The musician, researcher, cultural producer and co-founder of the Nuevo Mester de Juglaría Luis Martín Díez, died this Friday in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), as confirmed by the Municipality of Segovia, where the artist is the favorite son of the city. Martín Díez has gone down in history for his contribution to the analysis and renewal of Castilian folklore over the last five decades, in which he has dedicated himself to this traditional music. The folk group had been active since 1969, with dozens of albums and songs claiming these songs. The deceased, voice, guitar and lute of the group, directed the Segovia Folk Festival for more than 30 years.
The folklore researcher participated in the over 2,000 concerts performed by the Nuevo Mester de Juglaría and was part, together with his colleagues Fernando Ortiz, Rafael San Frutos, Llanos Monreal and Paco García, of the founding nucleus of the band, together with three other members who had previously left it. Together they released classic and crucial albums for modern folklore such as Los Comuneros or Romance del Pernares. The City Council of Segovia, his city, released a statement praising the figure of the artist as “an essential reference in the research, diffusion and conservation of traditional folklore” as well as a “cultural ambassador” of Segovia.
The City Council thanked Martín Díez for his “extensive artistic and cultural work” which brought his themes to a national and international scale. As for the deceased, “whose mark will remain in the musical and sentimental history of Segovia”, his cultural background is highlighted, with more than 20 albums, songs known by several generations and hundreds and thousands of concerts in Spain and around the world.
The group also sent an affectionate and heartfelt message towards the musician. “Possessor of a splendid and very personal voice and an exceptional bandurria instrumentalist, Luis contributed his talent from the first moment until his last appearance on stage, precisely in the concert that the Maestro offered on the night of San Pedro, last June 29, at the foot of the Aqueduct”, describe his musical colleagues. “Today our colleagues at the Mester feel an emptiness and sadness that is impossible to express in a few lines” concludes the statement.
Another entity very close to Martín Díez, the Folk Segovia collective, also spoke out about this loss: “How difficult it will be to continue. It will be a very strange feeling when Folk Segovia returns this summer and you won’t be there, watching the concerts, walking around La Alhóndiga, giving us advice or having fun on a terrace while the bands from the parade play.”
The organization published, along with these lines, a photo from this summer at the concert under the Segovia aqueduct, packed, with its neighbors listening to the folkloric reference for the last time: “Our thoughts go to your family, your loved ones, your colleagues from Nuevo Mester, with whom you were able to share a last concert in your city, in a plaza del azoguejo which, as always, was packed.”
