Folk musician Pedro Ramayá Beltrán is a living teacher of the millo flute and the gaita, and is regarded as the founder of Soledad's modern cumbia sound. In 1930, he was in the Corregimiento of Patico, Talaigua la Nueva. He learned to play flute at age eight while growing up on his family farm. He led his first groups in his teens, and developed his technique further during a long career in the armed forces. Upon retirement, he began to teach and record individual songs and became a sideman and composer/arranger with many Colombian artists. Though he began recording as early as 1961, the single "Ramayá" -- a track that has become one of his signature tunes -- arrived a decade later. In the 1970s his "Cumbia Soldena" became an exported dance club hit all over Europe and England. He led his first album date as a leader, Pedro Beltrán y Su Cumbia, in 1975, and in 1980 issued Sin Competencia and Tres Es Uno as the de facto leader of Cumbia Moderna. He also led the group La Bombo Asao. His 1983 solo album, Con Candela, is widely regarded as one of the true canonical classics of modern cumbia. After 1990, Beltrán devoted most of his time to studio work with other artists as well as teaching flute, gaita, and improvisation in cumbia. Some of the country's popular hits featuring his playing were the 1987 Los Systema Solar hit "Quien Será" and, after 1994, the many albums he cut with El Rey Momo. In 2010 he became immortal due to his solos on the Los Brios smash "El Majagual." In addition to his playing, his compositions have been recorded by a wide variety of artists including Cuco Valoy & Los Virtuosos, La Cabullla y Pregoneros de Soledad, Grupo Chandé, and Cumbia Moderna de Soledad. In 2011 he was asked, along with Anibal Velasquez, Fruko, and others, to take part in the Ondatrópica album sessions jointly led by Will "Quantic" Holland and Mario Galeano. They also toured the record to England, France, and throughout South America. After winning most of his country's legacy awards, Beltrán issued Carnavaleando on PRB Records in 2016. He was 86. The album landed well inside the Top 40 on the Hot Latin Albums chart. ~ Thom Jurek