La Gota Fría: the real story (?)

La Gota Fría (literally: the cold drop; an expression of being scared in Spanish) is one of the Colombian songs that has been a world-wide hit. Particularly it was made famous by Carlos Vives in a rock-vallenato version in the early 90s as it hit dance floors at both sides of the Atlantic. Julio Iglesias has recorded the song under the name "Moralito".

The song however was composed in 1938 by the late Emiliano 'El Viejo Mile' Zuleta. The background was the intense rivalry between the two men who were perceived as the two greatest vallenato musicians in the early 1930s, Zuleta and Lorenzo Morales (photo taken this week). The rivalry was related first and foremost to accordeon capabilities, but also to piquerias (similar to battling in rap music) and to the ability to write sarcastic, degrading songs about their rival.

During this battle that endured for more than a decade, Emilian Zuleta, unfortunately for Moralito, came up with what Gabriel García Márquez has called the perfect vallenato song: La Gota Fría. In the song he claims that he and Morales had agreed to meet for a accordeon duel in the village Urumita at a certain date, but that Morales had fled the village at dawn out of fear: "le cayo la gota fría".

Morales has had to live with this accusation for 73 years. Was it true?

What we do know, as Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos said in his speech Tuesday, is that this was one of many encounters between the two in the first half of the former century. And that anyhow, it was a great way to settle one's diferences in such an artistic manner!

Lorenzo Morales told Golden Colombia in an interview three years ago that, no; he was in that village the day before, picking up some herbs his mother had asked ho to get. However, he did not know anything about any accordeon contest, as Zuleta mentions in the song.

Now a time witness being a close friend of both:

Leandro Díaz told us in 2008 that there is no doubt that Morales was the best accordeonist of the two. As for the battling and the song-writing skills, there is no doubt that Zuleta had the lead on Morales. And, most importantly, Zuleta had more, and more powerful, friends. Accord(eon)ingly, Morales had no reason to flee from the duel, and when Zuleta made his claims of Morales' cowardness, he had enough followers to believe him and spread the song's accusation.

The end of the story is, it seems, that Zuleta happened to make the best vallenato song ever written, and that Lorenzo Morales was the best vallenato accordeonist, certainly the best until 'El Pollo Vallenato' Luis Enrique Martínez entered the stage in the 50s but that is a different story.

However, it belongs to the story that the Zuleta and Morales engaged into a lifelong friendship later, and even ended up as compadres (godfathers). They made a vow that whoever died first, the other would put his accordeon to rest, a vow that Morales has respected ever since Zuleta passed away in 2005.