Palmera - Autoren: Gonzalez Alegria, F.



Faustino Gonzalez Alegria

Faustino Gonzalez Alegría was born in Tumaco, Department of Nariño, South of Colombia on March 25 1965. His senior parents Felipe Gonzalez (deceased) and Dionisia Alegría, celebrated the arrival of their 5th and last child.

His childhood developed poor and happily in the port city of Tumaco, where he preferred skipping classes to go swimming or playing in the wooden swings, which helped him, along with the seafood prepared by his mother, to reach a height of 1.95 cmts. And an exceptional athletic figure.
During his young years, about 22, he started boxing after talking to an estranger. He joined the Departmental Boxing Team, the Colombian Boxing Team and the Army Boxing Team.
He won many medals in National and International amateur and professional tournaments. Almost immediately, he began writing other people's experiences and also his own experiences with the intention to make them music.
In 1992 he married in Pasto (Colombia) a young woman who was a student of law, Elsi Angulo. They have two children, Andres and Nathia. His wife became a moral support to Faustino, who was troubled by a lot of difficulties related to his profession, especially because hi did not receive any help from the Colombian Government. He spent some of his time as a police officer and a boxer; but his real passion was composing. He wanted his music to be danced.
In 2001 Faustino and a group of musicians, who played his compositions, produced a CD with musical arrangements of Cesar Garcés. Due to financial difficulties and without a company to commercialize the CD, it was not released to the public. That version of the CD contained five songs composed by Faustino.

In 2001, "The Buffalo" or "Fausti", as he was known in the boxing world, won the IBU (International Boxing Union) Championship. This was a new organization that offered no guaranties and was not yet recognized by other organizations. Therefore, his inactivity and his 38 years of age, considerate as too old to be boxing, forced him to leave his career as boxer. But hi did not want his Colombian people and the world to forget him. That is when he tried a new effort to reunite "BURIQUE ORQUESTA", (an imaginary name, from his favourite fish). He gathered his musicians and under the conduction of Mauricio Arango, in 2003 produced "Faustino Tumaco pegando fuerte con Oasis de Amor". It contains eleven never before released songs. Each song with its on story. This reflects the sensibility perhaps unimaginable in somebody quite, who dedicated 15 years of his life to the hard sport of boxing.

In 2003, he convinced his wife to produce a video for "Oasis de Amor", filmed in his unforgettable Tumaco. His wife without being an expert followed his words and supported his dedication and persistence.

Oasis de Amor is a beautiful and innocent story of a couple in love, surrounded by the natural and beautiful places of Tumaco. There, they found an Oasis of love.

"Orgulloso de su Negrura", (proud of been black), is a song of pride for the contribution of the Black People to the history of the world, Colombia and Latin America. He is proud of what he is, proud of the great sport figures such as Leyder Preciado, Victor Bonilla.

"El Fausti Tumaco", was born in 1987 in a hotel room in Costa Rica, when he was in a tournament. There, Faustino remembered his younger years; how he left his poor province and found himself in another land, another sea.

When the first version of the CD was produced, it was decided that this would be the name of the musical production, because in the beginning of 2003 before traveling to Germany, Faustino composed "Oasis de Amor", and left Mauricio Arango, to revise and choose it as the name for the project. Later, both Mauricio and Faustino decided to name it "Faustino Tumaco, pegando fuerte con Oasis de Amor". They decided to introduce him as a sport figure and not as a singer and musician.

Bogotá is a song dedicated to a great city, the capital and the future of Colombia. He wrote it to express love and to thank the city where he lived for many years. There he finished his high school at an adult institution. There he got a job and Nathia, his daughter, was born.

The rest of the songs: "Nos buscamos", "Nos Amamos", "En la mitad del Mundo"(dedicated to Ecuador), "Quiero amarte Siempre", "Amiga", "Polizonte", "Flor Hermosa", "Viagra", are examples of the simplicity of a composer who creates music for his race, his land, love, beauty and simple things of life.

Actually, Faustino, his wife and children live in Canada and he continues composing music, wishing that people can enjoy his music and value his talent as composer, rather than boxer.