Venezuelan singer, comedian and TV host who revived musica llanera – the music of the plains
Simón Diaz, who has died aged 85, was a national hero in Venezuela. He was a singer and composer, comedian, actor and TV host, best known for his passionate revival of Venezuela's country music, musica llanera, the songs of the pampas or plains, which influenced his own massively successful and influential compositions. His music was recorded or performed by major artists across Latin America and Europe, from Mercedes Sosa in Argentina and Caetano Veloso in Brazil to Placido Domingo, while one of his best-loved songs, Caballo Viejo (Old Horse), was controversially reworked by the Gipsy Kings into their global hit Bamboléo.
Born in Barbacoas, in the northern state of Aragua, he was the son of a farmer and self-taught musician. His father died when Simón was just 12 years old and he moved with his mother and seven brothers and sisters to San Juan de los Morros, out in Los Llanos, the plains, a region to which he would later always love to return. He was now the head of the family, so had to leave school to find work. But he began to study music and the local styles that reflected Venezuela's racial mix.
Musica llanera was influenced by the indigenous people of the area, by former slaves from Africa who had escaped to the plains, and by the music of the Spanish colonisers. One of the styles for which Diaz became best known was Tonadas, the melodic and thoughtful Spanish-influenced milking songs that were originally sung to make the cows more relaxed and give more milk.
Diaz learned to sing and play the four-stringed cuatro, the instrument that was used to back the songs along with maracas percussion and the small Venezuelan harp. He also began to develop his skills as an entertainer. At 15, using the name El Chato ("small nose") he first became known as a stand-up comedian and story-teller, influenced by the region's rich poetic tradition. He also joined the band Orquesta Sidoney, which specialised in Cuban styles.
In 1949, at the age of 21, he moved north to the capital Caracas, where he spent six years studying at the Escuela de Música José Ángel Lamas. Diaz now began a career in which he matched his classical training and love of the country tradition with his skills as an entertainer. He became a popular radio broadcaster and a television presenter with Contesta por Tio Simón, a show devoted to teaching popular culture to children, which earned him the nickname Uncle Simon. He may have been a fine musician and composer, but he retained a decidedly non-academic, easygoing approach, mixing songs of the pampas with jokes and light-hearted stories in a style that appealed to different generations across the country. He was also a respected actor, appearing in several plays and films.
But he will be remembered most of all for his versatile, easygoing vocal style and for his poetic and lyrical compositions. Diaz recorded more than 70 albums, and composed more than 200 songs, but was best known for Caballo Viejo, the story of an old man who falls for a younger woman. It was covered, among others, by Julio Iglesias, Rubén Blades, Domingo and Ry Cooder and the Cuban guitarist Manuel Galbán. When the Gipsy Kings used it as the basis for Bamboléo, Diaz angrily threatened legal action, but the case was resolved before going to trial; the Gipsy Kings agreed to pay compensation, according to his daughter (and manager) Bettsimar Diaz, and he was credited as co-author of the massively successful (and profitable) song.
His music was also used by the German choreographer Pina Bausch in her work Nur Du and Pedro Almodóvar included Diaz's song Tonada de Luna Llena, performed by Veloso, on the soundtrack for his 1995 film The Flower of My Secret.
He was never as successful in the English-speaking world, but made his British debut at the Barbican in London in 2003: the hall was packed with Venezuelans waving the national flag. Diaz was backed by a band for some songs, but performed Tonada de Luna Llena accompanied by his solo cuatro, and ended with Caballo Viejo. The concert coincided with the UK release of Tonadas, a compilation album with English sleeve-notes, which included 14 of his best known songs.
In 2008 he was awarded one of the highest honours of the Venezuelan government, the Gran Cordón of the Orden del Libertador. In the same year he received a Latin Grammy lifetime achievement award.
Diaz managed to retain his mass appeal throughout the political upheavals in Venezuela, by refusing to come down on one side or the other. During a national strike in 2002 he made a television appearance in which he sang a song asking Hugo Chávez to listen to those who opposed him – while reminding opposition leaders that the president still enjoyed much popular support.
Diaz is survived by his wife, Betty Garcia, Bettsimar, and son Simón. Another son, Juan Bautista, predeceased him.
• Simón Narcisco Diaz Márquez, singer, composer and actor, born 8 August 1928; died 19 February 2014