The Arrecife Carnival 2026 kicked off on Friday night with a crowded and emotional opening speech whose main protagonists were the Murga Los Tabletúos. The semi-filharmonic officially fired the starting pistol for the program of events organized by the Department of Festivals
A start marked by memory, constructive criticism, and a deep love for the Arrecife Carnival, dedicated this year to the characters of children's television from the 80s and 90s, in a Parque Islas Canarias that was dressed up for the occasion
The opening of the night arrived with a lively street parade from the Four Corners to the Canary Islands Park, enlivened by the Batucada Villa Pipol, to which the Tabletúos themselves joined, spreading the festive pulse from the first moment to neighbors and visitors who joined the route.
Once in the park, the event was hosted by presenter José Duarte, while a video with historical images of Los Tabletúos was continuously projected on screen, a visual journey through more than two decades of carnival experiences that accompanied the entire opening speech. After the well-known parade of the 'Tabletas', which was sung by the audience present, the mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, and the deputy mayor and councilor for Festivals, Echedey Eugenio, took the floor before giving way to the full speech of Los Tabletúos.
Humor, criticism and emotion
During their opening speech, the semi-filharmonic murga offered a sincere and emotional account of their history and that of the city's Carnival itself. Combining humor, criticism, and emotion, true to the murguero style, they took advantage of the stage to **demand better infrastructure for the festivals** and the importance of **caring for Carnival groups**, remembering that "Carnival is sustained thanks to the people who work for it".They also had a fond remembrance for the Carnival historian Óscar Torres, “guardian of our memory and our stories,” and thanked the families and all the people who have passed through the murga over these 23 yearsFar from paralyzing nostalgia, the proclamation was a declaration of principles: to be, to continue, and not to stop. A message that connected with the public by remembering that Carnival is not measured only in prizes or stages, but in shared memories, in families sustained by effort, and in the capacity to reach everyone, including those spaces where the party becomes emotion and companionshipThe event concluded with a performance of an unreleased fragment of one of the songs they will premiere this holiday season and they closed their performance with their traditional farewell, backed by the murga's motto: 'Tabletúos never stop'.Founded in the La Vega neighborhood in 2003, this carnival group currently has 49 members; its director is Manuel Garcés, its president is Ricardo Ramos, and its designer is Toño Aparicio, and this year it attends the Arrecife Carnival with the fantasy titled 'From outer space interesting Tabletúos arrive at the Carnival'.With this inaugural act, Arrecife fires the starting pistol for festivities that, in the words of the heralds, "do not begin when the proclamation starts, but when we stop taking life so seriously".
Institutional acknowledgments
The mayor of the capital, Yonathan de León, and the deputy mayor and councilor for Festivals, Echedey Eugenio, congratulated and conveyed their thanks to the heralds and highlighted that "this proclamation represents the essence of the Arrecife Carnival: a party that knows how to laugh at itself, that does not renounce constructive criticism and that is built from the commitment of its people. The Tabletúos have given voice to the collective memory of the city and have recalled why Carnival is an inalienable cultural expression".