Bogotá, Oct 21 (EFE).- Colombian accordionist Edigio Cuadrado, inseparable companion of singer-songwriter Carlos Vives in his group La Provincia, died this Monday in Bogotá at the age of 71, medical sources reported.
The musician, born in 1953 in the town of Villanueva, in the Caribbean department of La Guajira, had been admitted to the Colombia Clinic in Bogotá for days after suffering a relapse of pneumonia that had already had him admitted at the beginning of the year.
The clinic confirmed the death of the vallenato artist in a statement issued this Monday in which it states that all its professionals join “in the pain that Colombians are overcome by the loss of this great musician who dedicated his life to the dissemination and preservation of vallenato, bringing the music of the Caribbean region to national and international stages.
Last Saturday, Cuadrado’s health worsened and Carlos Vives published on his social networks a kind of farewell to his partner, who in recent months could not accompany him due to the problems that afflicted him.
“It has been several years walking through La Provincia without my friend Egidio’s accordion, accompanying him in his fight to tear pieces from life and that the dream we have lived in these 30 years never ends, together until the end,” said the interpreter of ‘La gota frida’, among other hits.
Cuadrado was crowned Vallenato king at the 1985 Vallenata Legend Festival, which opened the doors to success, which he cemented years later when Carlos Vives called him to accompany him in La Provincia.
On the stages of the world
In 1993 Vives starred in the soap opera ‘Escalona’, inspired by the life of the composer Rafael Escalona, in which Cuadrado accompanied him on the accordion, and the following year they released ‘Clásicos de La Provincia’, a compilation of Vallenata songs that made that music from northern Colombia into an international phenomenon.
On that album they included classic songs such as ‘La gota frida’, ‘El cantor de Fonseca’, ‘Alicia adorada’, ‘Amor sensible’ and ‘Matilde Lina’, among others that catapulted La Provincia to fame.
Then came another dozen albums, such as ‘La tierra del olvido’, ‘tiene fe’, ‘Clásicos de La Provincia II’ and ‘Corazón profundo’, among others, and the couple of Vives and Cuadrado, always accompanied by the hat vueltiao and the Arhuaca backpack that he carried, they walked around the world’s stages.
Together with Carlos Vives, Cuadrado won several Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.
«Egidio Cuadrado went out into the world to bring vallenato music, alongside Carlos Vives he highlighted this folklore, the same one that today mourns his departure to the right of God. Thank you teacher for giving so much to vallenato and a huge hug to your family,” the Government of the Department of Cesar published on its social networks, whose capital, Valledupar, is also considered the world capital of vallenato.
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