More than 50 musicians, singers and groups from all the Canary Islands have decided to join, free of charge, to participate in the tribute concert to the Lanzarote singer Ico Arrocha, which will take place this Saturday, June 3 in the Plaza del Muelle del Varadero in Puerto del Carmen (Tías).
Among the many personalities from the world of folklore and music from all over the Canary Islands who will be part of "La Noche de Ico", are Mariví Cabo, Olga Cerpa, José Manuel Ramos, Luis Morera, Cumbres Gomeras, Besay Rodríguez, Guadarfía, Montse García, Davinia Páez, Elvis Sanfiel, Fefo García, Juan Manuel Padrón or the Coral Polifónica San Ginés, among others.
"La noche de Ico" will be held coinciding with the first anniversary of the death of the Lanzarote singer, and is organized by the Arrocha family and the Guadarfía band, to which Ico belonged. The show will have free admission and is sponsored by the Cabildo de Lanzarote, the Government of the Canary Islands and the City Council of Tías. This was the municipality where Arrocha was born and where they have approved in the plenary session to dedicate a street to him in his hometown, Puerto del Carmen.
Albano Arrocha, Ico's son, has been at the presentation of the tribute event, who has thanked "from the bottom of my heart, for having decided from the first moment to participate in this tribute to my father, and for having agreed to wait, as we asked, to be able to do it now and as the family, Guadarfía and my father would have liked".
"One of the best folklore soloists in the Canary Islands"
For his part, the president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés, has declared that "Ico was an extraordinary singer, a bastion of Canarian popular music, much loved inside and outside the island, so this is a more than deserved tribute in which the Cabildo had the obligation to get involved". The President concluded his speech by thanking all the administrations and artists participating and apologized "to all those who also wanted to participate and have not been able to do so".
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, Mariate Lorenzo, has assured that "there are many good voices, all of them unrepeatable, but Ico Arrocha's was special". "Fortunately, the technique guarantees to continue enjoying it with very high quality of reproduction", added Lorenzo, who stressed that "they say that no one really dies if they continue living in the hearts of the people who loved him, something that is fulfilled in the case of Ico Arrocha". "In addition, the teacher will continue to live in each of the notes that he once played, even if we continue to listen to them through other throats", said the counselor.
For his part, the mayor of Tías, Francisco Hernández, has described Ico Arrocha as "one of the best folklore soloists in the Canary Islands, and a person of immense human quality". "This is a more than deserved recognition and is done as the family has requested. I want to make a call to the people of Tías and Lanzarote not to miss this tribute to Ico Arrocha", stressed the mayor.
Concert with two musical formations
The concert will be developed through two musical formations. One of them, composed of a solid professional band of eight musicians, will address author's songs from the Canary Islands and the Latin American songbook that the honoree liked. This band will be directed by the composer and musician from Tenerife, Pancho Delgado.
The second formation, directed by Tito Perera and formed by instrumentalists from Guadarfía, will perform songs from Lanzarote folklore.
The artistic direction of the event, by express wish of the Ico family, will be the responsibility of the producer and composer Manuel González, founder of Mestisay, with whom the conejero singer collaborated in several successful musical productions in the past; among them his participation with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in the show "La Noche de Canarias".
