The Government of the Canary Islands, in collaboration with the Cabildo of Lanzarote, will offer on this island the show Voices of Tradition, one of the great events organized by the Month of the Canary Islands, in which more than one hundred artists will participate and in which you can enjoy the most popular musical and dance milestones of the islands. This is a novel montage, with soloists and instrumental performers, groups and choirs, which will last for two hours in continuous interaction with the public.
It will be on Saturday, May 31, at 9:00 p.m., in the auditorium of the Jameos del Agua, with free admission upon withdrawal of invitations on the island corporation's website with a maximum of two per person.
The details of this show have been presented at a press conference where the Minister of Universities, Science and Innovation and Culture of the Government of the Canary Islands, Migdalia Machín, was present; the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort; the Minister of Culture of the same institution, Jesús Machín; and the artistic director of the event, Manuel González, who invited to enjoy this unique meeting in a unique setting such as Jameos del Agua.
For the Minister of the Canarian Executive, Migdalia Machín, "Voices of Tradition is a tribute to Canarian identity, to our roots most attached to the land and to the changing cultural movement. We live in an era where the immediate and ephemeral prevail, so more than ever it is necessary to look at our identity, at what we were, at what we are and at what we will be."
"I congratulate the creator of this show and all the participants for collecting so many expressions of our land in an event that will not leave anyone indifferent and I am sure that we will all feel proud of who we are," added the Minister.
The president of the Island Institution, Oswaldo Betancort, stated that "hosting this show in such an emblematic space as Jameos del Agua is a pride for Lanzarote. We want our traditions to remain alive and be projected into the future, and this artistic proposal is a reflection of that commitment to the identity and cultural heritage of the Canary Islands. 'Voices of Tradition' is not only a tribute to folklore, but an experience that connects generations and territories from art and emotion."
"From the Cabildo of Lanzarote," added the Minister, "we are convinced that culture is a bridge that unites people, and this event will be a clear example of this, integrating artists from all over the Archipelago in a collective celebration of our Canarian identity."
In this sense, the artistic director of "Voices of Tradition", Manuel González, explained that "this show is conceived and designed from emotion, which draws from the sources of traditional roots to transport the viewer to a journey of sound and audiovisual identities; bringing together some of the most relevant voices and festive manifestations of popular music of the archipelago."
To this are also added titles of the singer-songwriter song that have already been folklorized among Canarian society due to their popularity and that in their creation have drawn from these sources. To the traditional songbook are added songs composed by Néstor Álamo, Elfidio Alonso, Jose Antonio Ramos, Luis Morera or Manuel González in an original look of musical fusion between the past and the present.
Program activities
For this, there will be musical and dance proposals from almost all the islands of the archipelago. The content of the program will consist of a parranda of male voices, formed by 16 musicians, who will be responsible for interpreting some hits such as the "Hymn of the Canarian Wrestling", the "Isa del timple", etc. There will also be a formation of eight musicians who will share the stage with the previous ones; it will be a more eclectic formation (piano, two percussionists, flute and ethnic winds...), which will address songs with a more modern aesthetic and linked to themes such as Ach Guañach, A la Caldera, Agüita or En Busca de Valentina, among others.
There will also be space for instrumental versions led by three young timplistas from different islands: Laura Martel and Alberto González Falcón, from Gran Canaria, and David Rodríguez, from Fuerteventura. In addition, a choir of conejeros children will participate, directed by the artist and verseadora Tata Zirga, interpreting a piece of Canarian children's folklore.
In addition, two bodies of dancers will participate in some of the most traditional pieces; they are members of the dance bodies of the majorera folklore group of Tetir and members of Añate, a Tenerife group. From the back of the auditorium's stalls to the stage, at different times of the program, several actions will be incorporated into the show: the participation of 14 pito and drum players from the herreña town of El Pinar, 12 fuscos horses from the palmero municipality of Tazacorte and another dozen dancers, chácaras and drums from the group La rebelión Gomera Folk, led by the singer-songwriter and folklorist Juan Mesa.
The Agaete Band will also be present accompanied by papahuevos and dancers carrying the characteristic pine branches, representing the popular festival of their town. The street actions will be completed by the participation of a representation of the popular Parranda de los Buches and Los Diabletes de Teguise. The choral participation will also be from Lanzarote, with the Polifónica San Ginés, which will accompany the epic arrangement of the emblematic title of "A la caldera".
The aim is to break with the barrier between stage and audience, providing the show with an interaction between the stalls and the scene that promotes the necessary emotion, with a continuous discursive approach that will seek to underline the aesthetic, ethnographic and identity values of this unique proposal. There will be soloists and instrumental performers of remarkable quality representing several islands and belonging to different generations. Some of the songs to be performed by the invited soloists, in general themes extracted from the tradition, will be a cappella, as opposed to more choral interpretations or with more elaborate musical arrangements.
Héctor González, Jose Manuel Ramos, Besay Pérez, Fabiola Socas and the instrumentalist Pablo Díaz will participate for Tenerife. Representing La Palma will be Yumara Luis, accompanied by the herreña singer Angélica Pérez. Olga Cerpa, Iván Quintana and Manuel Estupiñán will also join from Gran Canaria. The gomero singer-songwriter and folklorist Juan Mesa will also join the program. Lanzarote will be represented in its traditional song by Iván Díaz, Santiago Ramírez and Juan Manuel Padrón.
Almost one hundred people participate in this unique production. The script will be a continuous one, without presentations, propitiated in musical bridges, sound effects and videographic projections that will insist on the transversality of the show's discourse in terms of figures, music, landscapes, geographies and traditions of the Archipelago.
Conceived and artistically directed by Manuel González - author of emblematic titles of Canarian song and responsible, among other shows, for the musicals "Querido Néstor or the most recent "César Manrique el Musical"-, will have the artistic direction of Israel Reyes and the musical direction of the Tenerife interpreter and musicologist Félix Morales.
Voces de la Tradición is a show produced by the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Canarian Institute of Cultural Diffusion, in collaboration with the Cabildo of Lanzarote, and is framed within the extensive program of events of the Canary Islands Day that has been developing throughout the present month of May in each of the islands of the Archipelago.
Month of the Canary Islands
The idea of celebrating the Month of the Canary Islands, instead of just one day, arises to make visible the cultural, patrimonial and social diversity over several weeks. It is an opportunity for knowledge and appreciation of the culture of the Islands to reach every corner of the Archipelago and even cross borders.
This is the second consecutive year in which the Canary Islands Day is celebrated throughout the month. On this occasion, the program includes more than 75 activities on all the islands, under the slogan 'Pride of who we are'.
The program of the Month of the Canary Islands can be consulted on the web portal of the Government of the Canary Islands, in addition to each day on the social networks of the Presidency of the Government and the areas that organize each activity.
