Rafael Escalona, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Rafael Escalona

Colombian composer

Date of Birth: 26-May-1926

Place of Birth: Patillal, Cesar Department, Colombia

Date of Death: 13-May-2009

Profession: composer, singer, diplomat, painter

Nationality: Colombia

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

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Rafael Calixto Escalona Martinez (May 26, 1926 – May 13, 2009) 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 was also a long-time friend of Gabriel García Márquez, who included him in his stories and once told him that his own masterpiece novel, 100 years of solitude, was just a 350-page Vallenato.
Escalona's songs compile the history and stories of the Magdalena Department of the past 20th century.
Escalona was an atypical music composer: he does not play any instruments or sing so his songs can in some ways be difficult to analyze.
His songs constitute a legacy of a past generation of Colombians in his memory, a pictorial collage, full of grace, that narrates stories, customs and gossips from his region.
He also left a legacy of his loves and pains, humour and poetry.
In 1991 Caracol TV produced a television series named Escalona, after him.