Eugenio Arellano, from Colombia’s Cauca Valley, is a member of a family of ten children who, for many years, toured Latin America as an ensemble that performed folk-inspired music. Eugenio’s brother, Gerardo Arellano, became a well-known opera and popular music singer, while his sister, Beatriz, is an interpreter of popular and folk songs. Eugenio himself is a singer, composer, and performer of the tiple and guitar. In Colombia he combined his musical life with an executive position in the automobile import industry.

Arellano came to Miami as a direct result of the violence in Colombia. A bomb, presumably targeting a drug dealer, blew up an aircraft in which his brother Gerardo was traveling. Then he himself became targeted for extortion and kidnapping, because of both his prominence in business and the pacifism expressed through his song lyrics. His bambuco “Hay que sacar el diablo” (“We must get rid of the Devil”) views violence as an evil force and calls on people to join together to exorcise it from Colombia.

Arellano was granted asylum by the United States. In Miami he has become increasingly active in music. He views music as a crucial conduit for reaching youths, Latino and non-Latino alike, for purposes of civic education.

Martha Elena Sánchez, left, and Eugenio Arellano improvise a Colombian song at a party.
Photograph by Martha Ellen Davis .

Listen
Eugenio Arellano, vocals and tiple.
“Hay que sacar el Diablo” (“We Must Throw Out the Devil”) (bambuco). Composed by Eugenio Arellano.
From . . . de mis amigos, vol. 2. Q Productions Inc., 2001.
Used by permission of Eugenio Arellano.