Diomedes Díaz
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Diomedes Díaz Maestre (26 May 1957 – 22 December 2013) was a Colombian
vallenato Vallenato () is a popular folk music genre from Colombia. It primarily comes from its Caribbean region. ''Vallenato'' literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the ''Sierra Nevada de Santa Mar ...
singer, songwriter, and
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
. He has been named the " King of Vallenato" and is nicknamed ''El Cacique de La Junta'' (The Chieftain of La Junta), which was given to him by another vallenato singer, Rafael Orozco Maestre, in honor of Díaz's birthplace."Diomedes Díaz: El Cacique de la Junta."
ColombiaLink.com; accessed 29 September 2006
Diomedes Díaz is the biggest record seller in the history of vallenato, exceeding 10 million throughout his career, due to this, he was awarded gold, platinum and diamond records, unique in Colombia until 2008. In 2010 he won the Latin Grammy in the ''"Cumbia / Vallenato category"''. Loved and idolized by many, Diomedes' followers adopted the nickname ''"diomedistas"'', while Diomedes called them his ''"fanaticada"''. His personal life was marked by family instability, controversial friendships, ups and downs with the consumption of alcohol and drugs, accidents, financial and legal problems, especially the death under strange circumstances of Doris Adriana Niño.


Biography


First Years

Diomedes Díaz was born and raised on a farm called "Carrizal" on the outskirts of La Junta Township that belongs to the Municipality of
San Juan del Cesar San Juan del Cesar is a municipality and town located in the La Guajira Department, Colombia. Etymology San Juan Bautista del Cesar name in and ''Chet-tzar'' or ''Sasare'' indigenous language for calm water, the name of the Cesar River. History ...
,
La Guajira La Guajira () is a departments of Colombia, department of Colombia. It occupies most of the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, on the Caribbean Sea and bordering Venezuela, at the northernmost tip of South America. The ca ...
. His father, Rafael María Díaz, and his mother, Elvira Maestre, were poor. His childhood was spent helping his parents and eight brothers with farm duties, while he was musically influenced by his locally renowned uncle, Martín Elías.


First compositions

According to the journalist Alberto Salcedo Ramos, when Diomedes was a child, he acted as a
scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin that is often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. ...
to protect the cornfields from birds and, to avoid getting bored, he sang and exchanged songs as a barter with
indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
from the neighboring farm in exchange for coffee. Diomedes' first love, a young woman named Helida, was the one who inspired him to compose his first songs. Diomedes was also trying to dabble in singing, but by way of derision, he obtained the nickname ''"El chivato"'' (the little goat) for his voice during puberty. He also learned to play the
guacharaca Guacharaca is a percussion instrument found in Colombia. It is a rasp named after a bird ( ''ortalis guttata'') whose call it is said to imitate. It is usually made out of the cane-like trunk of a small palm tree. The guacharaca itself consists ...
and sing verses. Eventually, his uncle decided to help him train his voice and compose songs; Diomedes mastered his vocal training and was invited to perform at parties. From Carrizal, he was taken to Villanueva to study in elementary school at the ''"Liceo Colombia"''. During his stay in Villanueva, a childhood friend accidentally stoned him in the right eye while trying to get mangoes from a tree, he lost sight in the affected eye. Diomedes worked as a gardener to help with his livelihood, and then, dropped out of his studies to be a messenger for the Radio Guatapurí station with Manuel Pineda Bastidas being the manager, who gave him a bicycle to run errands for him, but Diomedes never learned to use it. He alternated his job with his studies at the ''"Colegio Nacional Loperena"'', night shift, where he finished the penultimate grade. Diomedes' intention of working at Radio Guatapurí was, once inside, to make friends with the announcers and Disc jockeys so that they could play the album that contained his song ''"La negra"'', which had recently been recorded by Luciano Poveda and Jorge Quiroz. Diomedes stayed on Radio Guatapurí for eight months, but due to delaying running errands because of not knowing how to ride the bicycle, he was dismissed. From his friendship with Rafael Orozco, came the recording of the song ''"Cariñito de mi vida''", which consolidated Diomedes as a composer and Orozco as a singer along with the
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
ist Emilio Oviedo. Through a greeting in the song ''"Cariñito de mi vida"'', Rafael Orozco coined and immortalized Diomedes the nickname ''"El Cacique de La Junta"''. Diomedes continued exercising several trades, but always trying to interact with vallenato artists, even working as a prop, picking up wires and adjusting the sound of the microphones of ''"Los Hermanos López group"''. On the advice of his uncle Martín, Diomedes began to dabble in singing. The accordionist of ''"Los Hermanos López"'', Elberto López also allowed Diomedes to sing the last songs of their live performances. In 1975,
Jorge Oñate Jorge Antonio Oñate González (31 March 1949 – 28 February 2021) was a Colombian singer and composer, one of the most renowned of the vallenato musical genre. As of 2004 and since the beginning of his career in 1968 he had achieved 25 gold d ...
and Colacho Mendoza recorded the song ''"Razón Sentimental"'' for him on the album ''"Los dos amigos".''


Participation in '' "Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata"'' (1975)

In 1975, Diomedes participated in the contest ''"King of unreleased song"'' of the vallenato legend festival occupying third place with his song ''"Hijo agradecido".'' The concourse was won by Julio Oñate Martínez with the theme ''"La Profecía"''. This festival took place between April 26 to 30. According to his friend Jaime Hinojosa Daza, Diomedes was going through financial difficulties and sold a bundle of lemons in the Valledupar market to buy a cassette and with a borrowed recorder he composed the song. The cassette was presented to the organizers of the contest, then he left to Carrizal because he did not have money to stay in Valledupar, so he heard the results of the competition through Radio Guatapurí, so he knew that they gave him third place. The next morning he went to Valledupar to claim the award. His then-girlfriend "la Negra" Sarmiento kept the trophy they gave him as a prize, which she still keeps. The same year, Jorge Oñate and Colacho Mendoza recorded Diomedes' composition called ''"Razón profunda"'' on the album ''"Únicos"''. In the ''"Rey Vallenato Professional Accordion"'' category, the accordion player Nafer Durán was the winner, who contacted Diomedes, through the then artistic director of Codiscos Emilio Oviedo, to make a recording together.


Nafer Durán (1975)

One month after the Vallenato Festival, Diomedes and Náfer Durán with his accordion recorded in Medellín the LP ''"Herencia vallenata"'' under the Codiscos label, album that included the song of Diomedes' authorship ''"El Chanchullito"'', composed for his sentimental partner Patricia Acosta. Náfer included three songs made by him, ''"Pobre negro" "Teresita" and'' ''"La invitación".'' Although this musical production did not have too much success, it served to make Diomedes known has a singer. In those years, the vallenato music market was dominated by Jorge Oñate, Los Hermanos López and Los hermanos Zuleta.


Elberto "El Debe" López (1976-1977)

Then with "El Debe" López, they recorded the LP's ''"Tres canciones" in 1976, and'' ''"De frente"'' in 1977. Diomedes initially traveled from Valledupar to Bogota, where the producer Gabriel Muñoz of CBS (now Sony Music) made him a six minutes audition with the theme ''"Cristina Isabel"'', and when he noticed Diomedes' talent, decided to contract him. For the album ''"Tres canciones"'' Diomedes included two of his songs, ''"Celos con rabia"'' and ''"Tres canciones"''. Regarding the LP ''"De frente",'' Díaz included two songs composed by him, ''"La pollita"'' and ''"Mi profecía"''. In 1977, Diomedes hired Dagoberto Suárez as his manager, who would remain in the group until 1985. This same year, Juan Piña and accordion player Juancho Rois recorded the album ''"El fuete"'', in which they included Diomedes' song ''"La morriña"''. Jorge Oñate and "Colacho" Mendoza also recorded compositions from him; the song ''"Noble corazón"'' on the album ''"SIlencio"'' and the song ''"Mañana primaveral"'' on the LP titled ''"En la cumbre"''.


Juancho Rois (1978)

Diomedes Díaz would achieve recognition in 1978 with the album ''"La locura"'', which he recorded with accordion player Juancho Rois, also native from the municipality of San Juan del Cesar. Diomedes recorded two songs from his authorship; ''"El alma en un acordeón"'' and ''"La carta"''; they also included a song written by his uncle Martín Maestre entitled ''"Me mata el dolor"''. According to El Heraldo, this album with Juancho Rois was one of the successes of his musical career. Despite the success they achieved with this album, Juancho Rois was bothered by Diomedes' personality and there were personal differences within the group, so Rois decided to leave.


"Colacho" Mendoza (1978-1984)

Diomedes would consolidate his regional success with accordion players such as Nicolás "Colacho" Mendoza, and then towards the interior of Colombia in the early 1980s, especially due to the deployment that his record label gave them, CBS which included commercials on the national chain. By this time, in Bogota had already consolidated Binomio de Oro, made up of his friend Rafael Orozco and the accordion player Israel Romero, so there started a competition in the market with them. The union of Diomedes with "Colacho" occurred after a proposal from Diomedes, in which the manager Dagoberto Suárez intervened, who contacted the musician during a party in the south of La Guajira. The first album by Diomedes and "Colacho" was ''"Dos grandes"'' which was released in 1978. Diomedes included a song of his authorship entitled ''"Despedida de soltero"''. The song ''"El gavilán mayor"'' was recorded by Diomedes to honor his friend Raúl Gómez Castrillón, alias "Gavilán Mayor", who was one of the first marijuana traffickers or "marimberos" that the North Coast of Colombia had. The following year, in 1979, Diomedes and "Colacho" recorded the album ''"Los Profesionales"'', which included the song ''"El limoncito"'' by Martín Maestre; Diomedes included two songs of his authorship, ''"El profesional"'' and ''"El 9 de abril"''. This same year, Diomedes and Colacho made their first appearances on ''"El Show de Jimmy"'' on Do Re Creativa TV, returning to the program in 1980. The third musical production with "Colacho" was published in 1980 and titled ''"Para mi fanaticada"''. Diomedes included his songs ''"Para mi fanaticada"'' and ''"Mi casa risueña"''. According to El Heraldo, this album with Colacho Mendoza was among the successes of Diomedes' musical career. During the same year, Diomedes and "Colacho" recorded the LP, ''"Tu serenata"'' with two songs made by him, ''"Tu serenata"'' and ''"Penas de un hogar"''. The album ''"Con mucho estilo"'' was recorded in 1981 with a song by Diomedes dedicated to his father Rafael María Díaz entitled ''"A mi papá"'' and another called ''"Bonita"'' inspired by his wife Patricia Acosta. In 1982, Diomedes and "Colacho" recorded the album ''"Todo es para ti"'', in which Diomedes incorporated two songs of his own, ''"Te quiero mucho"'' and ''"Una de mis canciones"''. The following year they recorded the album ''"Cantando"'' and Diomedes recorded two songs made by him entitled ''"Cantando"'' and ''"Te necesito"'', while "Colacho" included the song ''"Alma enamorada"'' of his authorship. Diomedes' last musical production with "Colacho" was ''"El mundo"'' in 1984, Diomedes included three songs of his own; ''"Mi muchacho"'' inspired by Rafael Santos Díaz, ''"Señora tristeza"'' and ''"La Rasquiñita"''. Diomedes sent a greeting on the theme ''"El mundo"'' to Ricardo Palmera, before he later became the head of the
FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasan ...
and assumed the alias of "Simón Trinidad ".


Gonzalo "Cocha" Molina (1985-1987)

After six years of being a musical couple with Colacho Mendoza, in 1985 Diomedes formed a musical group with the accordion player Gonzalo Arturo "El Cocha" Molina. Their first record production together was titled ''"Vallenato".'' Diomedes incorporated three of his songs; ''"Dos claveles"'', ''"Camina"'' and ''"El gallo y el pollo"''. This last song was composed by Diomedes in honor of "Cocha Molina". On August 30, 1985, Diomedes and "El Cocha" received a gold record from CBS Venezuela, for the millionaire sales achieved. The award was given to him during a presentation on "Super Sábado Sensacional", at the Venevisión studios. The following year, in 1986 Diomedes and "El Cocha" recorded the album ''"Brindo con el alma"'', Diomedes recorded three songs of his authorship; ''"Ayudame a quererte"'', ''"Brindo con el alma"'' and ''"Sin tí"''. In the last one, Diomedes sent a greeting to the drug trafficker Samuel Alarcón, a member of the Cartel de la Costa, also in the song "Sin medir distancias" he mentioned his friend, the drug trafficker Felipe Eljach. In 1987, the musical production ''"Incontenibles"'' was recorded, and Diomedes incorporated three themes of his authorship; "Por no perderte", "La excusa" and "Tu cumpleaños". In 2015, the song "Tu cumpleaños" became so popular in Colombia, according to data from the Spotify application, that it was heard more than the traditional Happy Birthday To You song and it became a classic song in birthday celebrations.


Juancho Rois (1988-1994)

In 1988 Diomedes rejoined the accordionist Juancho Rois and they recorded the album ''"Ganó el folclor"'', Diomedes recorded two songs of his authorship; ''"La batalla"'' and ''"Rayito de amor"''. Diomedes appeared again in ''"El show de'' Jimmy''"'' on Do Re Creativa TV and this time alongside Juancho. They would return to promote their albums on the show in a 1989 broadcast. ''"El cóndor herido"'' was recorded in 1989 by Diomedes and "Juancho", including three songs by Diomedes; ''"El cóndor herido"'' composed for his wife Patricia Acosta, ''"El besito"'' and ''"Mi compadre"''. In 1990 Diomedes and Juancho recorded the album "Canta conmigo" with the song ''"Lucero espiritual"'' by Juancho Polo Valencia, Diomedes recorded three songs of his own entitled ''"Noche de amor"'', ''"Las notas de Juancho"'' and ''"Adiós lunarcito"''. The following year, in 1991, Diomedes and Juancho recorded the musical production entitled "Mi vida musical", Diomedes recorded two of his songs entitled "Mi ahijado" and "Mi vada musical". The album "El regreso del cóndor" was recorded in 1992 by Diomedes and Juancho, this one included a song of his own entitled ''"Yo soy el que te quiere"'', while Diomedes recorded two of his songs called ''"El regreso del cóndor"'' y ''"Mis mejores días"''. In 1993 they released the album ''"Título de amor"'' with two songs by Diomedes; ''"Mi primera cana"'' and ''"Título de amor"''; and Juancho included his song ''"Dejala"''. Diomedes and Juancho Rois received a gold record from their Sony Music label for having sold over 600,000 copies of the album Titulo de amor, making it the best-selling musical production by Diomedes and Juancho. At this time, Diomedes paid $45 million COP (In 1993, one dollar had an average value of 786.54 COP) to a dentist to have a diamond embedded in one of his posterior teeth. The diamond was 4.61 mm by 2.70 mm, 0.39 carats in weight, was imported from India to Colombia and it cost 20 million pesos, a diamond that would become one of Diomedes' most distinctive characteristics. Diomedes had been mocked by announcers, seeing the singer without a tooth on the cover of the album ''"Tres canciones"''. This same year, Diomedes received an honorary degree from the 'Hugues Manuel Lacouture' school located in La Junta, nevertheless, he arrived late to the ceremony when there were no more attendees. In 1994, Diomedes and Juancho once again generated best-sellers with the album ''"26 de mayo"'', exceeding the figure of 150 thousand copies sold and 450 thousand ordered by music stores. Diomedes' own songs were ''"Buenas tardes"'', ''"26 de mayo"'' and ''"La doctora"''. Juancho included his songs ''"¿Por qué razón?"'' and ''"Yo soy Mundial"'', which was recorded in a tropical rhythm in honor of the Colombian football team during the qualifying rounds for the World Cup in the United States that year. Diomedes and Juancho managed to fill
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
in New York and filled stadiums in Colombia and Venezuela. The union ended with the untimely death of Juancho Rois on 21 November 1994, in a plane crash in Venezuela while they were on tour, but Diomedes was not in the plane. There are two versions; one that affirms that Diomedes missed the flight and another that the singer did not want to go, because he was invited to a party where some drug traffickers had offered a lot of money to him.


Iván Zuleta (1995-1998)

After the death of Juancho Rois, Diomedes formed a musical partnership with the young accordionist Iván Zuleta, who was only 18 years old, but belonging to the dynasty of Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, composer Héctor Zuleta Díaz and Los Hermanos Zuleta. With great talent for singing verses and skilled in the accordion, in 1995 Iván Zuleta recorded with Diomedes the album ''"Un canto celestial"'' with which he paid tribute to the late Juancho Rois. This album included the songs ''"Un canto celestial"'', "Gracias por quererla" made by Diomedes and ''"No comprendo"'' by Juancho Rois. In 1996 they recorded ''"Muchas gracias"''. Juancho Rois included his song ''"Aunque no quieran"'', while Diomedes included two of his songs; ''"Muchas gracias"'' and ''"Corazón callejero"''. In 1997 Diomedes and Zuleta recorded ''"Mi biografía"'' with the theme ''"Entre placer y penas"'' by Diomedes. At this time Diomedes recorded the song ''"Ron pa' to' el mundo"'' with the salsa singer
Joe Arroyo Álvaro José Arroyo González (also known as Joe Arroyo or El Joe; 1 November 1955 – 26 July 2011) was a Colombian salsa and tropical music singer, composer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest performers of Caribbean and sa ...
for the album ''Super Bailables del Año'' under the Sony Music label. In 1997 Diomedes interrupted his musical career due to the scandal that surrounded the death of Doris Adriana Niño, suffered Guillain-Barré disease and was a fugitive from justice. The album ''"Volver a vivir"'' was recorded in 1998 by Diomedes and Zuleta with the themes ''"Volver a vivir"'' and ''"Puro amor"'' by Diomedes; According to Iván Zuleta, he and Diomedes managed to sell two and a half million copies in their five musical productions, receiving a diamond disc, 35 platinum discs, and 10 platinum sextuple.


Franco Argüelles (1999)

In 1999, being a fugitive from justice in the case of Doris Adriana Niño, his lawyers, headed by Evelio Daza, succeeded in getting court to temporarily exonerate Diomedes from the security measure, alleging that the singer suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome. Diomedes was held at his home in Valledupar, rather than a prison cell. At the end of 1999, Diomedes recorded at his home, the album ''"Experiencias vividas"'' with accordionist Franco Argüelles, with a song of his own entitled ''"Experiencias vividas"'' and Franco with his composition ''"Lo que no hago yo".'' A greeting to Colonel Ciro Hernando Chitiva, Commander of the Police in Cesar caused controversy, due to the judicial problems that Diomedes faced and the effusiveness that the singer showed in a vallenato greeting in the song ''"Cabeza de hacha"'' in which he mentioned it " My colonel Ciro Hernando Chitiva. National insignia! ". In mid-2000, Fiscalía General de la Nación (Prosecutor's office) determined that Diomedes had recovered from the illnesses related to Guillain-Barré syndrome, so he had to return to jail, but before being captured Diomedes escaped. He took refuge in three farms "Las Nubes" and "La Virgen del Carmen" that he owned and in another called "El Limón" owned by his former manager, the businessman and former councilman of Valledupar, Joaquín Guillén. At the time, there were doing strong presence the paramilitary groups under the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), for which it was stated that Diomedes was under the protection of the organization outside the law, also his fans were silent and did not report their sightings of the artist in the region.


Cocha Molina (2002)

In 2002, Diomedes and "El Cocha" rejoined and recorded the album ''"Gracias a Dios"'', Diomedes recorded three songs of his own: "Woman of the soul", "Gracias a Dios" and "Consuelo".''


Juancho de la Espriella (2003)

While in prison, in 2003 Diomedes recorded the album ''"Pidiendo via"'' together with accordion player Juancho De la Espriella, who took time apart from his partner
Silvestre Dangond Silvestre Francisco Dangond Corrales (born May 12, 1980, in Urumita) is a Colombian singer. He attributes his talents to his father, the singer William José "El Palomo" Dangond Baquero, who during the mid-1970s recorded 10 singles with André ...
to carry out the record production with Diomedes. Diomedes recorded his voice in a room that they were allowed to use inside the facilities of the Valledupar Penitentiary and Judicial Prison for three days and the recording of the album lasted between two and three months in some studios a few blocks from the jail and was at position of Juancho and the other members of Diomedes' musical group. In the album they included two songs by Diomedes entitled ''"La mujer mía"'' and ''"A mitad del camino"''.


Franco Argüelles (2005)

In 2005, Diomedes and Franco Argüelles recorded the album ''"De nuevo con mi gente"'' recorded with two songs by Diomedes; the themes ''"Siempre serás mi novia"'' and ''"El perdón"''; a song by Argüelles entitled ''"El amor de las mujeres".'' On 19 November 2005, the Government of Valle del Cauca and the
Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...
Mayor's Office vetoed Diomedes Díaz after the singer consumed
cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
while he was performing a presentation in the Cali bullring. For his part, Germán Ortegón, Diomedes Díaz's artistic entrepreneur, explained that the alleged bag of cocaine was nothing more than a stamp of the
Virgen del Carmen Virgen is a municipality in the district of Lienz in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It includes part of the Virgen valley in the Venediger Group mountain range, and extensive parts of the municipality are in High Tauern National Park. The history o ...
that someone from the public passed to him. The incident was considered as a warning by the local administration to other interpreters. These kinds of scandals were frequent in the artist's life. On 22 February 2006, in
Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...
, according to Johnny Bennedetti who hired Diomedes Díaz, the singer did not appear for a presentation, causing disturbances to the point of almost destroying the premises. According to the artist's representative, José Zequeda, the person responsible for the presentation did not make the payment on time as agreed.


Iván Zuleta (2007)

In 2007 Diomedes returned to record with the accordionist Iván Zuleta, the album was called ''"La voz"''. Diomedes included two songs of his authorship called ''"Las vainas de Diomedes"'' and ''"No se molesten"''. The sudden separation between Diomedes and Zuleta occurred when Iván Zuleta decided to form a musical couple with the singer
Iván Villazón Iván Francisco Villazón Aponte (born October 25, 1959, in the city of Valledupar, Colombia), is one of the most renowned vallenato singers in Colombia. His career as a singer began in 1984 after dropping out of college where he was pursuing a ...
, who separated from Saúl Lallemand, which generated the anger of Diomedes and the generation of several verses that caused "Piques" (Improvisation of vallenato verses) between both groups, but in the friendly sense of vallenato folklore. Diomedes joined accordionist Alvarito López. In presentations that the two groups made together, Diomedes called the new duo of Iván Villazón and Iván Zuleta "Los tal-Ivanes ".


Álvaro López (2009-2013)

In 2009, Diomedes recorded the album ''"Listo pa 'la foto"'' with Alvarito López, which was the winner of the 2010
Latin Grammy Award The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from any ...
. Diomedes and Alvarito defeated the other nominees; Omar Geles and Alex Manga with the album ''"Prueba superada"''; Jorge Oñate and Cristian Camilo Peña with ''"Te dedico mis triunfos"''; Poncho Zuleta and Cocha Molina with ''"El nobel del amor"''; and Binomio de Oro of Israel Romero with ''"Vuelve and pica ... el Pollo"''. The album included the song ''"Señor maestro"'' of the authorship of Diomedes Díaz. Also in 2009, Diomedes recorded an album with two CDs entitled ''"Celebremos juntos"'' with various singers and accordion players as a tribute to his musical life. In 2011, Diomedes and Alvarito recorded the musical production titled ''"Con mucho gusto"'', Diomedes included one of his songs, entitled ''"Amor bogotano"''. Díaz recorded several tracks in October 2012 for ''"Fiesta Vallenata"'', but the album was not released. Diomedes and Alvaro López recorded again in 2013, publishing the album ''"La vida del artista"''. This album, once again, only included one song from Diomedes, called ''"El hermano Elías".'' During this year went viral the video of the interview that the journalist Ernesto McCausland made with Diomedes in 1991 about death and the background related to the song of his authorship entitled ''"Mi ahijado"''. In the interview Diomedes spoke philosophically about life and death, and prophesied his burial. The video was uploaded to YouTube in 2008 by the journalist, and gradually became massively popular with Internet memes and other parodies in 2013. A month before dying, Diomedes finished the recording of the album ''"Entre Díaz y canciones"'' on November 28, 2013, with the collaboration of his sons Martín Elías and Rafael Santos Díaz, Alvarito López, Juancho De la Espriella, "El Cocha" Molina, Rolando Ochoa and Carlos Huertas Jr. This CD was released under the Sony Music label on May 26, 2015, and reached 20 thousand copies sold at launch.


Personal life

He was born on a farm called Carrizal in the town of La Junta in the municipality of San Juan del Cesar. In the early years of youth and adulthood, his personal life was marked by family instability, controversial friendships, ups and downs with the consumption of alcohol and drugs, accidents, financial and legal problems, especially the death under strange circumstances of Doris Adriana Niño, and health problems. He professed love for his closest children and narrated part of his life through his compositions. Of humble and peasant extraction, he grew up in poverty and managed to amass a great fortune. He was disinterested in the money he received from his record earnings, royalties from his compositions, the sale of vallenatos greetings on his records, gifts given to him by drug traffickers, wealthy fans, and profits he received from his farms and other investments. He was generous to his followers and strangers, however, due to food demands for his numerous children, problems and legal breaches, he spent much of his fortune on drugs, alcohol, women and lawyers. There were also people who took advantage of the closeness and trust with Diomedes to get large sums of money from him. Díaz was a fervent devotee of the Virgen Del Carmen something that he highlighted in his recordings and live performances, he also promised to make her a church, however he died before fulfilling that promise.


Family

His maternal grandparents were José Maestre and Eufemia Hinojosa. Diomedes was born on 26 May 1957, in the town of Carrizal, La Guajira, in the home of Rafael María Díaz and Elvira Maestre Hinojosa "Mamá Vila", from whose union ten children were born; five men and five women. His siblings were: Gloria María "Golla", Rafael Gregorio, Avelina del Carmen "Chama", Rosa Leonor "Ocha", Abel Antonio, Elizabeth "Icha", Elver Augusto, Juan Manuel and Elvira Luz. Diomedes Díaz had romantic relationships with several women, with twelve of whom he had 28 recognised children. The following are the women with whom Diomedes had recognized children:


Death of Martín Maestre

Diomedes was involved in the accident in which his uncle and mentor Martín Maestre died on 1 August 1979. Diomedes was driving a truck that collided with a pile of sand in the middle of the road, in the place where the roundabout would be built with the monument "My piece of Accordion", north of Valledupar. The group of people in the truck came from Patillal where they had been on a celebration. Martín lost his life when he was thrown out of the vehicle and hit the ground with his head violently, while Diomedes and other companions were injured. In honour of his uncle, Diomedes baptised one of his sons with his name; Martín Elías, who died in a car accident under the same circumstances as his uncle Martin Maestre, both at age 26.


Guillain Barré syndrome

In April 1998, Diomedes suffered numbness in parts of his body while he was in Bogotá preparing the recording of a musical production. Diomedes was hospitalized and tests showed a positive result for cocaine, but that, this was not related to the diagnosis of the Guillain-Barré syndrome determined by physicians. Diomedes was treated by the cardiologist Rony López and the physiotherapists Carlina de Pantoja and Antonio Bolaño Mendoza, who applied physical and respiratory therapies, while the recovery process took place in Valledupar where the warm climate helped the treatment.


Death

Diomedes Díaz died in Valledupar on 22 December 2013, due to a
cardiorespiratory arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest ''SCA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly circulate around the body and the blood flow to the brain and other org ...
at 6:15 p.m. when he was resting in his bed. According to Diomedes' partner, Consuelo Martínez, Díaz was sleeping and Consuelo noticed that the artist was not moving, so she called an ambulance and was transferred to a clinic where it was confirmed that his death was due to "natural causes". He was buried in a massive funeral on December 25 at the "Jardines del Ecce Homo" cemetery in Valledupar. His last public appearance was on 20 December, two days before his death. Diomedes Díaz said goodbye to the year at the Trucupey nightclub in
Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...
, where he went with his musical group. After his death, several legal disputes began over his inheritance.


Doris Adriana Niño


Homicide

During the night of 14–15 May 1997, Díaz was having a party in his apartment in
Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
, when a friend, Doris Adriana Niño, was murdered., ''
El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' (27 September 2002).
Colombian Ministry of Justice
Case T-781455.
(15 January 2004); accessed 29 September 2006.
According to the Constitutional Court of Colombia, some people at the party, including Niño, consumed drugs, but it is not clear if she was involuntarily forced to take drugs or did so voluntarily. The report says that Niño was
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
d, and had an argument with a pregnant woman at the party, Luz Consuelo Martínez. Niño died that night, and her body appeared on the outskirts of Bogotá, near the Village of San Onofre, municipality of Combita, (
Boyacá Department Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mount ...
).


Legal proceedings

Díaz was captured by order of the Attorney general's office on 3 October 1997, and was given house arrest after proving he was suffering from
Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset Paralysis, muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation ...
. On 11 August 2000, a judge ordered Díaz transferred to jail, considering that his illness had been considerably overcome. When authorities went to his house to complete the transfer, Díaz had escaped and found refuge with an illegal paramilitary group headed by Rodrigo Tovar.Revista Semana: Articulo - Vidas Paralelas
semana.com; accessed 27 October 2006.
During the trial, Díaz was tried as an "absent inmate"; the judge concluded that Niño had a great amount of drugs the night she died, but the Attorney General's Office determined that her death had been caused by provoked
asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...
tion. The Colombian Bureau of Legal Medicine determined that she had died from pressure put over her mouth and nose. On 20 August 2002, after a year and a half of evading house arrest, Díaz turned himself in to authorities in
Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. The ...
, accompanied by two of his lawyers. On 21 August 2002, a Colombian Superior Tribunal reduced his jail term from 144 to 37 months; Niño's family protested that the sentence was too low. He had already spent a year in jail and had two years pending before his escape. According to the trial, Díaz did not commit unintentional homicide (''homicidio preterintencional''), in which the aggressor wants to induce damage but ends up causing death, as the previous judge had ruled. Instead, it was determined that he had committed involuntary
manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
(''homicidio culposo''), which according to Colombian law, is less severe than unintentional homicide.


Criticism of trial

Doris Adriana Niño's family, especially her brother Rodrigo, criticized the lenient treatment given to Díaz by authorities as he expressed in statements after Díaz turned himself in:


Scandals

* On 22 November 2005, the local government of
Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...
vetoed all performances by Díaz in the city after the singer allegedly used cocaine while performing onstage. Although video images proved the contrary, the Cali City Hall gave notice to all entertainment businesses that the government was not going to issue any permits for the use of public areas where Díaz would be scheduled to appear. The incident was considered a warning by the local administration to other performers.VETADO DIOMEDES DÍAZ EN CALI
, Cali.gov.co; accessed 14 January 2007.
* On 22 February 2006, Díaz was scheduled to sing in the city of
Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (), is a port List of cities in Colombia, city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fou ...
. According to the businessman Johnny Bennedetti who hired Díaz, the singer did not show up for the event, causing a mob to almost completely destroy the venue, "La Tremenda".Disturbios por concierto de Diomedes Díaz
, universia.net.co; accessed 14 January 2007.
According to Díaz publicist José Sequeda, the people in charge of the event did not deliver on time the full payment as was established in the contract. He said that he had given Diaz part of the money as an initial payment. As a result of the mob, 25 microphones, liquor and money were stolen and sound system equipment was damaged.


Discography

* 1976 Herencia Vallenata, featuring Nafer Durán. * 1976 Tres Canciones, featuring Edelberto López. * 1977 De Frente, featuring Edelberto López. * 1978 La Locura, featuring
Juancho Rois Juan Humberto Rois Zúñiga (December 25, 1958 – November 21, 1994, popularly known as Juancho Rois and nicknamed ''El Conejo'' (the rabbit) was a Colombian vallenato musician, accordionist, and composer. He was born on December 25, 1958, in ...
. * 1979 Dos Grandes, featuring
Colacho Mendoza Nicolas Elias Mendoza Daza, also known as Colacho Mendoza (April 15, 1936 – September 27, 2003), was a Colombian Vallenato accordion player and was crowned king of accordion players on many occasions in the Vallenato Legend Festival. He was born ...
. * 1979 Los Profesionales, featuring Colacho Mendoza. * 1980 Tu Serenata, featuring Colacho Mendoza. * 1980 Para Mi Fanaticada, featuring Colacho Mendoza. * 1981 Con Mucho Estilo, featuring Colacho Mendoza. * 1982 Todo es para ti, featuring Colacho Mendoza. * 1983 Cantando, featuring Colacho Mendoza. * 1984 El Mundo, featuring Colacho Mendoza. * 1985 Vallenato, featuring Cocha Molina. * 1986 Brindo con el Alma, featuring Cocha Molina. * 1987 Incontenibles, featuring Cocha Molina. * 1988 Gano el Folclor, featuring
Juancho Rois Juan Humberto Rois Zúñiga (December 25, 1958 – November 21, 1994, popularly known as Juancho Rois and nicknamed ''El Conejo'' (the rabbit) was a Colombian vallenato musician, accordionist, and composer. He was born on December 25, 1958, in ...
. * 1989 El Cóndor Herido, featuring Juancho Rois. * 1990 Canta Conmigo, featuring Juancho Rois. * 1991 Mi Vida Musical, featuring Juancho Rois. * 1992 El Regreso del Cóndor, featuring Juancho Rois. * 1993 Titulo de Amor, featuring Juancho Rois. * 1994 26 de Mayo, featuring Juancho Rois. * 1995 Un Canto Celestial, featuring Iván Zuleta. * 1996 Muchas Gracias, featuring Iván Zuleta. * 1997 Mi Biografia, featuring Iván Zuleta. * 1998 Volver a Vivir, featuring Iván Zuleta. * 1999 Experiencias Vividas, featuring Franco Argüelles. * 2002 Gracias a Dios, featuring Cocha Molina. * 2003 Pidiendo Vía, featuring Juan Mario de la Espriella. * 2005 De Nuevo Con Mi Gente, featuring Franco Argüelles. * 2007 La Voz, featuring accordion player Iván Zuleta. * 2009 Celebremos Juntos * 2009 Listo Pa' la foto * 2011 Con Mucho Gusto, featuring Alvaro Lopéz * 2013 La Vida del Artista, featuring Alvaro Lopéz (This was his last album; released a few days before his death). * 2014 56 años, 56 éxitos, una historia (Posthumous solo project) * 2015 Entre Díaz y canciones, featuring Martín Elías and Rafael Santos Díaz (Posthumous solo project, accompanied by their sons)


Awards and nominations


Latin Grammy Awards The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music, Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish language, S ...

Diaz received a Latin Grammy Award and three nominations. , - ,
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
, , ''Celebremos Juntos'' , , Best Cumbia/Vallenato Album , , , - ,
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
, , ''Listo Pa' la foto'' , , Best Cumbia/Vallenato Album , , , - ,
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
, , ''Con Mucho Gusto Caray'' , , Best Cumbia/Vallenato Album , , , - ,
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
, , ''La Vida del Artista'' , , Best Cumbia/Vallenato Album , , , -


See also

*
List of best-selling Latin music artists Latin music has an ambiguous meaning in the music industry due to differing definitions of the term "Latin". For example, the Latin music market in the United States defines Latin music as any release that is mostly sung in Spanish, regardless ...


References


External links

* Discography of Diomedes Díaz * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Diomedes 1957 births 2013 deaths Latin Grammy Award winners People from Valledupar 20th-century Colombian male singers Sony Music Colombia artists Vallenato musicians 21st-century Colombian male singers