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On my upcoming second EP, I will release a tribute song to Diego. The track is entitled "Guitarrulao for Diego"(Arevarc Records), appearing on Sea Lo Que Sea , which will drop in Spring 2026, featuring Dan Neville, Diego's student on marimba de chonta and vibraphone. From Colombia’s Pacific coastal town of Guapi, Maestro Diego Obregón (1971-2020) was an amazing multi-instrumentalist, instrument builder, composer, performer and educator. Best known as a virtuosic marimba player and maker, Maestro Obregón specialized in Afro-Colombian genres such as currulao, juga, and bunde, and he also performed on indigenous percussion instruments such as cununo and bombo. Obregon was a dear friend of CTMD, and with his Grupo Chonta, a featured artist in our FolkCOLOMBIA Musica y Danza program. His immense contributions to this unique music and cultural heritage will be sorely missed. Diego left an immeasurable mark on the community of Colombian musicians in New York City, where he worked so intensely on sharing his knowledge of Afro-Pacifico Colombian culture. In an interview back in 2010, I asked him how he saw himself within a community where he was the sole musician from the region. He replied:  “La contribución es dar a conocer los ritmos de la región pacífica colombiana los cuales corren por mis venas / The contribution is to share the rhythms of Colombia’s Pacific region which runs in my veins.”  As talented a virtuoso marimbista, multi-instrumentalist, instrument maker and composer as he was, he was an even better person, giving his heart and soul to New York City before returning to his Guapi home.