Juancho Polo Valencia

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Polo and the second or maternal family name is Cervantes.

Juancho Polo Valencia
Birth name	Juan Manuel Polo Cervantes
Born	(1918-09-18)18 September 1918 Cerro de San Antonio, Colombia
Died	22 July 1978(1978-07-22) (aged 59) Fundación, Colombia
Genres	vallenato

Juan Manuel Polo Cervantes (1918–1978), known as Juancho Polo Valencia, was a Colombian accordionist and songwriter. He was an early pioneer of the Colombian genre of vallenato, and is particularly remembered for his composition "Alicia Adorada", written about the death of his first wife.

Biography

Juan Manuel "Juancho" Polo Valencia was born on 18 September 1918 in Cerro de San Antonio, Magdalena, Colombia, to Juan Manuel Polo Meriño and María del Rosario Cervantes. He was baptized on 14 February 1919 in the parish of Saint Anthony of Padua in his hometown.

He attended primary school in Fundación, and secondary school in Aracataca, the latter a hub of Caribbean literary and musical culture. From an early age, Polo showed a talent for storytelling and improvised singing, absorbing the oral traditions of the Magdalena River region.

Although initially taught to play the gaita by his father, Polo gravitated towards the accordion, first learning on his own and later receiving formal guidance from Pacho Rada, one of the great masters of vallenato. He would go on to perform alongside other early pioneers of the genre such as Alejo Durán, Luis Enrique Martínez, Abel Antonio Villa, and Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, travelling extensively through the Greater Magdalena region in what were known as *cantos de juglaría*—musical journeys that combined performance with oral history.

He adopted "Valencia" as a second surname in homage to Colombian poet Guillermo Valencia, whose modernist works he admired deeply; the poet’s death in 1943 reportedly cemented Polo’s decision to take on the name as a tribute.

Polo became known for his "slow, cadenced style" and for lyrics rich in metaphor and regional imagery—mountains, valleys, rivers, and birds—which to some listeners seemed unusual, but which he delivered with a spontaneity that gave his songs emotional authenticity. Many of his compositions were rooted in personal experiences, local events, and traditional stories, often blending romantic lament with playful social commentary.

Throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, he established himself as a sought-after performer at festivals, village celebrations, and cattle ranch gatherings, where the competitive art of the piquería—musical duels between juglares—was a central feature. His travels often involved weeks on horseback across rural trails, carrying only his accordion and provisions, exchanging songs for food, lodging, or modest payment.

While Polo never enjoyed the commercial recording success of some of his contemporaries, his influence on the vallenato tradition was significant. His songs were interpreted and popularized by others, helping shape the poetic dimension of the genre. His repertoire included laments such as Alicia Adorada, playful narratives like Se robaron mi sombrero, and competitive challenges such as El provincianito, which targeted fellow juglar Emiliano Zuleta in the tradition of lyrical rivalry.

Style of composition and accordion playing

Juancho Polo Valencia's musical style was characterized by combining the oral narrative of the vallenato juglar tradition with a creative use of the accordion that went beyond mere instrumental accompaniment. In many of his songs, he used strategic pauses and rhythmic changes to allow for "responses" from the accordion, so that the melody became another character within the story being told.

In songs such as El duende, the instrument reinforced the mysterious atmosphere by echoing and accentuating certain passages of the sung narrative. In Se robaron mi sombrero, the accordion served as a humorous counterpoint, intervening after key phrases to underline the wit of the lyrics. This call-and-response interplay between voice and instrument was one of the most recognizable hallmarks of his style.

"They stole my hat, and I know who has it,

pesky little men, as if they were women."

Excerpt from the song Se robaron mi sombrero.

In addition, Juancho Polo was known for "seeking out" musical duels or piquerías with other juglares, in which the accordion and verbal improvisation served as artistic weapons to measure talent and wit. A notable example is El provincianito (1970), a paseo in which he directly challenges Emiliano Zuleta Baquero, known as "El Viejo Mile", questioning his memory and career. With sharp verses and a provocative tone, the song reflects the competitive and festive spirit of the vallenato piquerías, in which musical rivalry blended with the humor and wit typical of the Caribbean oral tradition.

"Now I ask you again, little provincial,

let's see what courage is left in your memory,

I say it so you know, Emilianito, why your routine is not in the history books."

Excerpt from the song El provincianito.

Polo was widely believed to be illiterate, but in fact he was a keen reader of poetry and of the bible, and would "lock himself in his room for hours and compose songs, writing them down in careful handwriting and with respect for the rules of language." Pastor López said of him in the 1970s: "Juancho Polo Valencia has no teeth, didn't get a school degree, but his singing is a science." (Spanish: Juancho Polo Valencia, no tiene dientes ni tiene muelas, no tuvo grado de escuela pero al cantar es la ciencia.)

Death and tributes

Polo died on 22 July 1978 in Fundación, after falling asleep in a hammock following a performance in Aracataca the previous night. Several of the musician's old cattle rancher friends from Fundación took it upon themselves to purchase his coffin and arrange his final funeral rites. He was initially buried in Fundación, but his body was later moved to Santa Rosa de Lima.

Cultural impact of Alicia Adorada

Polo's best-known song is "Alicia Adorada", considered his most emblematic work and one of the representative pieces of traditional Colombian vallenato music. It was written as an expression of grief after the death of his wife, Alicia María Cantillo Mendoza, who died during childbirth in the then village of Flores de María, Magdalena, where the couple had settled. The lyrics, deeply personal in nature, present a dialogue with God in which the author expresses sadness, protest, and resignation, using expressions and idioms typical of Caribbean oral tradition.

According to journalist Ernesto McCausland in his program Mundo Costeño, Alicia Adorada was born from a personal tragedy. During his wife's pregnancy, she fell gravely ill in Flores de María. Polo set out on horseback for Pivijay to find medicine, traveling along the poor roads of the time on a journey that could take more than three days. Upon his return, he found that Alicia had died and been buried. With his grief intact, he went to her grave, where, in tears, he began to improvise the verses that would become his most famous song. Although Polo rarely performed it himself, a version by Alejo Durán became widely known in Colombia; Marcos Fidel Vega Seña called Durán's interpretation "the most successful and grandiose lament in accordion music".

Initially transmitted orally in parrandas and juglar gatherings, Alicia Adorada gained national exposure when it was recorded by accordionist Alejo Durán and later covered by performers such as Diomedes Díaz and Carlos Vives. Vives's version, included on his album Clásicos de la Provincia (1993), a collection of vallenato songs that helped popularize the genre outside Colombia, reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States.

Other artists who have performed or recorded the song include Orlando y Su Combo, Aníbal Velásquez, Los Black Stars, Ariza y Su Combo, Eneida Cedeño, Dorindo Cárdenas y su Conjunto Orgullo Santeño, Jorge Oñate with Juancho Rois, and Chirimía. Each version preserved the song's original structure while incorporating the personal style of each artist, contributing to its wide international reach.

"My companion died, what sadness,

my companion died, what pain,

and only to Valencia, oh man,

was left the heartbreak."

Excerpt from the song Alicia Adorada.

External links

• Juancho Polo Valencia discography at Discogs