On Tuesday night, Francisco Rodríguez Tovar (85), winner of the First National Festival of Llanero Contrapunteo, held in 1971, died in Zaraza (Guárico). Rodríguez Tovar was known in the world of llanera music as El Coitoro de Cartanal, alluding to a bird that usually sings all night long.
Rodríguez Tovar worked in the traditional plainsman's tasks (milking cattle and breaking horses, among others), primarily at El Caro, a cattle ranch located outside Zaraza, owned by the poet José Rodríguez Malaspina, author of the famous poem "Romance al Gallero" (Romance to the Cockfighter). From his work on that rural property, he was born Bull BloodHis most famous musical piece, which was recorded by Ramoncito Pérez, among other vocalists. Later, El Coitoro recorded it on a CD.
Atilano Ceballos, an expert on the musical traditions of Guárico state, recalled that the First National Festival of Contrapunteo (a type of improvised singing duel) was held in Zaraza during the 1971 carnival celebrations. This event was the initiative of Alberto Eduardo Rodríguez Morales, a doctor from Zaraza and brother of the poet Ernesto Luis Rodríguez, author of "Rosalinda." Several copla singers from the region registered for that first festival. The copla singers would take to the stage in pairs to improvise verses to the rhythms of the Quirpa, Periquera, Zumba-Zumba, and Guacharaca, the most commonly used joropo rhythms during those events. On that occasion, the instruments were played by harpist José Antonio Blanca and his group, Los Copleros del Unare.
In that first festival's open competition, Reynaldo Armas (El Cardenal Sabanero), Marcial Herrera (El Látigo de Tucupido), Justo Ramón Blanca (El Látigo del Guárico), and Francisco Rodríguez (El Coitoro de Cartanal) were pre-selected. Of that quartet, Reynaldo Armas and Francisco Rodríguez tied, leading to a final tiebreaker in a musical duel. El Coitoro de Cartanal's verse prevailed over that of Reynaldo Armas, who would later achieve national fame with his song "Laguna Vieja," among others.
The jury of that first national festival of contrapunteo was made up, among others, of Roiman Meza, who later became famous for having recorded the song I bring dust from the road. and television appearances. The poet Yván Gil also served on that jury, as did Eugenio Carrasco and Fucho Ramos, according to Atilano Ceballos. "One of the best copla singers this region has ever had is Frank Rodríguez Tovar; he kept his voice until the very end," Ceballos remarked. In the same vein, Sergio Bernáez, a scholar of llanero song, declared that El Coitoro de Cartanal was the copla singer "who laid the foundation for Zaraza to become the world capital of llanero contrapunteo."
The encounter with The King of the Little Bird. In the llanera music scene, the diatribe between El Coitoro de Cartanal and Carlitos González (El Rey del Pajarillo) gained notoriety. Both offered their versions (through joropos) of the murder of Nicolás Felizola, a cattle rancher who lived on the Matasaltas Ranch, located between Zaraza and Santa María de Ipire, in eastern Guárico state. Felizola was known for his toughness and boasted of being the brother-in-law of then-President Isaías Medina Angarita, who was married to Irma Felizola. On the day of his violent death, May 25, 1963, he woke up drunk. He was lying in his hammock with his gun and began arguing with José Belisario, the ranch foreman. The argument was over a woman, according to collected testimony. They exchanged gunfire, but Belisario shot Felizola five times, killing him. His body remained lying in the hammock.
The llanero singer Carlitos González, also a native of the Zaraza countryside, suggested in his songs that Felizola was treacherously murdered by Belisario, casting doubt on Frank Rodríguez's version of events, according to which the foreman acted in self-defense. Belisario himself asked the contrapunteo singer Frank Rodríguez to compose a response to Carlitos González. "He paid me with two cows," El Coitoro de Cartanal remarked among friends, having fulfilled Belisario's request by recording the corrido. It happened in Matasaltas. To settle that "counterpoint," El Rey del Parajillo said in one of his songs, regarding Felizola's death, that: "they said it was in self-defense, but the dead don't speak."
In the last hours of his life, Francisco Rodríguez asked Angelina, one of his daughters, to record him singing a cappella. She took her cell phone and recorded her father, lying in a bed at William Lara Hospital (Zaraza), singing Chaparralito Llanero, the passage by Augusto Bracca that was popularized by Juan de los San Contreras, El Carrao de Palmarito.
