The Colombian accordionist Egidio Cuadradoinseparable companion of the singer-songwriter Carlos Vives in his group La Provincia, passed away this Monday in Bogotá at 71 years old, medical sources and his relatives reported through the artist’s social networks.
The musician, born in 1953 in the town of Villanueva, in the Caribbean department of La Guajira, He had been admitted to the Colombia Clinic in Bogotá for days. after suffering a relapse of a pneumonia who had already had him admitted at the beginning of the year.
The clinic confirmed the death of vallenato artist in a statement issued this Monday in which he points out that all his professionals unite “to the pain that Colombians are overcome by the loss of this great musician who dedicated his life to the dissemination and conservation 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, that in recent months he could not accompany him for 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.
Square was crowned king vallenato at the 1985 Vallenata Legend Festivalwhich 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 with the accordionand the following year they released ‘Classics of the Province’a compilation of vallenato songs that turned this music from northern Colombia into an international phenomenon.
On that album they included classic songs like ‘The Cold Drop’, ‘The Fonseca Singer’, ‘Adored Alice’, ‘Sensitive Love’ and ‘Matilde Lina’, among others that catapulted La Provincia to fame.
Then came another dozen albums, like ‘The land of oblivion’, ‘I have faith’, ‘Classics of La Provincia II’ and ‘Deep Heart’, among others, and the couple Vives and Cuadrado, always accompanied by the vueltiao hat and the Arhuaca backpack that they carried, walked around the world’s stages.
Together with Carlos Vives, Cuadrado won several Grammy Awards and Latin Grammys.
“Egidio Cuadrado went out into the world to bring vallenato music, alongside Carlos Vives he highlighted this folklore, the same one that today is mourning 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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JCM
