Ramiro Colmenares, the accordion player of great hits such as “El Santo Cachón”, “La Lira” and “Se le moja la canoa”, died this Saturday of cardiac arrest.
The musician, a native of Santander, was found dead in a hotel room by one of his companions.
His death occurred in Asunción, Paraguay, where a series of concerts was in progress. His family initiated the procedures to repatriate the artist’s body.
With extensive experience in the artistic world, Ramiro Colmenares was one of the founders more than 50 years ago of the group Los Embajadores del Vallenato together with Robinson Damián.
Discos Fuentes, through its Twitter account, reported the death of Colmenares and lamented his death.
“El santo cachón” appeared in 1994 on the album “Borrachera wherever you want”.
The theme was written by Rolando Britto and was originally going to be titled “Ajuíciate mama” and came to the hands of Los Embajadores del Vallenato after Jorge Oñate rejected it.
His friend, the singer Robinson Damián, said in the media that he was very moved by the death of his accordion player.
“It is a very big loss for me because we lasted more than 35 years. Since 1980 we met and worked until 2017. In addition, he is my compadre, I have not assimilated him yet, ”said Damián.
Ramiro Colmenares, who became one of the greats of Vallenato, was born on August 10, 1955 in Bucaramanga.
He headed into the vallenato thanks to the music of Abel Antonio Villa and Old Emiliano Zuleta.
With the rhythm of the accordion running through his body, he founded the vallenato group El Grupo de Upar, back in the 1960s. In the 1980s he joined his partner, Robinson Damián, who came from Villanueva, La Guajira.
Shortly after, Discos Fuentes approved the recording of their first album with hits like ‘La Juntera’, an album they recorded under the name Los Embajadores Vallenatos.
That same album released songs known as ‘Con los crespos Hechos’ and ‘Amiga mía’.
By 1985 they had already recorded two albums and their fame began to grow throughout the country.
Other hits
Colmenares was known as ‘El Cachaco del Acordeón’ and rose to fame by forming one of the most recognized and important groups of the genre: ‘Los Embajadores Vallenatos’.
Together with Robinson Damián, he immortalized songs such as: ‘El santo cachón, ‘Se le moja la Canoa’, ‘El Borracho’, ‘Amiga mía’, ‘Con los crespos Hechos’, among others.