The voice of the Colo Colo anthem went out during this weekend. Mario Barrientos passed away and left a huge musical legacy that was also linked to sport.
The Colo Colo anthem must be, after the national song, one of the most recognized pieces of music in our country. With lyrics that review the feeling of the Cacique and that make the skin crawl, there are not a few who have passionately interpreted the bars of the Eternal Champion. But the first to be the voice of Popular was Mario Barrientos, an outstanding dramatic lyricist who was characterized by facilitating his voice to sing different works. Along with the one from Los Albos, the one from Magallanes and Deportes Temuco sang.
The sad news came this weekend.a. On January 21, 2023, Mario Barrientos passed away at the age of 91. In his beloved Villa Alemana, the voice that shone in Chile and in the United States went out and ceased to exist.
The story of Mario Barrientos and the Colo Colo anthem
It was in 1953 that Mario Barrientos sang “There is no Colo Colo”, anthem that all fans know to the letter. In an interview conducted by TVN in 2016, the musician assures that he sang the piece of music only once.
In fact, he says that when they presented the song to him, they asked him to read it and sing it to see how the interpretation would come out. The surprise came minutes later, when she realized that they had recorded it and thus, finally, it was immortalized Colo Colo’s anthem together with the Orchestra of Radio Cooperativa Vitalicia in Valparaíso.
The other curious fact is that, for the interpretation of the work created by Carlos Ulloa Díaz, received no weight. According to what Barrientos remembered, at that moment he did it so quickly that he did not think about money. In addition, days later he left for the United States and then he realized the amount of money he could earn.
Your work at NASA
Mario Barrientos was not only an outstanding lyrical singer, but also stood out as an industrial engineer. He left for the United States, graduated and went to work at NASA, where he would stay until his retirement as Operations Manager. His music, however, did not rest and continued to shine on American stages, rubbing shoulders with artists of the stature of Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.
In 2016 he decided to return to Chile to spend his last days with his family and, thus, on January 21, 2023, he left this world. Rest in Peace, Don Mario and Keep singing from Arica to Magallanes!
