This Monday, the first phase of the XXXIII Arrecife Carnival Murgas Contest 2023 kicked off at the Fairgrounds with the participation of the groups "Vacilonas", "Intoxicados" and "Faltonas", according to the order of participation established after the draw held on January 10 at the Civic Center.
The children's murga "Los Intoxicaditos" was in charge of opening the show as agreed with the adult murgas so that a children's group will open each classification phase.
The contest began with the intervention of the female murga "Las Vacilonas", from the Tinasoria neighborhood. The group, chaired by Isabel Miranda and directed by Marta Ruiz, wore a fantasy called "Today I make carnival to enjoy it again", designed by Toño Aparicio and its forty members gave everything on stage, driven by the energy given by the celebration of its tenth anniversary, performing the two songs chosen for this phase of the contest, "Dreams" and "The accounts don't add up", composed by Yeray Bajera.
Later, it was the turn of "Los Intoxicados". The thirty-four members of the popular murga, living history of the carnival, celebrated their fortieth anniversary on the stage of the Fairgrounds presenting "The day of..." and "Unmasking the puppeteer", perfectly directed by Cristina Marrero.
The murga chaired by Ángel Manuel Pérez, a consolidated group in the murga scene with a long history and great experience on stage, presented a fantasy called "Puppeteers of a murga essence, almost forgotten", whose creativity and design are in charge of Nayra Luis and Pablo Luis, while the confection is the work of Yoana Zuleta.
In third place, it was the turn of the murga "Las Faltonas", which was the group in charge of closing this first phase of the contest. The group of thirty members, chaired by Maida Morales, presented a costume designed by Pedro Ramos called "Today I will finally debut, a faltona I will be" that has been made by Toño Aparicio and that they wore with pride during the interpretation, under the direction of Carolina Villa, of the two songs chosen for the occasion: "The most viral" and "Expectation or reality".
Members of the jury
It should be remembered that the decision on the six murgas that will go to the final on Friday will be announced next Wednesday after the completion of the third phase of the contest and the corresponding deliberation by the jury of each of the categories, which has the following members: in the section of "Interpretation, Lyrics and Music" this will be made up of Yurena García, presenter and producer of "Factoría del Carnaval"; José Aguilar, founder of the Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Julián Bazochi, lyricist of different carnival murgas; the comedian and ventriloquist, José Carlos Marrero; the singer Samuel Castro, Carmen Camacho, representative of the women's choir "Iris del Mar"; the music teacher, Antonio Robles; representing the murgas, Rita Ferrer, vice president of "Las Inadaptadas" and the municipal official, Valentín Fernández, as secretary.
Regarding the jury in charge of scoring the category of "Design and fantasy", the members were: the designers, Salvador Casero and Simón Urbano; the professional makeup artists Ana Vanesa Angulo and Andrea López; the hairdresser Omayra Barrera and, as secretary, the municipal official, Rosa Hormiga.
Finally, the jury in charge of awarding the "Criticón" prize was composed of the journalists Paula Delgado, Laura San José and Pedro Martín; Juan Alfonso Morales, vice president of the Guanapay Folklore Association; Alfonso Duro, former director of the orchestra "Salsa verde"; Áurea Mauri, director of the murga "Afilarmónica Las Revoltosas"; Ramón Guimerá, historian of the carnival murgas and, as secretary, the municipal official, Antonio Borges.
Finally, it is worth highlighting as one of the most emotional moments of the night the screening of a fragment of a documentary precisely about the Afilarmónica "Las Revoltosas" with the experiences of some of its members throughout its forty years of history.
