Capacho ~ Pablo Montoya

On April 1st I went to the small city of Capacho (in Táchira state) for four days to visit the composer Pablo Montoya. I had been in Capacho several months ago playing a concert with Cecilia Todd and I met some local musicians who played one of his pieces. I asked who the composer was and they told me about Mr. Montoya. He's 73 years old and has been playing mandolin, violin and guitar for all of his adult life. Along the way he has invented his own songs in the traditional styles (mostly waltzes, venezuelan merengue, bambuco, paso doble, and porro). He is known to have almost 70 compositions, but told me he could only remember some 25 or so. Since he does not write them down, all depends on his memory or that of his friends and family who play his music. This is why I quickly went back to Capacho... The idea of this music being lost is horrible. He and two of his sons and a friend were kind enough to sit through a long recording session and try to remember as many pieces as possible. After several hours we managed to record a list of 40 songs! That's where the well ran dry. I left them in charge of remembering the other 30 songs for the next time I go. Meanwhile I have a lot to transcribe!