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Choosing a “local path” made Carlos Vives “very international,” reflects the superstar via Zoom from his native Colombia as he prepares to release Escalona Nunca Se Había Grabado Así, a tribute album to the great Rafael Escalona.

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The 12-track set, released on Wednesday (April 19) under WK Records / Gaira Musica Local, includes versions of “La Historia,” “Mala Suerte” and “La Golondrina,” as well as “La Nostalgia de Poncho”, “El Destino de Simón” and “El Testamento,” among others.

The album arrives the same year that Vives celebrates three decades of his worldwide hit Clásicos de la Provincia, where he took the rural musical stylings from Colombia’s Caribbean coast known as vallenato, and injected a modern pop-rock sensibility. It is a revolutionary sound that immortalized the Colombian genre beyond its borders. His main inspiration? Rafael Escalona, a swaggering, prolific troubadour, romantic and a playboy, from the country’s Valledupar region.  

Vives, who started off playing rock before dedicating the rest of his life to rescuing and revitalizing the sounds of his homeland, starred in a successful 1991 biographical telenovela called Escalona, in which he played none other than the Colombian composer himself. It became a transformative experience — in which the spirit of the legendary troubadour remained with him, in a way — but also one where Vives continued building off those musical teachings afterwards. 

“After we did the series, the style that I discovered Colombian kind of pop [rooted in] traditional music from the different rural regions — a different way than how vallenato was recorded before,” says Vives. “The fact being proud of everything we had here, of everything we are as Colombians, I think really made us popular, and it led us to tour around the world. That was really the reason that motivated us to do what we do.”

To support the release of Escalona Nunca Se Había Grabado Así, he will premiere the documentary Regreso a Escalona on May 1 in Colombia on Canal Caracol and arrives four days later in the U.S. at The Colombian Film Festival NY. The musician, who this week will be honored with the Leyenda Award at the Latin American Music Awards, is also preparing for an upcoming international tour.

Below, Vives breaks down five essential songs from his new album that explore Escalona’s compositions as never before recorded, in his own words.

“La Historia”

The first single we released was ‘La Historia’, a very romantic song about a heartbreak by Rafael Escalona. But we recorded it in a pop style, without losing the feeling of traditional music. ‘La Historia’ is a very sad and simple song, but with an incredible strength and soulful intensity, and with a sound that you will enjoy very much.

“Mala Suerte”

This is a song that does not produce bad luck (or mala suerte). It is a song of joy and strength, like El Rock De Mi Pueblo. I wanted to record “Mala Suerte” also at that time [2004], with that instrumental strength, with those electric guitars and without losing the accordion of my compadre Egidio [Cuadrado].

[For this album] we did a new version, inspired fundamentally by a scene we did more than 30 years ago with my compadre Egidio. When we recorded the series and that song, I sang the song live, riding in a pickup truck, moving along a road in the province of Padilla. So, when I wanted to shoot the video 30 years later, I wanted to do it again in a van. The video is a reference of what we did 30 years ago for this celebration. The only thing it gives you is wonderful luck and happiness in the soul.

“El Carro Ford” 

In the film we are releasing, Regreso a Escalona, Escalona’s son, Pachín Francisco Escalona, lent me a truck that belonged to his father. In that truck we traveled around the region again with my compadre Egidio, and it’s a Ford truck. The song goes (sings):Voy a comprar un carro Ford/ Voy a comprar un carro FordQue vuela en la carretera/ Y lo pongo en direcciónY lo pongo en dirección del valle pa’ Villanueva.Como yo no tomo ron, como yo no tomo ron/ Quiero mi trago en monedaPa’ comprarme un carro Ford, pa’ comprarme un carro Ford…

That van would possibly have inspired the composition of this song — in addition to Escalona’s numerous loves, of course. We shot the film riding in the van that my compadre Egidio knew because he had been Escalona’s accordionist, and [also] had been Escalona’s brother-in-law. Egidio’s sister Dina was one of the great muses that inspired Escalona for his songs. Dina appears in many of his songs — and, of course, I managed to have Dina as one of the protagonists of this TV special. Rafa [Escalona] was a lover man.

“Carmen Gómez”

In general, most songs talk about taking women out on a stroll — for the ladies. Escalona talks about proper names — such as ‘La mona del Cañaguate’ or ‘La Maye’ — and he made a song to Carmen Gómez. There is always a woman who inspires his songwriting and she has her own name, her own authentic place — where they were born, where the story happened, where he took her for a walk, what he bought her. “Carmen Gomez” is a song inspired by beauty pageants, and it goes (sings):

De un concurso que se forme buscando la mujer perfectaYo voy a que ganar Fonseca o representando a Carmen Gómez Y tiene porte de un gran dama y una elegancia muy distinguidaDe esa raza noble y grande, esa que ella representaSacó los ojos de España y la nobleza latina 

In a time when music becomes uniform throughout the world, and everything seems to sound the same, we do not recognize places or people, rivers, mountains, or animals. [As a culture] we don’t dedicate time to preserve what is ours. Escalona’s music, the way we recorded it, I think is something very refreshing.

“Contestación a la Brasilera”

The bonus track on the album is a song that composer Armando Zabaleta, a friend of my father’s, did. When I told my dad, “I am going to record Clásicos de la Provincia. I want you to help me select the repertoire to show people that in addition to Escalona, there are a number of composers that people don’t really know about.” Because the Escalona series already famous, he told me, “Record ‘Contestación a la brasilera’.” Armando Zabaleta was a friend of Escalona. And Rafa had made a song for a Brazilian that goes like this (sings):

Yo la conocí una mañana/ Yo la conocí una mañana Que llegó en avión a mi tierra y cuando me la presentaron Me dijo que era brasilera 

It’s Escalona’s love story with a Brazilian woman, and she ends up leaving, leaving him lovesick. It was one of Escalona’s most famous songs. I recorded it on my Clásicos de la Provincia album, [but] I recorded it incomplete. When I got to the mixing of the album [Clásicos…], the song was missing. The only thing I could think of so as not to lose face with my dad and Armando was to close the song with a little verse. But of course, when the record came out, my dad says, “You didn’t record the whole song. What happened?” In the end I told him, “Give me a chance, sooner or later I’m going to record it. I had promised my dad that I was going to complete it, but [time] passed and I forgot.”

Making this Escalona album, it occurred to me to pay tribute to my dad and the composer. Today they are no longer with us. I recorded the complete composition that speaks of Rafael Escalona, although it is not his song.