Colombians to Honor The Folk Singer Who Fathered 28 Children and Killed His Girlfriend
Colombians to Honor The Folk Singer Who Fathered 28 Children and Killed His Girlfriend
John Otis / La Junta, Colombia @JohnOtis
11:16 AM ET
When Colombian musical legend Diomedes Díaz died in 2013 thousands attended his funeral. Colombia’s president called him a genius while his rags-to-riches life story was turned into a TV series. Now the Colombian Congress is considering a bill to honor the late singer.
But critics say the hero worship has gone too far. Here’s why. In 2001 Díaz was convicted of manslaughter for the strangulation death of his 24-year-old girlfriend.
“It’s true that Diomedes was a musical icon,” said Alirio Uribe, a Colombian congressman who opposes the bill. “But we can’t separate his artistic side from his personal troubles.”
Diaz’s art was composing and singing accordion-laced vallenato music which celebrates the joys of country living, all-night parties and falling in love. The genre, which is also heavy on bongo drums and the guacharaca, a ribbed wooden stick played with a fork, originated near the Caribbean coast of northern Colombia where Díaz grew up.
More:
http://time.com/4090889/diomedes-diaz-colombia-congress/
On edit, got curious, had to see how his recordings sounded:
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