CASTILLO, Adilia

ADILIA CASTILLO (1933–2014) was a Venezuelan singer, composer and actress, celebrated as one of the leading interpreters of the traditional music of the Venezuelan plains. Born in El Yagual, Apure, she began singing on the radio as a child and developed her career without formal musical training. Known as La Novia del Llano and La Doña, she became an internationally recognised representative of Venezuelan folk culture during the 1950s and 1960s.
Castillo composed songs in a variety of popular and traditional genres, including joropo, pasaje, tonada, bolero, waltz and calypso. Her credited compositions include Mi recuerdo, Nuestro amor, Mi lamento and Morena linda. Her music combined the rhythms and imagery of the Venezuelan plains with the expressive style of Latin American popular song. She recorded more than sixty albums and also enjoyed a successful career in film and television, becoming the first Venezuelan actress to portray Doña Bárbara on television.