Simon Diaz - Tonada del Cabrestero

UPDATE - 19/02/2014: Venezuela Bids Adios to a Much Loved Folk Legend

Venezuela's most famous folk singer and composer, Simon Diaz, celebrated his 83rd birthday on 8 August with a huge outpouring of support for his life and work on the social networking site Twitter from Venezuelans all over the world.

A national treasure, Simon Narciso Diaz Marquez was born in Barbacoas, Guarico, in 1928 and over a career spanning more than 60 years has singlehandedly rescued for future generations the traditional working songs of the vast seasonally-flooded cattle country known as Los Llanos.

Tio Simon (Uncle Simon), as he is known to his fans, took these simple songs called tonadas  and reinterpreted them with spare arrangements that highlighted the vocal, bringing to life the daily chores of the cattle ranch.

So influential has Simon Diaz been on Venezuelan folk music that his tonadas have been recorded by a host of singers across Latin America and Spain, including Mercedes Sosa, Caetano Veloso, Joan Manuel Serrat, and Gilberto Santa Rosa.

Tonada del Cabrestero
Camino del llano viene, Puntero en la soledad (repeat)
El cabestrero cantando, ay Su copla en la madrugá (repeat)

Ahó... a... a...
El toro pita la vaca
Y el novillo se retira
Como el novillo era toro
La vaca siempre lo mira
Mariposa, nube de agua

La luna busca la sombra, y no la puede encontrar(repeat)
Porque la sombra se esconde, Aaaa Detrás de la madrugá(repeat)

Ahó... a... a...
No llores más nube de agua
Silencia tanta amargura
Que toda leche da queso
Y toda pena se cura
Lucerito nube de agua

Ya viene la mañanita
Cayendo sobre el palmar
Y el cabestrero prosigue
Con su doliente cantar

Ahó... a... a...
Mañana cuando me vaya
Quien se acordará de mi
Solamente la tinaja
Por el agua que bebí
Lucerito nube de agua

Video of an early song by Simon Diaz from 1965 - El Peine

Video of a modern reworking by Babylon Motorhome of a Simon Diaz classic - Angustia