Clímaco Sarmiento
Clímaco Sarmiento Ávila was a Colombian musician and songwriter. He played saxophone and clarinet in the orchestras of Lucho Bermúdez, Pedro Laza, and others, as well as leading his own. Sarmiento wrote numerous songs in a variety of Colombian styles, and was described by Peter Wade as being a central figure of mid-century Colombian coastal music, alongside Laza and Rufo Garrido.
Biography
Early life
Sarmiento was born in 1916 in Soplaviento, in the Colombian department of Bolívar. His mother was Justina Ávila and his father was Pedro Sarmiento, a clarinetist. Sarmiento was the second of twelve children.Music career
In the 1920s Sarmiento's family moved to Cartagena, where he was taught to play saxophone by a German called Vickmer. Sarmiento joined the orchestra of Lucho Bermúdez, and then the Orquesta Emisora Fuentes, where he met the clarinetist and band director Juancho Esquivel, with whom he formed the band Los Trovadores de Barú in 1946. Sarmiento also played in the orchestras of Pedro Laza, Rufo Garrido, and Alex Tovar.Sarmiento formed his own orchestra in 1959, with whom he released the album Estampas de Cartagena on Zeida, and the albums Bombo y Maracas and Clímaco Sarmiento y su Orquesta on Discos Fuentes, as well as three others for the Venezuelan record label Fonograma. The orchestra recorded with singers including Tony Zúñiga, Teresita Rendón, Henry Castro, Nora Tatis, and Jairo Likasale.