Paying tribute to Maestro Bolivar Sarmiento Regalado

By Jeremiah Reardon

On January 13, El Mercurio’s obituary notices included sixty-five-year-old Bolivar Sarmiento Regalado, Cuenca’s greatly admired guitarist/singer and father of two daughters. He had succumbed to a malignant brain tumor after struggling with it over his last year. He preferred to spend his last days in the countryside where he could enjoy nature and hear birdsong.

Bolivar Sarmiento

I first met my guitar maestro in September 2022 at Centro Cultural de Casa del Alfareros (House of the Potters) in Convencion del 45, where a street is named for his grandfather, guitar craftsman Abraham Sarmiento. Located on the city’s westside near a Tranvia station, its adobe patrimonial building features a spacious lobby and a second-floor art gallery.

Sponsored by the city’s General Management of Culture, Recreation and Knowledge, Bolivar held late afternoon classes in the lobby for all ages five days a week. He’d walk jauntily through the Casa’s antique wooden doors wearing a Panama hat and well-fitted casual clothes. With admirable charm, he’d greet staff and students with handshakes and kisses before assuming his duties. He rarely carried a guitar with him, preferring to instruct while using the student’s guitar. Daily class attendance varied in number and student ages. I usually attended class twice a week.

Fortunately for me, Maestro spoke English after living in Australia for twenty-three years. “I learned Italian first because I worked in an Italian family’s restaurant for five years. Eventually, I learned English to teach the guitar,” he told me.

Prior to leaving Cuenca for Australia, Bolivar graduated in commercial engineering from the University of Cuenca and taught guitar at Conservatorio José María Rodríguez, Cuenca’s state sponsored music school. This training as an instructor lives on in my musical notebook where he drew guitar chords and composed triplet exercises to strengthen my fingers.

Advanced students gradually bonded and formed a quartet to learn traditional pasillos and pasacalles, expressions of the musical identity of Ecuador. On occasion before class, I’d see Bolivar and the quartet walk together to the center from a local cafe, engaged in friendly banter.

Slowly, I realized that l had hit the musical jackpot studying with Bolivar! During a class he shared with me a YouTube video of his performance at the 2019 Vendome, France, Guitar Festival. I later learned how the audience had him play for an hour and a half, twice as long as the other guest guitarists. But I shied from learning too much about his musical prowess as I feared being overwhelmed with his genius.

To play a guitar chord involving the fifth finger, I felt discouraged due to an inherited malady, Dupuytren’s Contracture, an affliction which curves my lefthand pinkie inward. To encourage me, Bolivar suggested that I watch a video of jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt playing guitar chords with limited use of his left hand’s fourth and fifth fingers due to injuries from a home fire. And if I expected my guitar playing to approach the sound of an orchestra as Bolivar claimed it can, I had to “practice, practice, practice!”

What particularly impressed me about my maestro was how Bolivar pitched in to help the Casa’s staff organize concerts and fiestas marking the holidays. Children dressed in costumes danced to his guitar playing on these occasions. Their parents and other adults set out delicious treats and drinks on cloth-covered tables for guests.

I attended two of Bolivar’s concerts, one at our center on an October 2022 evening when he played for an audience of thirty with his friend, Martin, a violinist. The nearly two-hour long show featured his popular music repertoire, songs he’d play for me on my guitar whenever suited to the lesson and his mood.

The other occasion was at the university’s Teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz in late November 2022. Earlier at class, Bolivar had invited me to come. On stage he appeared with several of his fellow musicians. They wore country gentlemen outfits set off with colorful scarves and performed a program of pasillos, one of Ecuador’s most popular and traditional rhythms. Two couples in tango outfits twirled at center stage.

Classes with Bolivar ended abruptly in June 2023. I walked to the center and checked my cellphone messages before I reached it. One from Bolivar said, “Jeremiah, there is no class today. As a result of our new mayor taking office, I no longer have a contract with the city. It has been my pleasure to teach you over these months. Best wishes for your continued progress with the guitar.” This shocked me; I stopped in my tracks and sadly shook my head while fondly looking at Casa Alfarero.

Fortunately, I had started a month earlier with a second guitar class at the Museum of Modern Art on San Sebastian Plaza. Being a student of Bolivar certainly must have influenced Professor Celso Peralta Quintuña’s decision to admit me to his morning adult class. Still, I felt adrift not being able to share my love of music with Cuenca’s highly esteemed maestro.

One of Bolivar’s last YouTube videos shows him playing his latest song, Mi Cuenca. Posted in October 2023, the playfully-edited video features three artists from Cuenca who meet on the New Cathedral’s Santa Ana passageway: María René Duque, a young artist with a great career ahead of her; her father, René Duque Proaño, musician and teacher to several generations; and, Bolívar, musical ambassador of our city and country, who offers us a sample of his authorship in tribute to the beautiful city of Cuenca.

Sadly, Bolivar’s life only extended a year and a quarter beyond the video. When word got out about his ailment, family and friends of Bolivar rallied to raise money for his medical treatments. In March 2024 Bolivar’s picture popped up on El Centro utility poles on posters advertising the all-star lineup to appear at Casa de La Cultura.

Eight artists and bands, including Bolivar’s, Quinteto Polifonico “Ciudad de Cuenca,” with a musician substituing for him, played a wide range of music for four hours. About six hundred fans had paid twenty dollars for a ticket. My wife Belinda and I arrived a half hour early only to find seats in the balcony. Mid-show, his niece addressed the audience to express the family’s gratitude.

A month later, we attended another benefit for Bolivar at IdiomArt Gallery. Klermo Flamenco featuring Cuenca guitarist Santiago Gomez Rios and three women vocalists, joined by guest saxophonist Su Terry, entertained an overflow crowd which included Bolivar’s nephew Cristian. Speaking for the family, he told us, “Bolivar had hoped to thank you in person. Unfortunately, he didn’t feel up to it.”

Both Santiago and Sarah Hanen-Bauer, IdiomArt owner and guitarist/singer, also spoke. They related their experiences with Bolivar and how he impacted their music. They also urged us to support him and his family as they faced mounting medical expenses.

In closing my tribute, I want to share comments made by friends and fans of Bolivar.

Berenice Cárdenas, art historian and daughter of Bolivar’s friend, the late novelist Eliécer Cárdenas Espinoza:

Bolivar was not only an artist of extraordinary talent, but he was also a kind person, faithful to his values, and a very correct man with great charisma. His gift and his unique way of playing the guitar made many young people appreciate and value national music, which for many was considered an old music, outside of the prevailing fashions. We regret his passing; without a doubt his legacy is already a national heritage.

Mark O’Donnell, guitarist and stringed-instrument craftsman:

Bolivar and his brother were to do a duo performance at La Guarida. His brother had just passed away a few days before. In tribute to his brother, he picked up his accordion and began to play it.

He was not only an extraordinary talent, but a genuinely kind and thoughtful individual. Proof that he was well loved were the two benefit concerts that were held in his honor at the Casa de La Cultura which featured an all-star cast with musicians from all over the country donating their time and talent. I feel privileged to have seen him in concert.

Celso Peralta Quintuña, music instructor and founder of Trio Añoranza band:

Bolivar, a great person, an excellent musician and with exceptional charisma. The greats are leaving us from this world, but may peace come because now their musical notes are for God. We love you Bolivar!

Luis Pugo Jimbo, Cuencano luthier and musician:

Bolivar was here in my workshop, playing guitar and singing. He was a great artist. He remains here in my heart.

Hector Rodrigo Proaño, musician and retired Chimborazo Institute of Technology professor:

It’s a great loss for art and culture. We are left with his artistic and human legacy.