Image: José Alfonso Selaya
On Friday night, the family of the Guadarfía folklore group paid tribute to the singer and resident of San Bartolomé, Rafael Elvira Rodríguez, a prominent folklorist who for about fifteen years was a member of the Ajei folklore group.
The event was held at 9:00 p.m. in the municipal theater of San Bartolomé. The first part was occupied by the members of the group "Amigos de Portonao", who for almost an hour offered the most representative of the porteña music of old Arrecife. Its musical director, José Borges, was in charge of presenting each of the chosen themes, which he accompanied with important historical texts related to the ties that have always existed between San Bartolomé and Arrecife.
The second part was for the Guadarfía family, organizers of the event who for such a special night offered the most traditional of Canarian folklore such as folías, isas, malagueñas with some mazurka and habaneras, counting for the occasion with the guest Blás Martínez.
After the screening of a video where some data of the honoree were collected, came the most emotional moment of the night, when Rafael Elvira Rodríguez made an appearance on the stage. The mayor of the town hall of San Bartolomé, Mª Dolores Corujo accompanied by the councilors, Eduardo Perera of Culture and David Rocío of Youth presented him with a Canarian pintadera. The neighbor and folklorist Fefo García gave him a piece of ceramics made by him and José Borge, musical director of Amigos de Portonado, gave him a record of the group.
Antonio Corujo, also a neighbor of the town, went up on stage accompanied by his son Vicente, who accompanied him on the guitar and gave him some recited poems. The Guadarfía family also gave him a framed diploma as a souvenir of a night that will become part of the history of our folklore.
Without a doubt, the greatest gift was given by Rafael himself, since before leaving the stage he performed a few stanzas of folías, leaving the audience speechless, undoubtedly taking the loudest applause of the night. The tribute event ended with the performance of the pasodoble, Isla Canarias, masterfully performed by Ico Arrocha.