Francisco Zumaque
Encyclopedia
Francisco Zumaqué Gómez is a Colombian musician and composer of rich Colombo-Caribbean rhythms. Defined as a contemporary musician with great part of his compositions oriented to Electroacoustic music
, doing important research that contributed in the creation of new rhythms mixing traditional Colombian music with orchestral compositions. His music is considered avant-garde and refreshing, bright, flexible and with a personal worrisome of his cultural mark, all of these are reflected in several compositions that were a hit and are part of Colombian musical history. His compositions include symphonies, chamber music
, vocals and works for non-conventional musical groups.
His great hit "Colombia Caribe" gave him national recognition and put him in a privileged position in most Latin American countries.
band "Banda Departamental de Córdoba". He toured with his father most of the northern Colombian coast where he got highly influenced by the musicians of the time (i.e. Pérez Prado, Pastor López and others)
, his home region. Grew up listening to porro
bands and traditional pipers from Cereté
and San Pelayo
, vallenato
groups such as Alejo Durán
's and compositions and arrangements of his father Francisco Zumaqué, who was director of the Banda Departmental de Córdoba and popular orchestra Los Macumberos del Sinu.
In this context, he began his musical education with piano lessons, guitar and music theory with Tiburcio Romero. His early compositions and arrangements written for the orchestra of his father, were inspired by the music performed by Damaso Perez Prado, Stan Kenton
and Juan Garcia Esquivel
, who he listened incessantly on radio programs from Cuban, Mexican and American radio stations. His initial knowledge was supplemented at the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin
, between 1958 and 1962. There he received piano lessons from teacher Gómez Arriola, Harmony lessons with Mario Gómez-Vignes, and participated in the child and youth orchestra "Di Lido", created and directed by saxophonist Justo Almario.
between 1963 and 1964, where he began a career in engineering, he decided to travel to Bogota
to enroll the Conservatory of Music at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia
. He studied Harmony with Antonio Benavides, Counterpoint and Fugue with Fabio González Zuleta, Direction and Implementation of musical bands with José Rozo Contreras, and Conducting and Orchestration with Olav Roots. Very soon he began writing academic compositions and, encouraged by his fellow students, delved into the use of atonal languages. Simultaneously he began composing and conducting music for television and radio, and also joined as Artistic Director for CBS Records
(later Sony Music) for which he made several musical arrangements of Colombian popular music with innovative instrumental formats.
In 1970 he graduated from the Universidad Nacional with a degree as Composer and Orchestra Conductor. Thanks to his academic performance he received the scholarship "Best Student of Fine Arts", that allowed him to continue his advanced studies in France
. The following year he joined the American Conservatory
in Paris where he studied with Nadia Boulanger
(musical notation), Annette Dieudonné (auditory training) and Michel Philippot
(composition). He also participated in the renowned Electroacoustic music courses of Pierre Schaeffer
and Guy Reibel in the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in Paris. He studied conducting with Igor Markevich and attended the composition class of Olivier Messiaen
from whom he adopted his innovative ideas about treatment and development of rhythmic material.
His contact with contemporary trends of music played a role in his valuation for traditional musical forms and popular practice. In the first encounter with Nadia Boulanger presented works of abstract type with a highly developed language, but only managed to really capture her attention when he played in several piano pieces he had composed especially for a Colombian telenovela. The music included songs from the Chocó department in accordance with the cultural context framed by the telenovela. After listening these compositions, Boulanger prompted him to inquire himself about searching his own and original language.
, Zumaque followed a varied career path. He worked as professor of composition at the Conservatory of the Universidad Nacional
in 1976, and as researcher at the CENIDIM at the Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico
in 1980. He was also a composer and arranger for "Fania All Stars", Cheo Feliciano
, and Eddie Palmieri
between 1979 and 1981. With Macumbia, released in 1984, he managed to crystallize a precursor production in a style that combines jazz, pop and traditional Colombian music. Another example of his eclectic and flexible position as a composer is "Colombia Caribe", a piece that became the anthem of the Caribbean Music Festival (Festival de Música Caribe de Cartagena) in 1985 and is one of his most publicized creations. Similar works have been presented in various scenarios in the company of other musicians such as Totó La Momposina
and Eddy Martinez with whom he produced the show "Colombia Suena Bien", which took place at the Teatro Colón in Bogota
in 1997.
He has occasionally returned to composing music for television and film. In 1976 he wrote the music for the show La Mala Hora, based on the literary work of Gabriel García Márquez
, and in 1999 was in charge of the soundtrack to the restored silent film Bajo el Cielo de Antioquia, of Arturo Acevedo, originally released in 1924.
His musical activity has been complemented and enriched by attending meetings, forums, festivals, conferences and other events. Also his work and creations have received recognition and awards.
In recent years efforts have focused workshop on the draft of Utopias. According to the composer, it is a program of exploration and promotion of traditional Colombian music. Several of his recent works are directly related to this project, including the sacred cantata Cienaga de Oro, based on traditional religious musical elements of the department of Cordoba
; his work Bacatá Zapqua written for the celebration of 459 years of the Colombian capital
; Manglares (for soprano and tenor, two singers and ensemble river marimbas) and Rito de Manglares (ballet symphonic orchestra, choir and soloists, singers), both released in Cali
at the International Art Festival.
Ciénaga de Oro—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Zumaqué Music, 2001
Colombia Caribe—LP, Festival de Música del Caribe, Cartagena, 1985
Cumbialma—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Solidarte, 1998
Cumbialma—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Tropical Music, 1998
Dale Colombia Dale—LP, E. Zumaqué. FM Discos, 1990
Dúo Contemporáneo de Holanda—Henrry Bok y Ever Lemair, Fondo Cultural Cafetero, 1988
El canto libre—LP, Los Machucambos. Daro, 1974
El canto libre—LP, Los Machucambos. Discomoda, 1981
Fantasía Caribe—CD, Francisco Zumaqué y la Banda Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia. Ministerio de Cultura, 1998
Fascinación Caribe—CD, Orquesta Fascinación Caribe. Zumaqué Music, 2000
Fascinación Caribe—CD, Orquesta Fascinación Caribe. Fonocaribe, 2001
Francisco Zumaqué—LP, Francisco Zumaqué. Daro, 1978
Francisco Zumaqué—LP, Grupos de la orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. Daro, 1988
Génesis—Clásicos Colombianos S XX, vol. III, CD, Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia, Colcultura, 1993
Homenaje a José Barros - LP, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. Discos Orbe, 1983
Homenaje a Lucho Bermúdez—LP, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. Discos Orbe, 1985
Juana Inés—CD, Coro Infantil y Juvenil de Colombia, Ministerio de Cultura, 1998
La Búsqueda—Dir.: Francisco Zumaqué, RCA Records, 1982
Macumbia -- LP, Grupo Macumbia, Dir: Francisco Zumaqué. Fonosema Discos, 1985
Mi canción de Juventud—Francisco Zumaqué, LP, Coldeportes, 1984
Misa Sacerdotalis—LP, Caja Vocacional, 1977
Música de cámara para vientos y percusión - LP, Philips, 1989
Onomá, Eleguá—Conciertos Colombianos vol. 1, CD, Ministerio de Cultura, 1998
Páginas de mujer—Eddie Palmieri, CD, Música Latina Intl., 1981
Rituales—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Tropical music, 1994
Sinú Dúo contemporáneo de Holanda, vol. 2, CD, Convenio Andrés Bello, 1996
Son de mi Gente—CD, Francisco Zumaqué, Orquidea Records International, 1995
Voces Caribes—CD, Francisco Zumaqué y Super Macumbia. Tropical music, 1993
Zumaqué Caribe—LP, Francisco Zumaqué. Discos Fuentes, 1986
Zumaqué Caribe—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Discos Fuentes, 1992
Electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...
, doing important research that contributed in the creation of new rhythms mixing traditional Colombian music with orchestral compositions. His music is considered avant-garde and refreshing, bright, flexible and with a personal worrisome of his cultural mark, all of these are reflected in several compositions that were a hit and are part of Colombian musical history. His compositions include symphonies, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, vocals and works for non-conventional musical groups.
His great hit "Colombia Caribe" gave him national recognition and put him in a privileged position in most Latin American countries.
Early Start
At the age of 9 he formed his own musical group and 3 years later started composing music for his father's porroPorro
The porro is a musical style and dance from the Caribbean region of Colombia. It is a Colombian Cumbia rhythm that developed into its own sub-genre. It was originally a folkloric expression from the Sinú River area that evolved into a ballroom dance...
band "Banda Departamental de Córdoba". He toured with his father most of the northern Colombian coast where he got highly influenced by the musicians of the time (i.e. Pérez Prado, Pastor López and others)
Musical Style
Zumaqué defines himself as a musician with popular peasant roots of the savannahs of Department of CordobaCórdoba Department
Córdoba is a Department of the Republic of Colombia located to the north of this country in the Colombian Caribbean Region. Córdoba faces to the north with the Caribbean sea, to the northeast with the Sucre Department, east with the Bolívar Department and south with the Antioquia Department...
, his home region. Grew up listening to porro
Porro
The porro is a musical style and dance from the Caribbean region of Colombia. It is a Colombian Cumbia rhythm that developed into its own sub-genre. It was originally a folkloric expression from the Sinú River area that evolved into a ballroom dance...
bands and traditional pipers from Cereté
Cereté
Cereté is a town and municipality located in the Córdoba Department, northern Colombia.-Name origin:Cereté comes from the two word indigenous words meaning Chere and te .-History:...
and San Pelayo
San Pelayo
San Pelayo is a town and municipality located in the Córdoba Department, northern Colombia.-References:...
, vallenato
Vallenato
Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...
groups such as Alejo Durán
Alejo Duran
Gilberto Alejandro Durán Diaz, known to all as Alejo Durán or "El Negro Grande" was a Colombian vallenato music traditional composer, singer and accordionist....
's and compositions and arrangements of his father Francisco Zumaqué, who was director of the Banda Departmental de Córdoba and popular orchestra Los Macumberos del Sinu.
In this context, he began his musical education with piano lessons, guitar and music theory with Tiburcio Romero. His early compositions and arrangements written for the orchestra of his father, were inspired by the music performed by Damaso Perez Prado, Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
and Juan Garcia Esquivel
Juan García Esquivel
Juan García Esquivel often simply known as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin...
, who he listened incessantly on radio programs from Cuban, Mexican and American radio stations. His initial knowledge was supplemented at the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellin
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...
, between 1958 and 1962. There he received piano lessons from teacher Gómez Arriola, Harmony lessons with Mario Gómez-Vignes, and participated in the child and youth orchestra "Di Lido", created and directed by saxophonist Justo Almario.
Education
After a short stay in CartagenaCartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
between 1963 and 1964, where he began a career in engineering, he decided to travel to Bogota
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
to enroll the Conservatory of Music at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia
National University of Colombia
The Universidad Nacional de Colombia , also called UNAL or just UN, is a public, national, coeducational, research university, located primarily in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, Colombia...
. He studied Harmony with Antonio Benavides, Counterpoint and Fugue with Fabio González Zuleta, Direction and Implementation of musical bands with José Rozo Contreras, and Conducting and Orchestration with Olav Roots. Very soon he began writing academic compositions and, encouraged by his fellow students, delved into the use of atonal languages. Simultaneously he began composing and conducting music for television and radio, and also joined as Artistic Director for CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
(later Sony Music) for which he made several musical arrangements of Colombian popular music with innovative instrumental formats.
In 1970 he graduated from the Universidad Nacional with a degree as Composer and Orchestra Conductor. Thanks to his academic performance he received the scholarship "Best Student of Fine Arts", that allowed him to continue his advanced studies in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The following year he joined the American Conservatory
Fontainebleau Schools
The Fontainebleau Schools started in 1921 with the involvement of the United States in the First World War. At the instigation of General Pershing—who wished to improve the quality of US military band music—Walter Damrosch, then conductor of the New York Philharmonic, was asked to organize a...
in Paris where he studied with Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
(musical notation), Annette Dieudonné (auditory training) and Michel Philippot
Michel Philippot
Michel Paul Philippot was a French composer, mathematician, acoustician, musicologist, aesthetician, broadcaster, and educator.-Life:...
(composition). He also participated in the renowned Electroacoustic music courses of Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist and acoustician of the 20th century. His innovative work in both the sciences —particularly communications and acoustics— and the various arts of music, literature and radio presentation after the end...
and Guy Reibel in the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) in Paris. He studied conducting with Igor Markevich and attended the composition class of Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
from whom he adopted his innovative ideas about treatment and development of rhythmic material.
His contact with contemporary trends of music played a role in his valuation for traditional musical forms and popular practice. In the first encounter with Nadia Boulanger presented works of abstract type with a highly developed language, but only managed to really capture her attention when he played in several piano pieces he had composed especially for a Colombian telenovela. The music included songs from the Chocó department in accordance with the cultural context framed by the telenovela. After listening these compositions, Boulanger prompted him to inquire himself about searching his own and original language.
Career Path
After completing his studies in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Zumaque followed a varied career path. He worked as professor of composition at the Conservatory of the Universidad Nacional
National University of Colombia
The Universidad Nacional de Colombia , also called UNAL or just UN, is a public, national, coeducational, research university, located primarily in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, Colombia...
in 1976, and as researcher at the CENIDIM at the Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura
The Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura , located in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, is the national Mexican institute of fine arts and literature, founded on December 31, 1946...
in 1980. He was also a composer and arranger for "Fania All Stars", Cheo Feliciano
Cheo Feliciano
José Feliciano, better known as Cheo Feliciano , is a composer and singer of salsa and bolero music.-Early years:...
, and Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri , is a Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican pianist, bandleader and musician, best known for combining jazz piano and instrumental solos with Latin rhythms.-Early years:...
between 1979 and 1981. With Macumbia, released in 1984, he managed to crystallize a precursor production in a style that combines jazz, pop and traditional Colombian music. Another example of his eclectic and flexible position as a composer is "Colombia Caribe", a piece that became the anthem of the Caribbean Music Festival (Festival de Música Caribe de Cartagena) in 1985 and is one of his most publicized creations. Similar works have been presented in various scenarios in the company of other musicians such as Totó La Momposina
Totó la Momposina
Sonia Bazanta Vides, better known as Totó la Momposina, is a Colombian singer of traditional mixed indigenous Colombian and Afro-Latin music. She was born in the northern Colombian town of Talaigua Nuevo near Mompox in the Bolívar Department...
and Eddy Martinez with whom he produced the show "Colombia Suena Bien", which took place at the Teatro Colón in Bogota
Teatro de Cristóbal Colón
thumb|200px|Facade of the Teatro de Cristobal Colón Bogotá D.C.thumb|200px|Frescoes of six muses on the ceiling of the main hallThe Teatro de Cristóbal Colón , also known as the "Teatro Colón", is located in Bogotá, Colombia and it is the nation's National Theatre...
in 1997.
He has occasionally returned to composing music for television and film. In 1976 he wrote the music for the show La Mala Hora, based on the literary work of Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
, and in 1999 was in charge of the soundtrack to the restored silent film Bajo el Cielo de Antioquia, of Arturo Acevedo, originally released in 1924.
His musical activity has been complemented and enriched by attending meetings, forums, festivals, conferences and other events. Also his work and creations have received recognition and awards.
In recent years efforts have focused workshop on the draft of Utopias. According to the composer, it is a program of exploration and promotion of traditional Colombian music. Several of his recent works are directly related to this project, including the sacred cantata Cienaga de Oro, based on traditional religious musical elements of the department of Cordoba
Córdoba Department
Córdoba is a Department of the Republic of Colombia located to the north of this country in the Colombian Caribbean Region. Córdoba faces to the north with the Caribbean sea, to the northeast with the Sucre Department, east with the Bolívar Department and south with the Antioquia Department...
; his work Bacatá Zapqua written for the celebration of 459 years of the Colombian capital
Bogotá
Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
; Manglares (for soprano and tenor, two singers and ensemble river marimbas) and Rito de Manglares (ballet symphonic orchestra, choir and soloists, singers), both released in Cali
Calì
Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:...
at the International Art Festival.
Compositions
Baila Caribe Baila—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Tropical music Afromanía Caribe, CD, 1991Ciénaga de Oro—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Zumaqué Music, 2001
Colombia Caribe—LP, Festival de Música del Caribe, Cartagena, 1985
Cumbialma—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Solidarte, 1998
Cumbialma—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Tropical Music, 1998
Dale Colombia Dale—LP, E. Zumaqué. FM Discos, 1990
Dúo Contemporáneo de Holanda—Henrry Bok y Ever Lemair, Fondo Cultural Cafetero, 1988
El canto libre—LP, Los Machucambos. Daro, 1974
El canto libre—LP, Los Machucambos. Discomoda, 1981
Fantasía Caribe—CD, Francisco Zumaqué y la Banda Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia. Ministerio de Cultura, 1998
Fascinación Caribe—CD, Orquesta Fascinación Caribe. Zumaqué Music, 2000
Fascinación Caribe—CD, Orquesta Fascinación Caribe. Fonocaribe, 2001
Francisco Zumaqué—LP, Francisco Zumaqué. Daro, 1978
Francisco Zumaqué—LP, Grupos de la orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. Daro, 1988
Génesis—Clásicos Colombianos S XX, vol. III, CD, Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia, Colcultura, 1993
Homenaje a José Barros - LP, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. Discos Orbe, 1983
Homenaje a Lucho Bermúdez—LP, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. Discos Orbe, 1985
Juana Inés—CD, Coro Infantil y Juvenil de Colombia, Ministerio de Cultura, 1998
La Búsqueda—Dir.: Francisco Zumaqué, RCA Records, 1982
Macumbia -- LP, Grupo Macumbia, Dir: Francisco Zumaqué. Fonosema Discos, 1985
Mi canción de Juventud—Francisco Zumaqué, LP, Coldeportes, 1984
Misa Sacerdotalis—LP, Caja Vocacional, 1977
Música de cámara para vientos y percusión - LP, Philips, 1989
Onomá, Eleguá—Conciertos Colombianos vol. 1, CD, Ministerio de Cultura, 1998
Páginas de mujer—Eddie Palmieri, CD, Música Latina Intl., 1981
Rituales—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Tropical music, 1994
Sinú Dúo contemporáneo de Holanda, vol. 2, CD, Convenio Andrés Bello, 1996
Son de mi Gente—CD, Francisco Zumaqué, Orquidea Records International, 1995
Voces Caribes—CD, Francisco Zumaqué y Super Macumbia. Tropical music, 1993
Zumaqué Caribe—LP, Francisco Zumaqué. Discos Fuentes, 1986
Zumaqué Caribe—CD, Francisco Zumaqué. Discos Fuentes, 1992