Iván Zuleta Barros
Iván Zuleta Barros is a Colombian accordionist. He played accordion with Diomedes Díaz in the 1990s, and won the accordionist competition of the Vallenato Legend Festival in 2025.
Biography
Zuleta was born on 27 October 1976 in Urumita, in the Colombian department of La Guajira, to Fabio Zuleta Díaz and Denia Barros. Emiliano Zuleta Baquero is his paternal grandfather.Zuleta began performing at the age of 8, and in 1988 was rey infantil at the Vallenato Legend Festival. At 18 he recorded the album Un Canto Celestial with Diomedes Díaz, replacing Juancho Rois as Díaz' accordionist. Zuleta later left Díaz, who was in legal trouble, to tour Europe with Julio Iglesias.
In 2025 Zuleta won the professional accordionist competition of the Vallenato Legend Festival, and was conferred the title of vallenato king. In the final, Zuleta performed the songs "El Gallo Viejo", "La Pule", "María de Jesús" and "A la Dinastía Zuleta". Jairo Andrés de la Ossa Otero and Camilo Andrés Molina Luna came in second and third place respectively. El Heraldo wrote that Zuleta's win was "more than a personal victory, it represents recognition of a dynasty of musical tradition that has shaped vallenato from its roots: the Zuleta family." Zuleta pledged his winnings to charity, saying "I don't need the prize money. I'm going to donate it to a foundation for the rehabilitation of homeless people with addiction problems."