Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata (Colombia) — Four Accordion Rhythms, Six Divisions, Plus a Composers’ Competition

Cultural & Folk Festival · Latin America

The Vallenato Legend Festival of Colombia: accordion divisions judged across paseo, son, merengue and puya, plus the composer competition.

Sets up a vallenato accordion festival: the Paseo, Son, Merengue and Puya items already run across the Infantil, Juvenil, Aficionado, Profesional and Reina Vallenata divisions, with a separate composers’ item for unpublished songs.

This template builds a vallenato accordion festival modelled on the Festival de la Leyenda Vallenata in Valledupar, Colombia. A coordinator opens an event that already holds the divisions, the four rhythm items and a composers’ competition, instead of a blank catalogue. Vallenato is the accordion-led folk music of Colombia’s Caribbean region, and the festival’s competition is built around how well each player handles its four traditional rhythms.

The template carries four accordion items and one composers’ item. The four accordion items are Paseo, Son, Merengue and Puya, each a ten-minute individual item, and they are assigned to five divisions. Infantil is set up for ages 5 to 13 and Juvenil for 14 to 18. Aficionado and Profesional are split by playing status rather than by age, so both span 14 and over with overlap allowed. Reina Vallenata is a female accordion division created in 2019 and is a playing contest, not a pageant. The sixth group, Compositores, holds a single item, Cancion Inedita, for unpublished songs; it is judged as one category.

Scoring in the template is a mark out of 100 per item. The real festival reports a total of 4,800 points per accordionist across its judges and rhythms, but the per-judge and per-rhythm breakdown is not publicly documented, so the template does not invent one. Treat the 100 as a working default and replace it with the scale your own panel uses. Grades run A (85 to 100), B (70 to 84) and C (50 to 69), and the champion title carries 10 bonus points, second 6 and third 3.

To run it, collect entries through the Registration Page, place each competitor in the right division, brief the judges on the four rhythms, and use the tabulation to total the four rhythm marks into one result per player. The Rey de Reyes title, contested only by past champions, is not part of this template and would need to be set up separately if you run something similar.

Where this event is run

Colombia, where the Valledupar festival is the best-known vallenato contest, and any organiser running a regional or school accordion competition in the same four-rhythm format. It suits a folk-music contest with several playing divisions and a composers’ strand, but not a general arts festival or a group-performance event, since every item here is individual.

• Colombia (Valledupar, Cesar)
• Colombian communities abroad (vallenato contests)

Key facts

• 5 items in total: Paseo, Son, Merengue and Puya for accordion, plus Cancion Inedita for composers
• Six divisions: Infantil (set up as 5 to 13), Juvenil (14 to 18), Aficionado, Profesional, Reina Vallenata and Compositores
• Aficionado and Profesional are split by playing status, not by age, so both allow overlap
• Reina Vallenata is a female accordion-playing division, entered in the four rhythms only
• All entries are individual; ten minutes per item and a mark out of 100 are working defaults
• Champion title carries 10 bonus points, second 6 and third 3; grades A, B and C

Age groups

6

Competition items

5

Competitions

21

Grade bands

3

Rank awards

3

Age groups

Every candidate is placed into one of these groups by age, and competitions are run per group.

Infantil

5From

–

13To

Candidates aged 5 to 13 compete in this group

Juvenil

14From

–

18To

Candidates aged 14 to 18 compete in this group

Aficionado

14From

–

99To

Candidates aged 14 to 99 compete in this group

Profesional

14From

–

99To

Candidates aged 14 to 99 compete in this group

Reina Vallenata

14From

–

99To

Candidates aged 14 to 99 compete in this group

Compositores

14From

–

99To

Candidates aged 14 to 99 compete in this group

Competition items

The events themselves — each with the category it belongs to and how judges score it.

Paseo (Accordion)

On StageMarks

Son (Accordion)

On StageMarks

Merengue (Accordion)

On StageMarks

Puya (Accordion)

On StageMarks

Cancion Inedita (Unpublished Song Composition)

On StageMarks

Frequently asked questions

Can I change this template after installing it?

Yes — installing it creates a fully configured, live event, not a locked package. Every age group, competition item, rule and scoring setting can be edited afterwards to match exactly what your event actually needs.

Do I need technical knowledge to set this up?

No. Installing a template does the setup work for you; you only need to review the details (dates, unit or house names) and open registration.

Want the fuller picture first? See our guide to judge scoring and tabulation software.