Guanajuato Holidays: viernes de dolores

My viernes de dolores  (as written in Spanish without caps):

10am: I take a bus from Pastita to Mercado Hidalgo. Bad decision. The trip takes an hour with all the people crossing in front, but through the window I do see the throng of students in the Baratillo and happy holiday-makers buying souvenirs in Plaza de la Paz.

11am: About to board a bus for Cata when I realize IMSS at Cantador will close in an hour. I need to arrange an appointment, so I walk over to IMSS which, I had been told, will not be open next week. Wrong. It will be open next week Mon-through Wed.

As I leave, I ask one of the guards whether I am too late for the merry-making at Cata. He says I can make it. I pay 35 pesos for a taxi to eat free ice cream at Cata (but I am going mostly to enjoy being with the miners' families, although I admit to anticipating the tamarind-flavored ice I ate there last year).

The day means hard work for these young women who may have been out dancing all last night

Detail from the seed & bean portrait of the Virgin at Cata

Worth the long wait, boys?

1pm, nearly: I arrive while Mass is underway. I must have arrived even later last year as all I remember is an uncrowded space of happy ice-cream eaters. I recognize The Lord's Prayer, taught to my high school Spanish class by our teacher. A man asks if I want to take photos. I say, no, not during the Mass, but I would like to sit down. He brings out an extra chair. A woman comes over to suggest I move it to a patch of shade.

1:15 pm. The stampede begins for the ice-cream. Much too my disappointment, except for the popsicles for the children, all the flavors are variations on strawberry, but when my turn comes I manage to eat a cup of vanilla with strawberry swirls.

2-3pm: I head downtown, do a few errands, take photos of the new benches at the tarted up bus stop in front of the market, and catch a Sprinter to Embajadoras.

Pedro Acevedo's shrine

3pm: I buy the last bunch of purple flowers for sale at Embajadoras Park, then start walking home. In front of a fruteria, I pass a shrine, I take a photo.

I see that the doors to Pedro Acevedo's carryout loncheria are open. When I go in, I see his shrine, on the counter where he usually places pots of food, is more elaborate than the day before. I ask whether he always has the portrait of the Virgin hanging there. He tells me no, it is precious, from the 18th Century. A priest gave it to his father. He has had it restored.

I go into an abarrotes to buy yoghurt. On my way in, I see I could have bought my flowers there. Same price, same condition.

3:30 pm. Am relieved to see the tepache man at his stall. I need a drink. He asks if I want it with limon and chile. I say limon y poquito chile. I start sucking in the coolness as soon as I can set my other purchases down..

4pm: I realize I haven't seen any of the big altars. There's always tomorrow. I'm tired, hot, and need a nap.

To read about the history of viernes de dolores. click http://www.quanaxhuato.com/fiestas-y-tradiciones/viernes-de-dolores/ (in Spanish).

Guanajuato Spring: first jacaranda blossoms sighted

If A.E. Housman had grown up in Mexico instead of England, the chances are he would have written about jacaranda blossoms instead of cherries. I always look forward to this season when the jacarandas bloom on the Guanajuato hills and along the upper part of Paseo de la Presa.

I remember sucking in my breath when I first saw these trees on a short street in Mexico City. And yesterday for the first time this year when I saw a young tree blossoming at the foot of either Sangre de Cristo or the Campanero I felt as Housman did, that 'fifty years' are not enough to see this Mexican image of spring.

Believe it or not, I'm allergic to the pollen of this beautiful tree
but, hey, they're worth it

Bunuelos and coconut cream: two Guanajuato street foods

A walk along Calle Alhondiga offers up the splendors of Mexican street food, one of them being these enticing fried bunuelos de viento.  The ones on the right are covered with sugar, the ones on the left are plain. A tasty snack I can only have the strength to resist when I know I'm on my way to a meal. You'll find the bunuel women on the same side as the suburbano bus stop on the way to Avenida Juarez. I'm curious how they are made but haven't asked yet.

This afternoon, I also saw this rider in Pastita who ignored the No Parking sign while he cooled off with a coconut cream. Coconut water, poured into a plastic bag after your own personal coconut is cracked open is sold farther down at Embajadoras Park. Fewer calories, costs 5 pesos more.

Cervantino Day 14: open rehearsal of Bach's St. John's Passion - the musical summit of this year's Festival?

That's my tennis shoe in the aisle/FIC41 Claudia Reyes

I went to the open rehearsal of Bach's work today, with Horacio Franco leading the Cappella Barroca. Franco, one of the world's leading recorder players, founded and directs the early music group of instrumentalists and singers. Bach has been in the wings for most of this year's Festival, with the spotlight on Verdi and Wagner.

I was not the only person listening to this magnificent music sung in the original German (tomorrow night there will be Spanish supertitles).As part of the La comunidad al Cervantino program, residents of several towns in the state came by bus to hear this soaring piece of religious music and witness the amount of polishing an orchestral-concert requires..

The other instrumentalists were on Franco's left

The audience broke into applause after hearing the female soloist. The men singing the evangelist, Jesus and another male part also have beautiful voices.

Franco is an intense, active conductor, much more than is evident in these photos. He even went toward the back of the Compania several times to see how the music sounded from there, then dashed back to the podium. Wearing tight jeans and earrings, he used sweeping gestures that I couldn't catch, but for sure tomorrow night the women will be dressed up and he and the other men wearing tailcoats..

Mama and child listening quietly

Cervantino Day 12: International PEN table at Plaza de los Angeles

I'm with Lucina here before things got noisy;
soon people were stopping by 

The active San Miguel chapter of International PEN, mounted an information in Plaza de los Angeles during the afternoon. The first hour and a half went well with people stopping by but later PEN could not compete with the clowns. Bob Broughton, Tony Cohan, Lucina Kathmann (from SMA; the international vice-president of PEN) and I took part. Table on loan from Bharati Restaurant; La Catrina nearby one of several Guanajuato businesses letting us post announcements.

Another PEN stalwart, Bob Broughton 

Cervantino Day 11: Niyaz at Valenciana

In the middle of the day, Iranian-born Niyaz, had her audience tapping their feet and swaying by the end of her concert performed in front of the golden altarpiece of the Valenciana Church. Accompanied by her husband and a tabla player, she moved with small but expressive movements as she sang Kurdish, Afghan and Iranian folk songs, as well as three songs composed by her husband.

Niyaz and the tabla player/FIC41 photos by Christa Cowrie

And her husband-composer-musician

The concert the three presented was very much in the spirit of this year's Festival theme, The Art of Liberty. Partway through, the singer, who has lived in Los Angeles since she was fifteen, gave an impassioned talk in English to her audience about the difficult situation the world is facing.

Many stayed for the charla afterward. All in all, a festival highlight for most of us who were there.

Cervantino Day 10: Musical Doubleheader - Endellion String Quartet at the Minas, Ravel & Stravinsky at the Juarez

FIC41 photo by Claudia Reyes

I wouldn't ordinarily go first to a chamber music concert and then later that evening to another featuring Mexico's National Symphony but that's the way the Cervantino plays out sometimes. Or maybe I just don't like making decisions.

I'm glad I did go to both. Britain's Endellion Quartet started with Haydn's beautiful Quartet #42, went on to the quartet Benjamin Britten composed during World War II when he was thirty-something and finished with Schubert's Death and the Maiden quartet. To think that Schubert left us so many beloved pieces before he died at age 31. If ever there was an unfinished life, it was Schubert's. The Britten didn't go down well with a Prepa student and a mathematician I talked with, but I liked it, maybe because I knew of its background.

Pleased conductor surrounded by musicians after Stravinsky's strenuous work

At the Juarez, I thought the big event would be Stravinksy's Rite of Spring, played to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the work's first performance, but hearing pianist Pascal Roge (accented on the last syllable) play the second movement of the Ravel Concerto in G was a new and indelible experience for me; so was the middle movement of the Ravel Sonatina Roge played as an encore for the enthusiastic audience. Then--what a dramatic end to the evening-- hearing the National Symphony perform the Rite of Spring in perfect synch under Juan Carlos Prieto. He and the musicians were mopping their brows after they finished. Although the string players show in this FIC$! photo also by Claudia Reyes, Stravinksy's work depended more on percussion, brasses and woodwinds .  .

Day 6: Reporters Hard at work, inside and on the street

At work in the press room, Casa de Artesanias

When I walked past Cantadores Park, I saw the new bust of writer Jorge Ibarguengoitia anong the illustrious citizens of Guanajuato.  A  new issue of Letras Librees featuring featuring this irrepressible
Guanajuatense and including an unpublished work about his stay in Iowa was presented in the Museo Dieguino.

Listening to Ute Lemper answer his probing question

Puebla TV on the lookout for news

Cervantino Day 7: Ute Lemper

Guanajuatense Lirio Garduno translating Ute's British English for the press corps

Ute Lemper, born in Germany and renowned in Europe before taking up residence in New York City fifteen years ago, wowed the press corps the day of her concert. She fielded questions about her forthcoming projects, the future of Europe (although she admitted to not being an economist, she expects the Euro to crash and is scornful of nationalism), New York (she loves it but doesn't consider it part of America), and Mexico, with its diversity, culture and warmth badly misrepresented in the press.

Cervantino Day 4: Sasha Rozhdestvensky in Mellado;opera Verdi Ritrovato on Casa Cuatro roof

Going up, up from San Clemente, you come to the barrio of Mellado, with its Temple, its history, its many legends and of course its residents. As part of the series Cervantino a la comunidad that takes Festival events to communities in the state, today Sasha Rozdestvensky played Barroque, contemporary and Russian music for his small audience, about thirty people facing the violinist and the religious paintings behind  him.

Why only a few came to listen? Perhaps because the free series is new, perhaps because only a few in Mellado cared, but for sure the event was poorly (at most) publicized by the state officials who had the responsibility. Let´s hope for a second year when no one is satisfied with a program that mainly exists on paper. By the way, although Sasha looks serious when playing, he is trilingual (Russian, Spanish, English & maybe more), and in person looks much more relaxed and blond.

Sasha playing the day before at the Minas

Numbers aren't everything. Who knows what the well-behaved ten year olds sitting in the front row, one with football in hand, will remember? what the woman thougt of the violinist´s response to her question? or what her twin son who came with her will want to come another year?

In the audience was Oscar Aranda, a Mellado resident who repairs string instruments for OSUG musicians. He recommended that promotors of culture go door to door explaining well-beforehand how their barrio is about to be honored with a world-class musician who merits at least their curiosity. Maybe inexpensive posters be in order for all the participating communities.

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In the evening I went to a Cervantino-Off event, meaning it was in the Cervantino spirit but not part of the official program. Hats off to Casa Cuatro for hosting the Mexican premiere of the American Philip von Reutter's opera Verdi Ritrovato. The rooftop was fitted with professional lighting, the costuming in black and white effective, the choreography and body language of the actor-dancers top quality and the singing of the young Verdi's music made for an interesting background to Verdi's later operas. At the end the twelve singers performed a well known Verdi chorus (sorry, I can't tell you which) topping off the evening in grand style.

To see a delightful video of the cast strolling near the Jardin go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE4jdCuxQzc .

I hope we will soon be treated to the Canto en Movimiento group here in Guanajuato soon again. 5 stars!

Cervantino Day Two: Sydney Dance Company

One phase, but only one, of 2 One Another

Along with a nearly full house today at the State Auditorium, I saw a sneak preview of the Sydney Dance Company's 2 One Another.  Most of the others in the auditorium came by bus from other towns in the state as part of the program Cervantino para todos. The man beside me came from San Diego de Union, the woman behind me from Villagrande.

The Australian company has danced in Guanajuato before. It managed to arrive in our city during the grueling days after 9/11. Now it back with its new choreographer-director, the Spaniard Rafael Bonachela aand I would think a completely new set of dancers, sixteen in all. They performed a work of his against spectacular lighting: the changing, starry night sky, startling flashes of light, myriad points of a single color.

My take: thumbs up for the few sections that got under my skin, especially the solo by an Asian man and sensual duos  by a blonde man and woman. I admit to feeling drowsy during long stretches of the work when the groupings and movements didn't speak to me.

Repeats at the State Auditorium Friday, 8pm

Two concerts coming up in Guanajuato museums:

Today,Wednesday 7pm, Obsidiana, jazz ensamble now in its 9th year. Edgar Estrada, Jacobo Cerda, Rodrigo Mata, Francisco Hidalgo will be playing in the Museo Casa Diego Rivera on Positos
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Thursday, September 25 at the Museo Iconografico: Zephyrus wind quintet made up of players from our symphony. 8pm, 50 pesos (20 INAPAM)

Pastita's Waterfall

Farther upstream, you'll see how this year's rainfall has made a rushing river. Enjoy it while you can -- most of the year the riverbed is dry although its banks continue to support trees and other greenery. A pleasant walk about twenty minutes from the city center or you can take a Cerro del Cuarto or Cerro de Leones bus.

Cervantino Dazzle 2013

Preview, New Twists and the Basics:

This year the International Cervantino Festival will reverberate with a double theme, The Art of Liberty and the celebration of Verdi and Wagner’s music. The composers’ fans will face the difficult task of deciding among a dozen large and small scale concerts, including Verdi’s Requiem Mass and Wagner’s opera, The Flying Dutchman.

Under the banner The Art of Liberty, the festival will showcase artists whose music or theatre confront the violence and horror in Europe and Mexico during the past century, among others, Victor Ullman’s satirical chamber opera, The Emperor of Atlantida composed in Theresienstadt, and Marcelo Rodriguez’ Bola Negra, based on the violence in Ciudad Juarez. Uta Lemper will sing songs the Nazis declared “degenerate”; Mexico’s National Theatre will present La Sangre de Antigona, by Jose Bergamin, who fled Franco Spain for Mexico. Lightening the mood, a Spanish troupe will present the street theatre spectacle, Ara Pacis (Way of Peace)

.

Uruguay arrives as the honored country this year, Puebla the invited state. From Uruguay, at the Alhondiga, the beat of the Afro-Uruguayan singer Ruben Rada; at the State Auditorium the National Ballet Sodre. From Puebla, nine events, including the early music group Los Tonos Humanos and regional dancers in Rostros Poblanos.

It’s a foregone conclusion that extranjeros flock to the dance events. After a dozen years, the Sydney Dance Company will return with a new director-choreographer Spaniard Rafael Bonachela, presenting his 2 One Another, described in the Australian press as “harnessing the strength and skills of the dancers in a thrillingly fluent piece that maintains its vibrancy over its hourlong journey.” Mexico’s National Ballet is presenting more traditional fare, La Bayadera, with Petipa’s choreography and movements; the story is set in an ancient princely kingdom of India.

As part of the cornucopia of classical and contemporary music, Russian violinist Sasha Rodzdestvinsky will perform twice, in a solo concert at the Minas auditorium and at the orchestral concert honoring Lutowski, Hindemuth and Mario LaVista. For Beethoven addicts, the Camera Ireland with Barry Douglas as director soloist will perform the complete cycle of concertos in three concerts. As always, cutting edge music at the Salon de Consejo.

This year, no surprise, the Cervantino will serve up a heady brew of world music and jazz. Most nights there will be world music concerts at the Alhondiga, including The Lost Fingers, a Canadian group playing gypsy jazz. At the ex-hacienca Gabriel de Barrera, a koto duo, from the US the Deep Blue Organ Trio, and from San Miguel, Salomon Maawad.

NEW TWISTS: Two-hour guided walks through parts of the city immortalized in Carlos Fuentes’ Las Buenas Consciencias (in English, The Good Conscience) and Jorge Ibarguengoitia’s novels; more extensive use of the Compania as a venue; and many pre and post-event chats in Spanish.

THE BASICS: The events mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg. Complete program and other details online at www.festivalcervantino.gob.mx. Tickets bought at a box office in Guanajuato (Teatro Juarez or the Gran Hotel near the glorieta coming from San Miguel) are discounted 50% for holders of INAPAM cards. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster.

(first published in Atencion, San Miguel de Allende)

Cello Trio Cellerato Premieres Two New Works

Last night at the Teatro Principal I was sitting in front of a couple who have spent the last two years sailing but are taking a two-month break in Guanajuato. We were all there to listen to three of the symphony cellists, Michael Severence, Luiis Barajas Berejo and Fortunato Rojas play works by Haydn, Depraut,
and Beethoven along with the world premieres of pieces by Adalberto Tovar and Michael Severens in what turned out to be a listenable and highly satisfying concert.

The three earlier pieces were written for cellos with another instrument but the works by Tovar and Severens were written specifically for three cellos. The work by Beethoven was transcribed in the 19th century, with OSUG cellist Barajas doing the other transcriptions. We in the audience heard the result of all this effort.

For once, to me, a Beethoven piece (written early in his career) was less a highlight than the Haydn and Dupraut, a French composer I hadn't heard before. The Tovar work led me to want to hear more by this young Mexican composer and I think many of us are also anticipating what Severens will compose next.

On August 16 at 8:30, the full orchestra resumes its regular season with works by Stravinsky, Vidaurri and Bernstein.    

Guadalupe Day

Today is the day of Mexico's most revered religious icon, the Virgin of Guadalupe.

This representation comes from Mineral de la Luz, one of the communities that make up the Municipio of Guanajuato. In the city, families throng the Calzada that leads up to the Guadalupe church, with many children dressed in national costume. No wonder it is a field day for local professional photographers.

Rain falls when it's supposed to: San Juan Days, June 20-27, Presa de la Olla and other parts of the city

According to tradition, the rain begins on San Juan Day; this year it came even sooner, but some years the sun is shining. This year volantes from Veracruz will be flying around the pole every day of the festival. Lots of mechanical games afternoons for the kids, bread from Acambaro, balloon vendors, you name it . . . and across town in the Parque del Cantador or Los Pastitos, the annual plant sale.

Always plenty to eat . . .

Too late for this year but

The 2nd Andar de Paella Festival had everything going for it: location under a marquee in front of the San Diego Church, price (60 pesos for a generous helping of paella and a glass of Spanish wine) and nearly a dozen local restaurants presenting their best fork forward. A tip for next year: look over the offerings before it's time to choose your portion. I dined on an oyster, clams, shrimp, octopus, chorizo, pork and peppers of several colors, all in well-seasoned rice as prepared by Casa Valadez.
This year, the last Saturday in April, I arrived without my camera, but the memory lingers on.

What Better for a cold than estofada (beef stew)?

This savory stew of carrots, potatoes and beef is from Pedro Acevedo's take away (para llevar) run from his middle-class house on the left branch of Pastita #42 going from the center of town. Reasonable main dishes, several each day, rice, pasta  beans, skimpy salads. Among the specialties: vegetarian lasagne, moles, fish (Fridays), pozole. Open Monday through Friday until mid-afternoon but call in the morning to order. Tele: 731-3328 to order or find out the dishes of the day.

Cervantino 2011: Petroushka lives!

      Stravinsky's Petroushka with new choreography by Diego Vasquez had me on my feet clapping at my final Cervantino event.

     For anyone wondering about the future of the High Arts in Mexico, this new contemporary dance piece, ostensibly for children, confirms that they do. Don's let the label put you off. With support from four national government entities, the Laleget Danza-Ballet de Camera of Morelos State have together created a colorful dance event that ran for three months in Mexico City before gracing our festival.

     First off, the dancers move like marionettes come to life. Dressed in colorful costumes, they dance in front of and in a cube-shaped giant jungle gym on a revolving stage, as they reach the audience with this story full of emotion and action set to Stravinsky's brilliant score.

     But there is always more to come when the narrator invites children in the audience to dance onstage with the cast. Believe me, there was no shortage of takers! And I could see that the children had followed the dancing so carefully, they knew just how to mimic the pros.

     I left the Principal energized and with tears in my eyes.

     Disclaimer: Not only because I've loved this ballet since I saw it danced and heard the music when I was in my impressionable twenties.