Sunday, October 13, when the program Cervantino a la comunidad went to Puerto de Valle, a community near Salamanca, everything worked.
A grandfatherly, relaxed Daniel Viglietti was willing to let the children mill around while he reminded them about Zapata and sang for them.
DIF had rounded up a sizable audience of sixty adults and forty children for the outdoor concert in the basketball court of the school. Near the end, Daniel signaled his audience to join in on a chorus. On their own, they ended up cheering him::
"Daniel, Daniel, rah, rah, rah, rah.". And I added a silent three cheers for DIF too.
Even before the concert began, I bought a Viglietti CD. Like many folks from north of the border, I grew up knowing the similar songs of Pete Seeger. At the end of the concert I went up to Viglietti and after telling him how much I enjoyed it ( which would have been obvious if he had looked my way), I told him I was a Seeger fan. He broke into a huge smile, told me he didn't know him personally but . . . and broke into the opening bars of Guantanamera, one of Seeger's signature songs. The next thing I knew, he was giving me a big hug!
Viglietti also sang to an upscale audience at the Ex-hacienda Gabriel de Barrera.
In small ways and large, this is what the Festival of the Spirit is about.
