The history of the version of Colombia, beloved land of Joan Carles Coronel and how Disney chose her for the soundtrack of charm, His animated film about Colombia, began in 1993.
At this time, Colonel took both studies of Codiscos. “In one I recorded a salsa record and in the other, the one in homage to the master Lucho Bermúdez, the author of the song. I ran it between the two studios to finish the albums on time,” he recalls.
But to have free way to do the one of Lucho Bermúdez, called A teacher, a voice, It was not easy. “Oh, Joan Carles, you always with your things,” Codiscos manager Fernando Lopez told him Monday. “I don’t charge you, my brother. Look, we do it with Carlos Pinya in the arrangements. We already chose the songs,” Coronel replied.
The idea had gotten into his head the previous Friday at a concert by Lucho Bermúdez’s orchestra at the Palacio de Exposiciones in the Antioquia capital. “I’m going to see the teacher,” he told himself. “We haven’t spoken in years.”
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And the music did its magic.
The songs began to sound (Squid, Caprichito, Others). They were all wonderful, but the master was missing, who was already much older and ill. “However, look that when he arrived on stage, assisted by two people, he seemed to acquire superpowers by holding his clarinet in his hands.. This concert did not have many people, like 300 people, and feeling the greatness of its music it went to make the disc “.
All these memories took up space in Colonel’s mind last Thursday, when, at the beginning of the night, his social networks exploded with thousands of messages.
“I got scared and wondered, ‘What did I do?’, ‘What happened?’. All of a sudden I started to see that my version of Colombia, beloved land had been the choice for the film. “
His children, far more tech-savvy than him, helped him look good, checking that the news was ‘tagged’ from Disney. “Is that, of course, one with so much time in it even loses the ability to surprise. And doubts”.
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Already clearly, it was said, “Sit down, assimilate it, because that means a lot. That’s important.”
And it was no small feat: Disney had a film inspired by the Colombian Coffee Axis, with images reminiscent of the words of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, with the story of a family that has powers, except its main protagonist: a girl named Mariana.
Codiscos found out two days before, but they could say nothing to Colonel. This was explained by Andrés Ovalle, president of the label, who added that he could not speak because there was a confidentiality agreement with the American multinational and this confidentiality included all the negotiations.
The talks began in Miami, with Dennis Murcia, in charge of the Development of International Business of the phonograph based in Medellin.
“He got a call and from there we started talking about different songs. Colombia, beloved land it caught their attention a lot because it is very representative of us, it is positive of our identity “, adds Ovalle.
Joan Carles Coronel has also paid tribute to performers such as José José, of whom he was a friend.
It was, moreover, a quick business because the Disney managers had been working for a long time with different sound proposals, “and although we do not have the master Lucho Bermúdez on the record label, this version of Joan Carles Coronel was the that interested them and was shortlisted. “
Colonel, meanwhile, began singing the beginning of the song over the phone, before answering this interview: “Colombiaaaaa, my land,” as this version kicks off, which has a long cumbia space before the lyrics make your appearance.
the disc A teacher, a voice come out first than your salsa album. “It was weird because they mixed in time, and then something unprecedented happened at the Carnival of Barranquilla, where it hit, and it started to give a very nice wave of recovery of our sounds, because Moses Angulo also went do important work. Today I think that everything that was sown at this time is bearing fruit”.
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Colonel’s relationship with the master Lucho Bermúdez began when Joan Carles was a child and was taking his first steps in music with a concert on a yacht in Cartagena.
Colonel was 9 or 10 years old. Maestro Lucho Bermúdez was surprised by his voice and invited him to Bogotá, at home, to present him with his orchestra in Jimmy’s show, Which was one of the most watched music programs on television.
“From this stay I remember that Patricia, his daughter, was a little girl and that the teacher also took me to a concert at a club in Bogota. On the show, Jimmy Salcedo sat me down at his piano and I sang Nights of Cartagena. Master Lucho was a great support for me and today, seeing what is happening, I feel that life is what you are weaving, the nudities you do. And tomorrow or later, these nudes serve to consolidate things, in my case in art, which has been my goal.”.
Ovalle, in Medellín, home of the label, compares what happened with the song Remember, From the movie Coco, Also from Disney, and winner of the Oscar for best animated film, “but without demeriting the beauty of Remember“I think ours surpasses it, because it speaks of country from the beginning.”
For Coronel it is a way for the country to reach the rest of the world, “not just the Colombians who live far away and see the film, but many more people who will look at us differently.”
Of course, Colonel will have an added value over the others: the superpowers of the Colombian family of charm, The central theme of the film, will remind you of the superpower of master Lucho Bermúdez with his clarinet, when he saw and heard him in Medellin on a Friday night and inspired him to make an album for which he did not charge , a work he recorded with love and gratitude.
Olga Lucía Martínez Davant
CULTURE
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