PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
Casa José Saramago hosted an interesting literary talk on Tuesday night between the writer Joâo de Melo, from the island of Sâo Miguel de Azores, and the journalist and widow of Saramago, Pilar del Río.
The talk was an initiative of the Government of the Azores with the support of the Government of the Canary Islands, within the framework of the celebration of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, which also coincides with the 25th Anniversary of when the Nobel Laureate in Literature decided to move to Lanzarote
Pilar del Río was in charge of welcoming the large audience that completely filled the facilities of the Casa Saramago library. Then, she spoke about the idea of the island in the work of José Saramago.
For his part, the writer Joâo de Melo spoke about insularity and the Azores in Portuguese literature and pointed out that for him, as a native of the island of Sâo Miguel, the Azores are not the center of the world, because that does not exist, but they are the center of what he writes.
He also spoke about the emigration of islanders not only to mainland Portugal, but also to Angola and especially to Canada and the United States. In this regard, he gave the example of living for his family, where eight of his siblings emigrated to Canada where they still reside today.
Dialogue between Ricardo Melo's viola de terra and Benito Cabrera's timple
After the interventions of Pilar del Río and Joâo de Melo, the public was able to enjoy the 'Instrumental Dialogue' between Ricardo Melo's viola de terra, Benito Cabrera's timple and Ricardo Fariña's guitar.
Ricardo Melo, a well-known musician and teacher in the Azores with the viola de terra, offered the most representative of the music of the island where he was born, Sâo Miguel. For his part, Benito Cabrera, accompanied by Tomás Fariña on guitar for the occasion, based his repertoire on compositions with Canarian roots. To also give voice to the 'Instrumental Dialogue', he had the collaboration of a great friend soloist, Marcial de León, a member of the Coros y Danzas Arrecife Folk Group,
Both Ricardo Melo and Benito Cabrera performed some compositions as a duet, ending the performance with the well-known theme composed by Cabrera entitled 'Ice Cloud'. After the performance, attendees were able to taste Azorean sweets and 'Gorrean' tea from the island of Sao Miguel, without missing the rich Malvasia from Lanzarote.