lucho perez 

The first on this list could not be anyone else but him: Lucho Pérez, composer of I am Gethsemane, the neighborhood anthem. He was born in Getsemaní in 1927, in an old house on Calle San Juan. He grew up in the neighborhood, and his streets witnessed his first melodies. From a very young age he began to sing, a talent that earned him entry into the legendary group of Los Corraleros de Majagual, along with other great figures of Colombian Caribbean music such as Calixto Ochoa and the Vallenato king Alfredo Gutiérrez.  

He founded his own group called Sonora Buscapié —today known as Sonora Dinamita—, and it was there that he had the idea of ​​composing a song for his neighborhood. It is said that it took Lucho more than two years to finish writing it, fixing the melody and putting together the rhymes. Its lyrics express the pride of its inhabitants, heirs of the rebellious and dreamy spirit of those who in this way cradle of Colombian independence, and mentions many of the iconic places in the neighborhood – which you will also walk through when you are there.  

I AM GETSEMANISENSE – La Sonora Dinamita (Video Lyrics) 

Juan Carlos Colonel 

If we go up two blocks from Lucho Pérez's house on Calle San Juan, we will arrive at the corner that intersects with Calle de la Sierpe. On that corner there is a large house where today there is a restaurant, and which at the time was adjacent to the famous Lemaitre Soap Shop. There, on the first floor of the house, the singer and producer Juan Carlos Coronel lived during his childhood.  

According to his own account, his career began in Getsemaní, singing and touring its streets, from the Plaza de la Trinidad to the old Cartagena Public Market, where the Convention Center is now located. His long career began at the age of 14, when he recorded with The Latin Brothers and Fruko y la Tesos from him. Four decades later, with dozens of records produced, as many recorded, and a Grammy Award, Coronel can say that he has taken the name of Getsemaní to the highest level of Latin American and world art.  

Rocky Valdes 

The same Public Market in which Coronel sang his first notes was the place where Rodrigo Valdés —or Rocky, as his friends called him— began to throw the fists that would take him from the streets of Cartagena to the most prestigious arenas on the planet.  

He lived on Calle del Arsenal and had worked in the market since he was 7 years old, selling fish at his adoptive mother's stall; from there he could hear the screams of those attending the fights that were organized in the Centennial Park. It was like that one day —animated by the emotion of the people and his own need—, Rocky was encouraged to fight and from that moment he dedicated his life to boxing. He joined the Getsemaní Boxing Club at the age of 14, participated in numerous local and Caribbean matches, until in the 70s his talent and his fame took him to the highest level of the sport.  

During his career, Rocky Valdés won the World Boxing Champion belt twice: the first was in Monte Carlo, in May 1974, facing the American Bennie Briscoe in the so-called "Fight of the Century"; For his part, the second came four years later, in 1978, against the same contender.  

Four decades after his retirement —and almost one since his death—, the great Rocky Valdés has been included in the World Boxing Council (WBC) Hall of Fame and, according to data from it, he won 68 of the 73 fights he fought. (no less than 42 of them by KO).  

Delia Zapata Olivella 

Something very curious happens with the next person and that is that, just like the school Nueva Lengua, she is not a Gethsemane by birth but by adoption. Delia Zapata Olivella was born in Lorica, Córdoba, but from a very young age she moved with her entire family to a house on Calle del Espíritu Santo: the longest in Getsemaní —later, of course, on Calle Larga.  

This dancer and folklorist was the first great researcher of dance in Colombia. She founded the Ballet Folclórico dance company, through which she dedicated herself to the conservation and promotion of the country's traditional dances, and defended her tri-racial origin: Amerindian, African and Spanish.  

He toured the world taking the performing arts of our country to regions that were encountering them for the first time, and in 1965 he even obtained the Order of Merit from the City of New York, for organizing the Fifth Avenue folkloric parade on Memorial Day. the race.