Case Study
Gracias, Tío Simón
How a Venezuelan composer's songs became a bridge between two countries — and between two artists who first met through those songs.
The Relationship
Convened by the same songs
Cheo Hurtado and Patricia Vlieg had met before. This concert brought them back together, this time as two people who had each, separately, built a relationship with the same composer's songs.
Simón Díaz had a way of doing that. His music had traveled far enough, and lived long enough in people, that it could convene a room of strangers who already knew one another through him.
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The Context
A living repertoire
Simón Díaz — Tío Simón — was a Venezuelan composer, singer and television personality whose songs crossed the boundaries of the popular and the folkloric, the local and the universal.
His work belongs to the Latin American canon as living repertoire: still sung at tables, still carried in the voice of anyone who grew up with it. Cheo Hurtado had shared stages with Simón in Venezuela, France, Brazil, Chile and England. Patricia had grown up with the songs as part of the musical landscape of her childhood.
The concert was a tribute shaped by two distinct relationships with the same body of work.
The Opportunity
A conversation between artists and countries
Could two artists from different countries, brought together by their shared relationship with a third person's music, create something that felt like a genuine conversation?
Patricia described the intention as “un espacio para tender puentes, compartir historias y anécdotas y abrazar el hermoso legado de Simón Díaz.” The acoustic program at Teatro Pacific, part of Guataca Nights Panamá's 2020 series, placed her voice and piano beside Cheo's cuatro.
The repertoire centered on Simón Díaz's catalog, interpreted as a conversation between two artists, two countries and two relationships with the same music.
What Emerged
Music as a door
Relationships. Cheo Hurtado described it as an honor to stand beside Patricia in the tribute: “Su música nos convoca para rendirle un homenaje en Panamá.” A Venezuelan artist and a Panamanian artist built something neither could have built alone.
Ideas. Patricia described Simón's songs as a door through which she came to know Venezuela, its people, landscapes and singers.
Invitations. Cheo later appeared as a guest in the first season of Puentes y Diálogos, continuing a thread that ran directly from this encounter.
Legacy. The concert remains publicly documented, part of the living archive of what Simón Díaz's music continues to convene.
Relational Insight
A shared relationship with music can carry people to each other.
Across countries, the composer's work created a space where both cultures could feel present.