Octavio Daza

Octavio Daza
Born
Octavio de Jesús Daza Daza

(1948-04-15)15 April 1948
San Juan del Cesar, Colombia
Died12 January 1980(1980-01-12) (aged 31)
Barranquilla, Colombia
GenreVallenato
Years active1970s–1980

Octavio de Jesús Daza Daza (1948–1980) was a Colombian vallenato songwriter and civil engineer. He is remembered for his poetic lyricism, and his compositions have been recorded by artists including Diomedes Díaz, Claudia de Colombia [es], and El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. Daza won the unpublished song competition of the Vallenato Legend Festival in 1978 with "Río Badillo".

Early life and education

Octavio de Jesús Daza Daza was born on 15 April 1948 in San Juan del Cesar, in the Colombian department of La Guajira, to Samuel Francisco "Chame" Daza Hinojosa and Palmina de Jesús Daza Maestre. He grew up in Patillal, where played in a musical duo with his cousin Freddy Molina. After completing his baccalaureate at the Colegio Cristo Rey in Bucaramanga, Daza completed a degree in civil engineering at the Universidad Santo Tomás.

Musical style and compositions

Daza began writing songs at the age of 16. His method was first to write the lyrics as a poem, and afterwards compose the music. He was a keen reader of authors including Pablo Neruda and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, and is remembered for his poetic lyricism. The first song of Daza's to be recorded was "El baile de los animales", by Dolcey Gutiérrez [es] in 1965. His music career only began in earnest in the 1970s.

In 1977, Diomedes Díaz and Elberto López recorded Daza's composition "Frente a mí". In April 1978, Daza won the unpublished song competition of the Vallenato Legend Festival with the song "Río Badillo", which was subsequently recorded by los Hermanos Zuleta and Claudia de Colombia [es]. Daza won song competitions at various other festivals, accompanied by Armando Moscote on vocals, including the Festival de Acordeones in San Andrés with "Sanandresana" (later recorded by recorded by Diomedes Díaz and Colacho Mendoza), and the Festival de Acordeón Bolivarense in Arjona with "Nido de Amor". "Nido de Amor" was later a hit for El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, after director Rafael Ithier heard Jorge Oñate performing the song while the Combo were visiting Barranquilla.

Daza's other notable compositions include "Figuras de amor" (also called "Mi novia y mi pueblo"), "Oye tú", "La tierra tiene sed", and "Dime pajarito".

Personal life and death

Daza was abducted and killed by hitmen in Barranquilla on 12 January 1980. His body was taken to a hospital the next day, with two gunshot wounds, where it was identified by Rafael Escalona. El Tiempo reported that the killing was a case of mistaken identity, as Daza had been driving the car of the intended victim, Francis Dangond. His funeral was held in Valledupar on 14 January, and was attended by thousands of people. Several prominent vallenato musicians performed Daza's compositions at the funeral, including Jorge Oñate, Rita Fernández, Cecilia Meza Reales, Diomedes Díaz, Andrés Gil, and Gustavo Gutiérrez.

At the time of his death, Daza was director of the Colombian Institute of School Buildings (Spanish: Instituto Colombiano de Construcciones Escolares, ICCE) in Valledupar. He had a son with María Concepción Gámez Pareja, born 19 days before his death.

Songwriter Tomás Darío Gutiérrez [es] won the unpublished song competition of the Vallenato Legend Festival in 1980 with the paseo "Voz de acordeones", written in tribute to Daza.

Notes

  1. ↑ In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Daza and the second or maternal family name is Daza.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Juan Rincón Vanegas (14 January 2020), "Octavio Daza, 40 años después, sigue pegado al sentimiento vallenato", El Heraldo (in Spanish), retrieved 10 November 2026
  2. 1 2 José I. Pinilla Aguilar (2005). "Daza Daza Octavio de Jesús". Cultores de la Música Colombiana (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). pp. 223–224. ISBN 958-33-7841-0.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Félix Carrillo Hinojosa (2 December 2017), "El cantor del río Badillo", El Espectador (in Spanish), retrieved 10 November 2026
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Julio Oñate Martínez (April 2003). "Octavio Daza". El abc del Vallenato (in Spanish). Bogotá: Taurus. pp. 415–418. ISBN 958-704-071-6.
  5. 1 2 3 José Cervantes A. (14 January 1980), "Asesinado el compositor Octavio Daza D." [Composer Octavio Daza D. has been killed], El Tiempo (in Spanish), p. 2A, retrieved 10 November 2026
  6. ↑ Gustavo Vásquez (15 January 1980), "Capturados asesinos de Octavio Daza Daza" [Octavio Daza Daza's killers arrested], El Tiempo (in Spanish), p. 14C, retrieved 10 November 2026
  7. ↑ Infante Moreno (15 January 1980), "La muerta de Octavio Daza: 'Un crimen contra el folclor'" [The death of Octavio Daza: 'A crime against folklore'], El Tiempo (in Spanish), p. 14C, retrieved 10 November 2026