallenato Legend Festival. He was born in a small village called Sabanas de Manuela in the municipality of Barrancas, La Guajira...

, followed by Gonzalo "Cocha" Molina, the third King of Kings Hugo Carlos Granados won on May 1, 2007.

Winners

La Pilonera Mayor Award:
Emiliano Zuleta Baquero

Emiliano Zuleta

Emiliano Zuleta Baquero was a Colombian vallenato composer, accordion player and singer, popularly known as El viejo Mile . Zuleta was born on January 11, 1912 in La Jagua del Pilar, a small town of la Guajira; He died on October 30, 2005 in Valledupar from respiratory problems...

, Rafael Escalona

Rafael Escalona

Rafael Calixto Escalona Martinez 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...

, Leandro Díaz

Leandro Díaz

Leandro José Díaz Duarte is a Colombian vallenato music composer. He is mostly known for his ability to compose very descriptive and narrative vallenato songs despite his blindness...

, Calixto Ochoa, Adolfo Pacheco and Tobías Enrique Pumarejo.

No	Year	Professional Accordion Player	Amateur Accordion Player	Juvenile Accordion Player	Infant Accordion Player	Composer of New Vallenato Song	Winning song	Piqueria
1	1968	Alejo Duran Alejo Duran Gilberto Alejandro Durán Diaz, known to all as Alejo Durán or "El Negro Grande" was a Colombian vallenato music traditional composer, singer and accordionist....	none	none	none	none	none	none
2	1969	Nicolás Mendoza	Emiliano Zuleta Díaz	none	none	Gustavo Gutiérrez	Rumores de viejas voces	none
3	1970	Calixto Ochoa	Emilio Oviedo	none	Ciro Meza Reales	Freddy Molina	El indio desventurado	none
4	1971	Alberto Pacheco	Carmencito Mendoza	Antolin Arias	Adiel Vega	Santander Duran	Lamento Arhuaco	none
5	1972	Miguel López	Ciro Meza Reales (Semiprofesional: Alberto Rada)	none	Luciano Poveda	Camilo Namén	Recordando mi niñez	none
6	1973	Luis Enrique Martínez	Egidio Cuadrado (Semiprofesional: Álvaro Cabas)	none	Raúl Martínez	Armando Zabaleta	No vuelvo a Patillal	none
7	1974	Alfredo Gutiérrez	Alberto Villa (Semiprofessional José María Argote)	none	Gustavo Maestre	Nicolás Maestre	El Hachero	none
8	1975	Julio De la Ossa	Raúl Martínez (Semiprofesional: Luis Villa)	none	Orangel Maestre	none in 1st place	none in 1st place	none
9	1976	Nafer Durán	Álvaro López (Semiprofesional: José María Ramos)	none	Fernando Dangond	Julio Onate	La Profecía	none
10	1977	José María Ramos	Adiel Vega	none	Navin López	Alonso Fernández	Yo soy Vallenato	none
11	1978	Alfredo Gutiérrez	Carlos Arrieta	none	Jose Alfonso Maestre	Octavio Daza	Río Badillo	none
12	1979	Rafael Salas	Álvaro López	none	Jose Vásquez	Pedro García	El Poeta Pintor	Andrés Beleno
13	1980	Elberto López	Navín López	none	Hugo Carlos Granados	Tomás Darío Gutiérrez	Voz de acordeones	Luis Manjarrez
14	1981	Raúl Martínez	Álvaro Meza	none	Miguel Avendano	Fernando Dangond	Nacio mi Poesía	Wilman Rodríguez
15	1982	Eliecer Ochoa	Gonzalo Molina	none	José López	Gustavo Gutiérrez	Paisaje de Sol	Antonio Salas
16	1983	Julio Rojas	Segundo Vanegas	none	Raúl Vega	Julio Díaz	Yo soy el acordeón	Alcides Manjarrez
17	1984	Orangel Maestre	Carlos Bracho	none	Aider Vega	Juvenal Daza	La Espinita	Alcides Manjarrez
18	1985	Egidio Cuadrado	Omar Geles	none	Gustavo Osorio	Emiliano Zuleta Díaz	Mi Acordeón	José Villero
19	1986	Alfredo Gutiérrez	Hugo Carlos Granados	none	Juan David Herrera	Rafael Manjarrez	Ausencia Sentimental	Ivo Díaz
20	1987	Nicolás Mendoza	Omar Geles	none	No 1st place	Santander Duran	La Canción del Valor	none
21	1988	Alberto Villa	Hildelmaro Bolanos	none	Iván Zuleta	Marciano Martínez	Con el alma en la mano	Juan Oviedo
22	1989	Omar Gelles	Juan Carlos Ovalle	none	Harold Rivera	José F. Mejía	Puya Almojabanera	Luis M. Onate
23	1990	Gonzalo Molina	Juan David Herrera	none	Jaime Bornacelli	José F. Mejía	No hay tierra como mi tierra	Rafael Zuleta
24	1991	Julián Rojas	Álvaro Meza	none	Saúl Soto	Gustavo Calderón	Mementos del ayer	José Bornacelli
25	1992	Álvaro López	Juan José Granados	none	Franklin Vega	Hernando Marín	Valledupar del alma	No 1st place
26	1993	Alberto Rada	Manuel Vega	none	Víctor Beltrán	Ivo Díaz	Dame tu alma	Alcides Manjarrez
27	1994	Julio Rojas	Iván Zuleta	none	Sergio Luis Rodríguez	Iván Ovalle	Yo vivo enamorado del valle	Guillermo Arzuaga
28	1995	Freddy Sierra	Harold Rivera	none	Sergio Iguarán	Hortensia Lanao	¿Qué hago, Señor?	Andrés Barros
29	1996	Juan David Herrera	Moisés Polo	none	Marlon González	Alfonso Cotes Maya	La cabeza de Pavajeau	Wilman Felizzola
30	1997	Gonzalo Molina	Hugo Carlos Granados	none	Sergio Luis Rodríguez	Emiliano Zuleta Díaz	Mi pobre valle	No 1st place
31	1998	Saúl Lallemand	Ramón Villa	none	Ángel Torres	Luis Cujía; Ramiro Garrido; Sergio Moya; Luis Ramírez	Yo soy el cantor; Yo soy el son; recuerdos de viejos tiempos; puya del folklor	José Ariza
32	1999	Hugo Carlos Granadaos	Deivis Rivera	none	Manuel José Martínez	Félix Carrillo; Winston Muegues; Antonia Daza; Deimer Marin	Mi pobre acordeón; Los barrios del valle; El orgullo de nacer; Maestro de maestros	Julio Cárdenas
33	2000	José María Ramos Jr.	Nemer Yesid Tetay	none	Luis José Villa Guete	Santander Duran Escalona	Cantares de vaqueria	José Bornacelli
34	2001	Álvaro Meza Reales	Christian Camilo Peña	none	Yosimar Rodríguez	Winston Muegues	La Estratificación	Julio Salas
35	2002	Navín López Araujo	Marlon González	none	Camilo Carvajal Cuadro	Melquisedec Namen Rapalino	Vestida de gloria	José Félix Ariza
36	2003	Ciro Meza Reales	John Jaider Suárez	Luis Villa Guete	Jairo De la Ossa Otero	Martha Guerra	Un soncito tolimense	Teobaldo Penalosa
37	2004	Harold Rivera	Omar Hernández	Fernando Rangel Molina	Carlos Mario Ramírez	Guillermo Doria Borrero	Raíces de Oro	José Félix Ariza
38	2005	Juan José Granados	Ángel Torres Arroyo	Mauricio de Santis	Camilo Andres Molina	Julio César Daza	Sueno Vallenato	Julio Cárdenas
39	2006	Alberto Jamaica	Rodolfo de la Valle Escorcia	Javier Rogrigo Álvarez	Jesús Ocampo Ospino	Ever Jiménez	El Valle es tu casa	Rubén Ariza
40	2007	Hugo Carlos Granados	Ómar Hernández Brochero	Rodolfo Miguel Molina Meza	Yeimy Arrieta	Santander Duran Escalona	Entre cantores	José Dolores Bornacelly

Dances and other events

Piloneras Parade: This traditional dance was recovered from extinction in 1994 thanks to the Vallenato Legend Festival Foundation effort, and was added to the festival's programming as the opening show. This dance is traditional of the magdalena river reveres. Traditionally Dancers paraded on the streets using a giant wooden mortar and pestle, (usually used to squash corn and produce corn flour), the men and women danced around the "corn smashing' in a courteous and flirting way, dancing in front of friend's houses to receive liquor in exchange. But the festival kept the dance and turn it into a competition among groups of Piloneros and whoever exposes the best show becomes the winner. There are three categories; Infants, youth and adults.

Other events:

• Record labels present their best artists and orchestras throughout the Festival, usually before, during recess of events and after competition.

• Many Nightclubs and Event Centers offer alternative parties with vallenato musical groups and other orchestras.

• Certain families affiliated to this Festival often throw open "parrandas" or parties to special guests and friends.

• The Festival also sponsors cultural activities related to the festival; debates, symposia, panel discussions, traditional storytelling, paintings expositions, artesanias and book expositions, among other cultural events.

• Valledupar and surrounding towns have cockfight
  Cockfight
  A cockfight is a blood sport between two roosters , held in a ring called a cockpit. Cockfighting is now illegal throughout all states in the United States, Brazil, Australia and in most of Europe. It is still legal in several U.S. territories....
  
   arenas, that have tournaments during the Festival dates. This sport considered brutal for some represent a major attraction for locals and some tourists, but are not sponsored by the Vallenato Legend Festival. This sport is a strong traditional hobby for some locals (passion for some) mixed with vallenato "parrandas" and lots of gambling
  Gambling
  Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
  
  .

External links

Official Site

Vallenato even has an iPhone application

• http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vallenato/id353949681?mt=8