Colombian Composer Escalona dies

Vallenato musicians greeted Escalona as he was bought back to Cesar

Prolific Colombian composer and performer Rafael Escalona has died of cancer in a Bogota hospital at the age of 81.

He was best known for creating the country's vallenato folk music.

Born in the Caribbean state of Cesar, Escalona composed his first song at 15 and went on to pen classics including El Manantial and La Casa en el Aire.

Vallenato musicians greeted the musician's body as it was bought back to Cesar.

His name and work were immortalised in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, written by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Escalona helped found the Festival de la Leyanda Vallenata, the definitive annual vallenato music gathering.

"He will go down in history as the maestro of maestros of vallenato," Escalona's daughter Margarita told a local radio station shortly after his death.