The folklore group Los Campesinos, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, presented its third album, 'Desde Lanzarote', this Tuesday at the Island Council. Accompanied by the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, the Minister of Education and Culture, Emma Cabrera, and Manuel Fajardo Feo, mayor of Arrecife, Miguel Ángel Corujo, director of Los Campesinos, revealed some aspects of the album, which he described as "an anthology of the folklore of this island".
Corujo explained that for this new album the group has "counted on the collaboration of Benito Cabrera, composer, timple player and who was also part of Los Campesinos". The director of Los Campesinos also explained that this new work "has thirteen songs", with which, the group explained, they have "wanted to give a gift to Lanzarote, since it has a true flavor of this land". The desire of Los Campesinos, explained Corujo, with this album was "to collect all the genres that occur on the island and also to advance" and, for this reason, they have included "new sounds and instruments".
For his part, San Ginés stated that "the people of Lanzarote" are "very proud to have a group like Los Campesinos, with an enviable trajectory in the dissemination of Canarian folklore that includes their participation in national and international events". After congratulating the folklore group for this third album and for its 50th anniversary, he pointed out that "this album, which is titled 'Desde Lanzarote', collects the most traditional music of Lanzarote and incorporates innovations as well as new instruments, and has a fold-out format, with photographs and a large booklet".
Minister Cabrera also congratulated Los Campesinos for their album, their anniversary and their trajectory, and announced that "the Insular Theater will host the concert presentation of this work next Thursday, December 4 at 9:00 p.m., a show for which invitations are already sold out". Emma Cabrera, who said that she was able to "attend part of the recording" of this album, pointed out that "it is a great work". The minister wished Los Campesinos that their new album "be a success and that they continue in this line to be able to fulfill fifty more years".
"Breaking with the norm"
In addition, the mayor Manuel Fajardo, highlighted that "although Arrecife is not an agricultural municipality, it has been the cradle of Los Campesinos and where they have been based", and expressed his wish that "they can return to rehearse in the Casa de la Cultura Agustín de la Hoz, which is close to its reopening". Manuel Fajardo also congratulated the folklore group and highlighted that "in its beginnings, when everything was very constrained in the field of folklore, including clothing, they were the ones who broke with this norm and were dressed in their beginnings in the aboriginal style and later as the peasants really dressed in their work".
The director of Los Campesinos also related how those beginnings of the formation to which Fajardo referred were. "The group was born in 1964 in the Titerroy neighborhood. Although at the beginning it had another name, the essence of Los Campesinos was already in it. From that beginning, then dressed in aboriginal-looking clothing, we maintain some elements in our current clothing", said Corujo.
In addition, the director of the folklore group conveyed his "gratitude and that of the entire group to the Cabildo", which has participated in the production of 'Desde Lanzarote' and in its concert presentation on December 4 and also "to the Arrecife City Council, the Government of the Canary Islands and all the sponsors, because thanks to everyone it has been possible to record and produce this album and also the concert".