Fabri Meriño
Fabri Meriño | |
|---|---|
| Born | Fabriciana Meriño Manjarrez 21 May 1952 El Molino, Colombia |
| Died | November 1971 (aged 19) Turbaco, Colombia |
| Genres | Vallenato |
| Years active | 1967–1971 |
Fabriciana Meriño Manjarrez[a] (1952–1971), known as Fabri Meriño, was a Colombian vallenato accordionist. She competed in the accordionist competition of the first Vallenato Legend Festival in 1968, and played in the bands of Alfredo Gutiérrez and Aníbal Velásquez before her death in a road accident at the age of 19.
Biography
Early life
Fabri Meriño was born on 21 May 1952 in El Molino, in the Colombian department of La Guajira.[1] Her mother was Francisca Manjarrez, and her maternal grandfather Manuel Salinas was an accordionist.[1] Meriño was taught accordion in El Molino by José Oviedo Pedraza, starting in 1967. Her brothers pooled money to buy her a Hohner accordion.[1]
Music career
Meriño competed in the accordionist competition of the first Vallenato Legend Festival in 1968, at the age of 16, losing to Alejo Durán.[1] Following her performance, Alfredo Gutiérrez asked her to join his band; Meriño's mother refused, but she did play some shows with him.[1][2] Meriño then formed a vallenato conjunto with her brothers Agustín, Osmel, and José Manuel, and travelled with them to Maracaibo, Venezuela.[1]
In Maracaibo, Meriño acquired a Paolo Soprani accordion, which she played at the 1969 Vallenato Legend Festival, where she competed in the newly created amateur accordionist category.[1] She passed the first round, but was disqualified from the second round after being intentionally delayed.[1] Meriño competed again in 1970, but lost in the first round.[3]
At the 1969 Festival, Aníbal Velásquez asked Meriño to join his conjunto, and she toured with him for the next two years, alongside vocalist Amparo Quiceno.[1] Meriño appeared on some recordings with the group, including the guaracha "Mambo Loco".[3]
Personal life and death
In Venezuela, Meriño met the musician Francisco Parada Salcedo, with whom she had a daughter Lisbeth when she was 17.[1]
Meriño died in November 1971 when the bus she was in crashed on the outskirts of Turbaco.[1][4] José Velásquez wrote the song "Homenaje a Faby Meriño" in her memory.[4]
Notes
- ^ In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Meriño and the second or maternal family name is Manjarrez.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liliana Martínez Polo (19 October 2023), "Fabriciana 'Fabri' Meriño, la acordeonera perdida en la historia del vallenato" [Fabriciana 'Fabri' Meriño, the accordionist lost in the history of vallenato], El Tiempo (in Spanish), retrieved 16 September 2025
- ^ Jenny Cifuentes (30 August 2025), "Las pioneras ocultas del vallenato: la historia de las primeras acordeoneras" [The hidden vallenato pioneers: the history of the first female accordionists], Radio Nacional de Colombia (in Spanish), retrieved 16 September 2025
- ^ a b Liliana Martínez Polo (26 March 2019), "Diez heroínas de la música vallenata" [Ten heroines of vallenato music], El Tiempo (in Spanish), retrieved 16 September 2025
- ^ a b Julio Oñate Martínez (April 2003). "Juglares: Fabri Meriño". El abc del Vallenato (in Spanish). Bogotá: Taurus. pp. 127–128. ISBN 958-704-071-6.