Simeon Roncal

Bolivian composer and piano teacher born in Sucre on April 21, 1870. He died on January 13, 1953 in the city of La Paz at age 83. He received his first music lessons from his father, who was a kapellmeister at the Cathedral. He was a member and director of the Sucre Philharmonic Society (1909). He worked as a piano teacher at schools in Potosí, where he lived for ten years (1917-1927), "At 4,000 meters high, turning the cold into warm inspiration, Roncal in his ten years in Potosí and when he was in the fullness of his life, came to produce the best cuecas and the most liked kaluyos ", according to Wilson Mendieta Pacheco. Then he lived in La Paz, until his death. He is the author of up to 40 songs in different rhythms, among which the cuecas are recorded: Orphan Virginia, Loneliness, Deception, Rose, Remembrance, Absence, Stormy Night, Tears, etc. Others are: Adiós Sucre (huayño), October 25 (hymn), Anthem to Daniel Campos, February 3 (March) and Heroica (March). He has also composed funeral marches and dancing. He was organist and titular singer of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guadalupe in Sucre.