By Paola España
Carlos Vives, global music icon, presents his new studio album titled “Escalona: Nunca Se Habado Grabado Así”, a 30-year journey towards his roots and towards the milestone that made him an ambassador of the Colombian sound in the world; 3 decades ago, colombian star starred in the television series inspired by the life and work of the immortal Rafael Escalona, composer of vallenato folklore hymns such as El Testamento, Jaime Molina and La Casa en el Aire, among many others, consecrating himself with his masterful and emotional performance as the new voice of the genre.
30 years later and as part of the celebration commemorating his 3 decades in music, Carlos Vives summoned his best players to put together the ideal selection of vallenato, the same one that has accompanied him on his path full of successes: La Provincia. Together with his compadre Egidio Cuadrado, he began a new adventure to find Escalona’s lost notebook and around it, to re-record those classics that catapulted him in 1993. Motivated by the memory and nostalgia of those years, Vives delved into the studio to make new versions of these songs, incorporating the sound he created together with La Provincia and for which he is recognized worldwide.
“Escalona: Nunca Se Había Grabado Así” is an album that explores 12 of Rafael Escalona’s most memorable compositions and a tribute by Armando Zabaleta to Rafael Escalona. This journey towards the roots began in Villanueva, Guajira, where Carlos Vives, after meeting his friend and compadre Egidio Cuadrado, undertook the search for a very special notebook that contained, in the form of a literary diary, new musical verses for the classics.
The treasure that Dina Luz, Egidio’s sister and the wife of Rafael Escalona, cared for for years, inspired Vives and his band La Provincia to record with their own sound the creations of the greatest composer of Vallenato folklore; they imagined how each theme should sound and defined the technical needs and human talent to achieve contemporary versions. For Carlos, it was necessary to redefine the sound of Escalona, so that the new generations could discover the songs of the maestro, just as it happened in the 90s with the success of “Los Clásicos de La Provincia”.
TRACKLIST “ESCALONA: NUNCA SE HABÍA GRABADO ASÍ”
La Historia
Carmen Gómez
El carro Ford
La Mona del Cañaguate
El Villanuevero
La Nostalgia de Poncho
Jaime Molina
Mala suerte
El destierro de Simón
La golondrina
El Pirata del Loperena
El Testamento
Contestación a la brasilera
