aestro Julio Erazo Cuevas was born in Barranquilla on March 5, 1929, but he is regarded as guamalero (demonym for the ones born in Guamal, department of Magdalena, Colombia). He was the eldest child of the marriage of the pastuso (demonym for the ones born in San Juan de Pasto, Colombia), José Ignacio Erazo París and the guamalera Carmen Cuevas Vallarys, who were also his first teachers, including music teaching.

He was movie projectionist in Bucaramanga, nurse at the City Hall of Tamalameque (department of Cesar) and schoolteacher at the small town of Buenavista, jurisdiction of San Sebastián (Magdalena), for three years and where he came to know the one who, later, became his wife and mother of his five children: Julio, Elides, Ignacio, Sara and Betty: Elides Martínez, who has been, besides, the muse of several of his most renowned compositions, like: “Te escribí una carta”, “Lejos de ti”, “Hace un mes” and “Celosa y guapa”.

In 1950 he moved to the city of Barranquilla, were he started his show business career. He made recordings with about nine groups of his own and was invited to join other groups of international level like the combo led by maestro Lucho Bermúdez, the Orquesta de Pacho Galán, the Orquesta de Edmundo Arias, the Combo de Willy Quintero and from 1962 to 1965 he was member of the Los Corraleros de Majagual, a group with which he played in, at least, 10 LP’s and with which he achieved a wider acclaim, with no less than 50 of his compositions committed to wax when he played in this amazing ensemble.

Many of his pieces which are over 350 compositions have been interpreted by renowned artists and groups, in the country and abroad, among which these stand out: Los Melódicos, La Billo’s Caracas Boys, Los Corraleros de Majagual, Los Hispanos, El Cuarteto Imperial, Los Betos, Los Caballeros del Tango, Bovea y sus Vallenatos, Los Teen Agers, Los 50 de Joselito, Los Tupamaros, Julio Jaramillo, Gabino Pampini, Noel Petro, Jorge Oñate, Pastor López, Alejo Durán, Aníbal Velásquez, Lisandro Meza, Pedro Laza, Ramón Ropaín, Miguel Herrera, Pello Torres, Daniel Celedón, Juan Piña, Alfredo Gutiérrez, Jaime Llano, Silvio Brito, Rolando Laserie and Rubén Darío Salcedo, among others.

He was one of the few Colombian composers who has succeeded in building a musical work that can be compared, in its contribution to the cultural or artistic enrichment of the country, with the one made by maestro José Benito Barros Palomino, due to the great variety of rhythms, so different like: paseo, danzón, cumbia, paseaito, sambapalo, merengue, puya, pasaje, corrido, rumbón, ranchera, tango, bolero, bambuco, pasebol, guaracha, merecumbé, calipso, guaguancó, son, porro and gogó, among others, because of which not only must he be regarded not only as one of the most multifaceted but also complete composers of Colombia. Placed at the same level that corresponds to Lucho Bermúdez, Rafael Escalona, Pacho Galán, Jorge Villamil, Leandro Díaz, José A. Morales and Calixto Ochoa, as it was recognized at the second Gran Concierto Nacional of 2009 in which he was honored, along with other 31 Colombian music maestros (1 per department) chosen by a virtual massive voting promoted by the Ministerio de Cultura in order to honor those who, on occasions, anonymously and at other times, fully recognized, with their oeuvre have contributed to build the musical heritage of the nation.

Among all his compositions, there are some which have remained deeply rooted in the cultural memory of the country and the continent, which helped to define and place what is generically known as Música Tropical and even the music which is now known as Vallenata and which is still being played, in spite of the passing of time and the emergence of new types of music and fashions.

Such is the case of “Adonay”, “Adiós adiós corazón”, “Hace un mes”, “Compadre Chemo”, “La mujer que tengo”, “Yo conozco a Claudia” and the tango “Lejos de ti”, recorded in 1954 by Raúl Garcés and Los Caballeros del Tango, which turned out one of the most known tangos in Latin America, a classic of Colombian popular music and because of which he was paid homage by the Tango Orchestra of Red de Escuelas de Música (Music Schools Network) of Medellín.

Additionally, this piece has given name to one of the recent documentaries released to pay homage to the maestro.