In commemoration of the 140th anniversary of the birth of master Luis A. Calvo, the Communications Directorate of the Universidad Industrial de Santander, carried out a documentary-type work, which was presented in the serenade that took place this Monday, August 29,Plazoleta Mirador de los Estudiantes. The production was in charge of the social communicator and journalist, Omar Villamizar, and the audiovisual producer, Juan Sebastián Rodríguez.
Within the work carried out in this audiovisual piece, there are interviews with academics, professors, and artists familiar with the work of Maestro Calvo. The pre-production required the displacement to the Agua de Dios municipality, where the teacher lived the last stage of his life, after the diagnosis of Hansen’s disease, and where the house museum was in honor of the life and work of Luis A. Bald.
“We were in the house museum of the master where an important documentary repertoire of photography, documents, and elements rests. We connected with the director of the museum, Mario Fernando Longas, who supported us in this process and opened the doors for us. What we found there was very valuable for our products since we were making a documentary that did not have many audiovisual elements, it is not that there is a very large repository of photographs of the master in Colombia, much less video, so we wanted to take advantage of this space”, highlighted Omar Villamizar.
The work done in the documentary shows the life and work of a talented artist who left Santander very young, driven by musical talent and the dream of succeeding in the encounter with music. The history of the most important composer of the 20th century in Colombia goes back to his origins in Gámbita, his first approaches to performance in Boyacá, and his successful passage through the great stages of Bogotá. Condemned to an unexpected and unthinkable exile, illness and suffering became the inspiration that allowed him to compose to become great among the great. Maestro Luis A. Calvo managed to earn a place in the history of Colombian and world music.
“This experience was very enriching, I feel that we have provided the UIS with a very important and supportive audiovisual document, both for people who specialize in music and for the history in general of what Luis A. Calvo was. Having delivered this information in a documentary and that people have received it so well is important to me as an audiovisual producer. I feel that we did a job well done, well developed, that people understood and embraced it in a simple way, and, most importantly, that people connected with the history of the teacher, took valuable information home, and recognized that the Auditorium Luis A. Calvo has the name of a very important person. This is thanks to the documentary that managed to exalt the legacy of this character”, commented Juan Sebastián Rodríguez, audiovisual producer.
From the work that will be presented in the tribute, a documentary series of 10 chapters is derived that will be produced and released in September. The pieces consist of three minutes each and will strengthen the process of cultural appropriation, based on the life and work of the master, the 140th anniversary of his birth, and the 40th anniversary of the Auditorio Luis A. Calvo of the UIS, the highest reference culture of the UIS.