The mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, feels the loss of Pepe Borges Cabrera, and conveys his condolences and heartfelt sympathy, on behalf of the City Council, Municipal Corporation, and on his own behalf, to all his family, his many friends, to the members of 'Amigos de Portonao' and to the entire community of folklore and culture of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands, in which he was highly appreciated.
During the patron saint festivities of San Ginés Obispo, patron saint of the capital of Lanzarote, Amigos de Portonao took to the stage this outstanding folk group, born in Arrecife in 1984, although they had already been meeting in an old warehouse in the primitive Porto Naos since 1978.
Yonathan de León shares the words dedicated by the friends of Borges Cabrera where they highlight that "the Port of Arrecife loses one of its greatest ethnographic and cultural references". Pepe Borges, founder and musical director of the Parranda Amigos de Portonao always fought with passion for El Puerto, its customs and traditions. A reference of the marine music of the old Arrecife is gone, but his legacy will live on in every chord and in every song of our city".
Precisely, the city of Arrecife commemorated last year the 225th anniversary of the founding of the municipality of Arrecife, born as a port and city next to the tide.
There is a masterful work of Portonao: Sails and Winds of the past, where 1,000 record-books of this musical treasure were published that Amigos de Portonao, a gift to the traditional culture of Lanzarote, and to lovers of folklore, published in 1987.
The lyrics of the songs were written by Gervasio García Borges and Pepe Borges Cabrera, while Pepe Borges was in charge of the music and direction, who had the honor, in 1996, of being the town crier of the Fiestas de San Ginés.
It so happens that the loss of Pepe Borges Cabrera has taken place on the eve of the celebration of the traditional Carnival, linked to the carnivals of Arrecife, and which will take place this Saturday, February 22, from Calle Real to the Pescadería dock. The coastal people, like the Amigos de Portonao, were very linked to these two celebrations of the marine city of Arrecife, recalled today the mayor of Yonathan de León
