Gildardo Montoya

Gildardo Montoya
Birth nameGildardo Montoya Ortiz
Born(1939-02-10)10 February 1939
Palermo, Antioquia, Colombia
Died25 November 1976(1976-11-25) (aged 37)
Medellín, Colombia
Years active1960–1976

Gildardo Montoya Ortiz[a] (1939–1976) was a Colombian musician and songwriter. He played tiple, guitar, and accordion, was the artistic director of Codiscos, and wrote well-known songs in several Colombian and Latin American styles before his death in a road accident at the age of 37.

Biography

Early life

Montoya was born on 10 February 1939 in Palermo, in the Colombian department of Antioquia.[1] His father was Jesús Montoya Sánchez and his mother was Julia Ortiz Echeverry.[1] His maternal grandfather Manuel Ortiz made and played tiples and guitars in the town of Jericó.[1]

Career

Montoya's first job was picking coffee in Fredonia.[2] He then moved to Medellín where he worked at a butcher's shop in the neighbourhood of Aranjuez.[2] In Medellín he became interested in music, particularly the work of Mexican musician José Alfredo Jiménez and Colombian songwriters José A. Bedoya and José Muñoz.[2][3] Montoya won an accordion in a raffle at his work, and he started writing songs; his first recordings were "Los Reyes Magos" and "Aguinaldo al Escondido" in 1960.[3]

Montoya wrote hundreds of songs in several styles, and his lyrics are known for their wit and wordplay.[4] In 2021 El Colombiano called him "one of the best – if not the best – Antioquian lyricists of the last century."[5]: q  He recorded 307 songs in total before his early death.[5]

In 1972 Montoya became artistic director of Medellín record label Codiscos.[2] Around this time he wrote one of his best-known songs, "Plegaria Vallenata", which was recorded by Alejo Durán and Daniel Santos, among others.[4][5]

Personal life and death

Montoya was married to Silvia Cruz, whom he met in 1963 in Medellín. They had three children.[5] He died in Medellín on 25 November 1976 after being hit by a truck while driving his Honda 350 motorbike.[5]

Musical style and compositions

Montoya is particularly remembered for the songs he wrote in the style of parranda paisa, which is a type of traditional Christmas music in Antioquia.[6] He also composed in other styles, including ranchera, corrido, vallenato (particularly paseo and merengue), currulao, pasodoble, bambuco, pasillo, porro, and cumbia.[5][1]

Although he is well-known for his parranda paisa compositions, Montoya often credited their authorship to others because he saw them as lesser work compared to his compositions in tropical music genres and his directorship of Codiscos.[4]

Montoya's notable compositions include: "El Arruinado", "Como Yo Soy Tan Raro", "Plegaria Vallenata", "Maldita Navidad" (recorded by Gabriel Romero[7]), "La Trilogía del Arruinado", "El Gitano Groserón", "Dele por Ahí", "El Trovador del Valle", "El Corbata Gastador", "Te Casaste", "Toño", "En el Tren de Seis", "El Barrilito", "El Aguardientosky", and "Tiburón Comelón".[5][4]

Albums

  • Dele Por' Ai (1975, Discos Victoria), as Gildardo Montoya y su Conjunto
  • El Gitano Groserón (1976, Discos Victoria), as Gildardo Montoya y su Conjunto[4]

Notes

  1. ^ In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Montoya and the second or maternal family name is Ortiz.

References

  1. ^ a b c d José I. Pinilla Aguilar (1980). "Montoya Ortiz Gildardo". Cultores de la Música Colombiana (in Spanish). Editorial Ariana. pp. 299–300. OCLC 253182806.
  2. ^ a b c d "45 años sin Gildardo Montoya" [45 years without Gildardo Montoya], Radio Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish)
  3. ^ a b Santiago Castro Villada (26 November 2015), "Así fue el entierro de Gildardo Montoya" [The burial of Gildardo Montoya], El Colombiano (in Spanish), retrieved 7 July 2025
  4. ^ a b c d e Jaime Andrés Monsalve Buriticá (November 2024). "Gildardo Montoya y su Conjunto – El gitano groserón". En Surcos de Colores: La Historia de la Música Colombiana en 150 Discos [In Colourful Grooves: The History of Colombian Music in 150 Records] (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Rey Naranjo Editores. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-628-7589-47-6.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Ángel Castaño Guzmán (24 December 2021), "Conozca a Gildardo Montoya, el que creó "El arruinado"" [Meet Gildardo Montoya, the creator of "El arruinado"], El Colombiano (in Spanish), retrieved 7 July 2025
  6. ^ Karla Giraldo (10 December 2022), "Las parranda paisa: una tradición decembrina que no pasa de moda" [The parranda paisa: a December tradition that never goes out of style], Radio Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish), retrieved 8 July 2025
  7. ^ José Fernando Serna Osorio (25 November 2015), "Gildardo Montoya, el genio que revive en todos los diciembres" [Gildardo Montoya, the genius that comes alive every December], El Colombiano (in Spanish), retrieved 7 July 2025
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