Edmundo Arias

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Edmundo Arias
Birth nameEdmundo Dante Arias Valencia
Born(1925-11-05)5 November 1925
Tuluá, Colombia
Died28 January 1993(1993-01-28) (aged 67)
Medellín, Colombia
Genres tropical music, bolero, pasillo
Years active1948–1993

Edmundo Dante Arias Valencia [a] was a Colombian musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Arias composed more than 300 songs, and recorded for various Colombian record labels including Discos Fuentes, Zeida, Ondina, and Sonolux. He is considered one of the "big three" composers of Colombian tropical music of the 1950s and 60s, alongside Lucho Bermúdez and Pacho Galán. [1] [2]

Contents

Biography

Edmundo Arias was born on 5 November 1925 in Tuluá, Colombia. His mother was Amelia Valencia Arizabaleta, and his father was Joaquín Arias Cardoza, a composer from Antioquia; altogether the couple had 9 children. [1] As a child Arias learned to play various instruments at home, and together with his father and younger brother Ricaurte formed the Arias Trio, which performed in Valle del Cauca and Risaralda, and appeared on the radio in Pereira. [1] Following the death of his father in 1948, Arias took over leadership of some of his bands. [3] [1]

In 1951 Arias moved to Medellín. [4] In Medellín he recorded for various record labels, including Discos Fuentes, Zeida, Ondina, and Sonolux  [ es ]. [1] [2] Unlike other bandleaders in Colombia at the time, Arias did not have a permanent orchestra; instead he would bring musicians together only when he had new material to record. [1] The groups that he formed in this way include Edmundo Arias y Su Orquesta, the Sonora Cabecenido, the Sonora Antillana, Conjunto de Edmundo Arias, and the Orquesta Estudiantina Sonolux. [1] [5]

Arias was well known for his shyness. [1] He was nicknamed cabeza-de-nido, [b] which was used for the name of the band Sonora Cabecenido. [1]

Arias died of uremia on 28 January 1993 in Medellín. [6]

Musical style and notable compositions

Arias wrote his first song "Las Diez Velas" at the age of 25, and in total composed more than 300. [2] Many of his compositions were also recorded by other artists, including Los Corraleros de Majagual, Los Melódicos, and Celia Cruz. [7] [6]

Arias composed and recorded in a wide range of styles. His notable compositions include:

Discography

Albums

Compilations

Notes

  1. ↑ In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ariasand the second or maternal family name is Valencia.
  2. ↑ Or cabeza'e nido. [1] The name means "bird's-nest-hair". [11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 L. C. Bermeo Gamboa (2024-12-29), "Homenaje a Edmundo Arias, el gran compositor vallecaucano de música tropical, del que se cumplen 100 años en 2025" [Homage to Edmundo Arias, the great composer of tropical music from Valle del Cauca], El País (in Spanish), retrieved 2025-07-23
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Un cuarto de siglo sin Edmundo Arias" [A quarter century without Edmundo Arias], Radio Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish), 2018-01-22, retrieved 2025-03-19
  3. ↑ José I. Pinilla Aguilar (1980). "Arias Cardozo Joaquin". Cultores de la Música Colombiana (in Spanish). Editorial Ariana. p. 59. OCLC   253182806.
  4. 1 2 Jaime Andrés Monsalve Buriticá (November 2024). "Edmundo Arias – El Mecánico: Lo Mejor de Edmundo Arias". En Surcos de Colores: La Historia de la Música Colombiana en 150 Discos[In Colourful Grooves: The History of Colombian Music in 150 Records] (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Rey Naranjo Editores. pp. 65–7. ISBN   978-628-7589-47-6.
  5. ↑ José I. Pinilla Aguilar (1980). "Arias Valencia Edmundo". Cultores de la Música Colombiana (in Spanish). Editorial Ariana. pp. 60–1. OCLC   253182806.
  6. 1 2 "Murió Edmundo Arias" [Edmundo Arias has died], El Tiempo (in Spanish), 1993-01-29, retrieved 2025-03-19
  7. 1 2 Ignacio Castro Contreras (1999). "Arias Valencia, Edmundo". In Emilio Casares Rodicio (ed.). Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana (in Spanish). Vol. 1: Abad – Azzali. Sociedad General de Autores y Editores. p. 678. ISBN   84-8048-304-0.
  8. ↑ Egon Ludwig (2001). "Arias Valencia, Edmundo". Música Latinoamericana (in German). Berlin: Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag. p. 42. ISBN   3-89602-282-2.
  9. 1 2 Alejandra Vargas Muñoz (2021), Estudiantinas, conjuntos y orquestas de cuerdas pulsadas en la música colombiana 1960–2000 [Estudiantinas, ensembles and string orchestras in Colombian music 1960–2000](PDF) (in Spanish), Universidad Nacional de Colombia , retrieved 2025-03-19
  10. ↑ Francis Gooding, "Edmundo Arias – Guepa Je!", The Wire , no. 490 (December 2024), p. 49
  11. Peter Wade (2000). Music, Race, and Nation: Música Tropical in Colombia. University of Chicago Press. pp. 156–8. ISBN   0-226-86845-1.
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