Jazz has taken Luis Miguel Piedrahita far

By Juan Carlos Monzón Solórzano – Journalist, Communications Advisory Office

The Ibagué Conservatory was where Luis Miguel Piedrahita became enamored with music, leading him to explore it from different perspectives. There, as a seven-year-old boy, his father took him from Monday to Friday to study with the best musicians in the department, who taught him musical notes, the staff, tempo, and other aspects that, like a diamond, they polished with infinite patience, as if they were jewelers who know that what they hold in their hands is of great value.

After finishing high school, he entered UCundinamarca to study music and there he encountered teachers who guided him through the world of jazz in such a way that he grew fond of this rhythm with black roots, while at the same time finding in the electric guitar, his eternal companion in his learning and creation process.

He has taught at various bilingual schools in Bogotá and led workshops at different universities. His life has been filled with travel and performances at various festivals with his group, LP Quartet. “We have performed at the ToliJazz Festival 2021, the Orígenes Festival 2021, and the International Percussion Festival, among others.”.

It is that spirit of research and innovation instilled in him by UCundinamarca through its Transmodern Digital Educational Model (MEDIT) that has led him to create a challenging musical proposal. “In our group, we create a hybrid of Colombian music and jazz, while maintaining our identity and cultural roots.”.

At 27 years old and accompanied by Oscar Alejandro Lamprea percussionist, Mauricio Rincón, Miguel Ángel Becerra bassist, Jonathan David Arévalo clarinetist who are also musicians from the University of Cundinamarca and make up the group, they decided to participate in a call from the Ministry of Culture to apply for an international circulation grant. “We recorded an album with compositions and arrangements I wrote, and with that material, we entered the competition and won. With that financial support, we'll be performing in Mexico, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain this year.

But the story of this young man doesn't end there. His education bears the mark of his university, which has prepared him for life with a transformative vision. “The Ibagué Chamber of Commerce has a chapter called the cluster of music that brings together this group with industry agents and is driven by capital from its members. “We are part of that system and we applied to a call for proposals and won. They give us financial support and help us in the internationalization process of our products, since they have a network of artists who collaborate in that process.”.

In addition to the above, she won a scholarship at The Collective, one of the most important music education institutions in the United States, where music production, mixing, and music theory, among other subjects, are taught. “Last year I was supposed to go study in New York, but due to the pandemic, my trip was postponed. However, this year I will begin my studies at performance on electric guitar.”.

This is Miguel Piedrahita, the man who has already finished his courses with a 4.2 average, a jazz lover and admirer of the music of John Coltrane, one of the great exponents of that genre. Down-to-earth and bright, he said goodbye acknowledging that he owes much of his success to the University of Cundinamarca, whose Transmodern Digital Educational Model changed his life. "It's my alma mater; everything I know and apply, I owe to the university.".

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